Two rock stars, two messages — and a lesson for Jews this new year

(RNS) — Two rock stars. Two very different venues. Two opposite messages.

On Sept. 4, and again on Sept. 5, Macklemore stood before tens of thousands of people at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, opening for Ed Sheeran, and called out “Free Palestine.” He accused Israel of genocide and apartheid.

As the backlash grew, an old photograph resurfaced: Macklemore, back in 2014, dressed for a surprise Seattle show in a black wig, a long beard and an oversized prosthetic nose, which was clearly an antisemitic caricature (the rapper claimed that wasn’t the intent).

Ask yourself: If Macklemore had performed in blackface in 2014, would we have let it go so easily? In a culture that scrutinizes every microaggression and combs through years-old tweets to end careers, the willingness to give a prosthetic Jewish nose a wink and a nod is not innocence. It is the act of being complicit in Jew-hatred.

And you know that whole question: Is there a necessary link between anti-Israel agitation and antisemitism?

On Monday (Sept. 14), it was announced Macklemore was removed from the rest of Sheeran’s U.S. tour. Let him serve as exhibit A. Pious denials aside, the genocide charge, the apartheid…