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American Jewish singer Matisyahu performed at a Spanish music festival late on Saturday, three days after organizers apologized for canceling his appearance due to pressure from the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. While he faced catcalls from some pro-Palestinian protesters, Reuters reported, the concert passed calmly despite its tense build-up. Video from the event shows Matisyahu singing his famous song "Jerusalem," even as protesters wave the flags of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) terrorist group in the crowd.

When Jews stand up to anti-Semites, the anti-Semites back down. Perhaps we should thank Spain’s Rotodom Sunsplash reggae festival organizers. They just provided us with a textbook case both of the nature of today’s anti-Semitism and of how to defeat it. Last weekend, the festival organizers canceled their invitation to Matisyahu, the American-Jewish reggae artist, because he refused to bow to the organizers’ demand that he publicly support “Palestine.” Matisyahu was the only known Jew in the festival line-up and the only performer asked to produce such a statement. Rather than take this lying down, on Monday Matisyahu recounted the...

Anti-Israel boycott movement’s ‘victory’ in Valencia music festival casts pall on historic citizenship law The Spanish government passed a headline-grabbing law on June 11 bestowing Spanish citizenship upon descendants of Sephardic Jews. The high-profile effort, lauded as a historic measure “correcting” sins from a 500-year past, is set to be implemented by October and is expected to potentially draw some 90,000 applicants. Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign up! But the law stands in stark contrast to a proliferation of anti-Semitism in the country in which anti-Israel efforts are...

An uplifting pop gem arriving just in time for the holiday, "Miracle," produced by Dr. Luke protégé Kool Kojak (Flo Rida, Katy Perry, Ke$ha), is drenched in a joyful spirit and features chiming synths, bouncing beats and an irresistible chorus. Matisyahu says, "There are so many Christmas songs out there. I wanted to give the Jewish kids something to be proud of. We've got Adam Sandler's song, which is hilarious, but I wanted to try to get across some of the depth and spirituality inherent in the holiday in a fun, celebratory song. My boy Kojak was in town so...

MORRISTOWN, N.J. - Moshe Herson seemed perplexed. Never before had the 72-year-old Orthodox rabbi been asked to listen to reggae to see whether he could hear Talmudic overtones. Of course, until three months ago, no Hasidic Jew had ever been crowned Best New Entertainer at the International Reggae and World Music Awards. So one recent morning in his office, Herson, dean of the Rabbinical College of America, listened on a borrowed iPod to the 27-year-old Hasidic music sensation known as Matisyahu, whose mix of reggae, rap and rock has won gold status for two recent albums, "Live at Stubb's" and...