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Alicia Keys, Israel and Civil Rights
(Wall Street Journal) Richard Friedman - Alice Walker, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, has lately garnered more attention for her unhinged political views than for her writing. Perhaps nothing was more off-base - at least morally speaking - than the open letter Ms. Walker wrote in late May to singer-songwriter Alicia Keys urging Ms. Keys to cancel a July 4 performance in Israel. Ms. Walker wrote: "You are putting yourself in danger (soul danger) by performing in an apartheid country." The analogy is false: "Apartheid" is a more apt description for the systemic discrimination against women across the Arab world than the only democracy in the Middle East. But this comparison is also an insult to the courageous civil-rights activists who risked their lives in the South. What characterized the civil-rights movement was its strict adherence to the philosophy of nonviolence. The Palestinian leadership, by contrast, for decades has used violence whenever missile attacks or suicide bombers suit its aims. Ms. Keys rebuffed Ms. Walker: "I look forward to my first visit to Israel," she told the New York Times. "Music is a universal language that is meant to unify audiences in peace and love, and that is the spirit of our show." Mr. Friedman is executive director of the Jewish Federation in Birmingham, Ala.