Law expert says Government should intervene in lawsuit against Kiwis over Lorde

  • 01/02/2018
NZ Government must fight back against Israeli legal action against the Spinoff over Lorde article, says law expert.
Lorde Photo credit: Getty

An international law expert has rubbished an overseas attempt to sue two New Zealanders after they copped the blame for Lorde cancelling her concert in Israel.

The Shurat HaDin Israel Law Centre has launched a lawsuit against Justine Sachs and Nadia Abu-Shanab, due to the perception they convinced Lorde to cancel her concert in Israel.

The pair penned an opinion piece for The Spinoff, asking Lorde to cancel a planned concert in Tel Aviv and she tweeted a response to the article, saying she was "considering all options".

Soon after, on Christmas Day, Lorde confirmed the concert was cancelled.

Law expert Alexander Gillespie called the suit "an outrage" and said the Government should have a frank conversation with the Israeli ambassador about the suit's attack on our free speech.

"The New Zealand Government should definitely be calling in the Israeli Ambassador to have a very direct conversation over a cup of tea about this matter," he told Three's The Project.

"It's not acceptable that another country is threatening our own citizens' freedom of speech in our country."

Watch the video for the full The Project interview.