Ozzy And Sharon Osbourne Defend Israel Concert: ‘We’ll Play Where We Want’

Sharon Osbourne. Credit: Getty Images.
Ozzy Osbourne will not be joining the list of artists boycotting Israel.
In a recent press conference, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne were asked if they felt any pressure not to play in Israel or were worried about backlash. Sharon Osbourne replied, “Listen, I’m half a Heeb. We play where we want to play, that’s it.”
She also said that her kids, Kelly and Jack, would join them for the July 8th concert in Rishon Lezion because her kids wanted to visit Israel. The concert is part of Ozzy’s international farewell tour. He previously played in Israel in 2010, calling the experience “unbelievable.”
Performing in Israel has become a controversial issue. Lorde recently cancelled an appearance there to support the BDS movement, leading to a lawsuit and threats to cancel her upcoming appearances in Florida. In July, Radiohead has faced heavy criticism over their decision to play in Israel.
Contact Avichai Scher at [email protected] or on Twitter, @avi_scher
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Most Popular
- 1
News Student protesters being deported are not ‘martyrs and heroes,’ says former antisemitism envoy
- 2
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
- 3
Fast Forward Suspected arsonist intended to beat Gov. Josh Shapiro with a sledgehammer, investigators say
- 4
Opinion My Jewish moms group ousted me because I work for J Street. Is this what communal life has come to?
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Yes, the attack on Gov. Shapiro was antisemitic. Here’s what the left should learn from it
-
News ‘Whose seat is now empty’: Remembering Hersh Goldberg-Polin at his family’s Passover retreat
-
Fast Forward Chicago man charged with hate crime for attack of two Jewish DePaul students
-
Fast Forward In the ashes of the governor’s mansion, clues to a mystery about Josh Shapiro’s Passover Seder
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.