DISTURBED To Perform In Israel For First Time In July

DISTURBED will perform in Israel for the first time this summer.

The American hard rock act, whose lead singer, David Draiman, is of Jewish heritage, promoted its Israeli live debut in a video message in Hebrew.

Draiman said: "Shalom, we are DISTURBED and we will be at Rishon Lezion's Live Park on July 2nd."

Although David has visited the country many times, this will be the first DISTURBED concert in the Jewish state.

In a 2011 interview with Ynet, Draiman said that he has wanted to play in Israel his whole life. "If god wants it to happen, we'll make it happen some day," he said. "I really hope we can make it here on our next tour. We're working on it... Beyond the fact that people here tell me here and there that they love the band, I think I will be convinced when I can finally put on a show and the audience comes. That would be the real proof."

David went on to say that the thing he loves most about Israel "is the fact that it's the only place where it's okay to be Jewish. The only place you can feel proud wherever you go, you have your people and your culture and there's nothing to fear," he explained. "It's very different from how most of the world sees Israel from their TV screens.

"I love the direct connections to our history here," he continued. "I love how you can go skiing in the snow on the Hermon and go diving in Eilat. If you want to celebrate, then you have the Ibiza of the Middle East — Tel Aviv and if you want a little culture and history you have Jerusalem.

"I love so many things about Israel. You can't not feel something when you're here, there is definitely a spirituality that can't be felt anywhere else in the world."

Both of Draiman's maternal grandparents were survivors of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, while many others on his mother's side were wiped out by the Nazis.

The DISTURBED song "Never Again", from 2010's "Asylum" album, was written about the Holocaust and calls out people who deny it.

The United States Holocaust Museum has featured Draiman in its "Voices On Anti-Semitism" podcasts.

Asked by the Jerusalem Post about running into heavy metal fans who are anti-Semitic or sometimes even neo-Nazis, Draiman replied, "I'm incredibly defiant against neo-Nazis and skinheads," adding that he convinced one fan who used to come to the band's early shows in Chicago to get a swastika tattoo removed from his head after he learned that Draiman was Jewish.

Draiman has in the past battled with Twitter trolls who have harassed him about his sometimes-controversial views regarding Israel and its ongoing conflict with the Palestinians. Draiman has had frequent heated exchanges with followers on Twitter, some of whom believe that Israel is not blameless in the ongoing conflict with Palestinians.