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Sinead O’Connor was once attacked by Itamar Ben-Gvir over a planned Israel concert for peace
(JTA) – Over the course of Irish pop singer Sinead O’Connor’s career, she made her fair share of enemies — most notably the Catholic Church, after she ripped up a picture of the pope on “Saturday Night Live.”
But five years after that incident, she also found herself in the crosshairs of Israel’s future national security minister.
O’Connor, who died this week at age 56, had in 1997 planned to perform a concert in Jerusalem sponsored by a women-led activist group promoting peace between Israel and the Palestinians. But she canceled the show after receiving scores of death threats from right-wing Israelis — led by Itamar Ben-Gvir, who today is a key figure in the country’s far-right coalition pushing a contentious series of judicial reforms into law.
At the time, Ben-Gvir was not accepted in mainstream Israeli politics but was instead an anti-Arab provocateur and protege of extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane, who advocated for racist policies. The 21-year-old was also an outspoken admirer of Baruch Goldstein, the U.S.-born physician who had murdered 29 Palestinians in Hebron three years prior.
Ben-Gvir and his cohort, who believed Israel should give no land to the Palestinians, opposed O’Connor’s concert (part of a festival called “Sharing Jerusalem: Two Capitals for Two States” to be performed in the aftermath of the Oslo Accords) for its promotion of coexistence. And he insulted the singer in colorful, vulgar terms on Israeli radio.
O’Connor, he said, was a “singer who preaches and calls for the division of Jerusalem and who spreads gentile culture,” adding that she “has no place in Israel.” While Ben-Gvir denied issuing the death threats, he viewed his group’s pressure campaign on the singer as successful after she pulled out of the festival.
Also opposing the festival was then-Jerusalem mayor Ehud Olmert, who would later go on to become Israel’s prime minister from 2006-09. Olmert called it a “provocation” and suggested that the concert had actually been canceled due to poor ticket sales, according to a Jewish Telegraphic Agency report at the time.
O’Connor later went after Ben-Gvir directly in an open letter. “God does not reward those who bring terror to the children of the world,” she wrote. “So you have succeeded in nothing but your soul’s failure.” Supporters of hers in Israel also took to the streets to back her over Ben-Gvir.
Fifteen years later, O’Connor was again conflicted over a scheduled performance in Israel after learning that pro-Palestinian activists were pressuring her and other artists to boycott the country. But she criticized both sides of the debate, noting that she was the sole breadwinner for her family and had a responsibility to support them.
“I do not appreciate being bullied by anyone on either side of this debate any more than I appreciate not being properly informed by my booking agent of the potential ramifications of accepting work in war zones,” she wrote in a statement on her website that she later deleted.
After her death, Ben-Gvir’s office denied this week he had ever threatened her and said he would remember her “favorably because of the difficult life she lived.”
O’Connor, whose biggest hit was her 1990 cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” struggled with mental health issues throughout her life. After speaking out against abuse in the Catholic Church, she later converted to Islam.
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The post Sinead O’Connor was once attacked by Itamar Ben-Gvir over a planned Israel concert for peace appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.