Jennifer Lopez in Israel
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Maybe Jennifer Lopez should run for Congress. That’s our reaction to her performance in Israel. Some 57,000 Israelis came out to hear “Jenny From the Block” sing in Tel Aviv’s Hayarkon Park. She was having such a good time, the Daily Algemeiner reports, that, after getting a translation from a member of the audience, she called out “I Love You” — in Hebrew. The crowd went wild.
What a contrast to the sour socialism of another famous figure from the Bronx, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Since getting elected to Congress, the congresswoman has done little in respect of Israel except kvetch. The other day she agreed with an interviewer who’d suggested, “What’s going on with Israel and Palestine, while it’s very, very, deep, it is very, very, criminal, and it is very, very unjust.”
“Absolutely,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez shot back. Which is in keeping with her support in the House for the movement to pressure Israel through boycotts, divestment, and sanctions. She voted for a pro-BDS measure that was also backed by two of the most anti-Israel Democrats in Congress, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. Fortunately, the measure was rejected.
In any event, the contrast on the topic of Israel between Ms. Lopez and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez couldn’t be greater. Ms. Lopez came under pressure from BDS-backing groups to cancel her plans to sing in the Jewish State. She faced them down. “There was nothing that was gonna stop us from being in Israel,” Miss Lopez’s manager, Benny Medina, told Israeli television.
Nor was it just Ms. Lopez herself. She was accompanied on the trip by her intended, Alex Rodriguez. They brought along Miss Lopez’s twins, Emme and Max, and Mr. Rodriguez’s daughters, Natasha and Ella. The slugger made a point of sending out via Instagram a photo of the two megastars in Israel’s capital. “Jerusalem, you are unforgettable,” the slugger wrote.
We wouldn’t suggest that any of this was meant as a political gesture by either Ms. Lopez or Mr. Rodriguez. It reminds us that when Ms. Ocasio-Cortez first hung her shingle outside her Capitol office she sent out a message that she was still “Alex from the Bronx.” Turns out that on some things, there’s a big difference. Nice to see Jennifer Lopez and A-Rod standing tall.
