The Israeli-born singer-musician Gene Simmons, founder of the band Kiss, has something to say about the b-list musicians who have refused to perform in his homeland.
"They're fools," the legendary bassist told the AP in Jerusalem on Tuesday.
He says artists who avoid Israel — such as Elvis Costello, the Pixies and Roger Waters, — would be better served directing their anger at Arab dictators. "The countries they should be boycotting are the same countries that the populations are rebelling," he said. "People long to be free ... And they sure as hell don't want somebody who's a ruler who hasn't been elected by them."
Simmons is making his first return to Israel since he left the country as a child more than 50 years ago. He described the visit as an emotional "homecoming."
"I'm Israeli. I'm a stranger in America. I'm an outsider," he said, speaking in a hotel lobby across a valley from the walls of Jerusalem's historic Old City. "I was born here and I'm proud of it."
Simmons was born Chaim Witz and spent his childhood in the northern Israel town of Tirat Carmel before making it to the big time in America.
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