Anti-Israel activists took to social media in the hours after rock legend Ozzy Osbourne’s death on Tuesday at the age of 76, trashing him for performing in Tel Aviv despite far-left attempts to enforce an artistic boycott.
Osbourne was not Jewish, but Judaism became important to his life through his wife, Sharon. The Jerusalem Post reported that Osbourne played in Israel twice, and spoke out against boycotts, as well as antisemitism:
Ozzy Osbourne, who died on Tuesday aged 76, forged a decades-long bond with Israel through his Jewish family, two arena-sized concerts in the country, and outspoken support for the fight against antisemitism, according to multiple interviews and reports.
Although the Black Sabbath frontman was raised in the Church of England, his marriage to television personality and manager Sharon Osbourne (Levy), whose father, Don Arden, was Jewish, put Judaism “at the heart of our household,” she told The Jewish Chronicle last year, adding, “Judaism is the only religion I have and the only one I’m comfortable with.”…Despite serious health problems that forced him to cancel subsequent world tour dates, Israeli promoters said Ozzy’s two shows drew tens of thousands of fans and helped pave the way for other hard-rock acts who later ignored boycott pressure.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
