Disturbed frontman David Draiman. Photo: RPS via Wikimedia Commons

Disturbed frontman David Draiman said in a new podcast interview that he gives no attention to supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel and they’ve in return come to realize that they’ll never be able to convince him not to perform in the Jewish state.

“F__k them. I don’t care. They know I don’t care, that’s why they don’t bother me,” the Jewish musician said during his guest appearance last week on the Sarai Talk Show, a new podcast hosted by human rights activist and former Miss Iraq Sarah Idan. He added, “I have 2,000 relatives living in Israel. I have parents, my brother, uncles, aunts, cousins — you’re really gonna try to say something to me about BDS? It makes no sense.”

Disturbed will embark on a world tour in April for its new album Divisive and will make a stop in Israel for a concert. It will be Draiman’s second time performing in the country and the heavy metal musician, whose maternal grandmother has Yemenite Jewish roots, said he is “excited” to visit Israel again.

Draiman is an avid supporter of Israel and also a member of the non-profit organization Creative Community for Peace, which promotes efforts to use the arts as a means to create peace and coexistence, as well as support against the cultural boycott of Israel.

Idan further asked Draiman about BDS supporters pressuring many artists in the past to not perform in Israel as a show of solidarity with Palestinians. The Sound of Silence singer expressed his own frustration by noting how ironic it is “that there’s not a single band that has played in Israel that has seen a negative impact whatsoever other than a whole lot of people being loudmouths online. It hasn’t negatively impacted their ticket sales [or] their record sales. If anything it increased them.”

He told Idan he thinks Israeli fans are “amazing and dedicated” and said he believes that music “should be the entity that brings people together, not continues to separate. It should build bridges and it’s not supposed to be something you withhold from people.”

He said regarding artists who feel pressured to not perform in Israel: “People need to learn to shut out the noise and do what they need to do for themselves, for the fans, for the music and for the sake of spreading this amazing gift they’ve been given to as many people as they can.”

Draiman also talked with Idan about the start of his musical career. When the podcast host asked if he always knew he wanted to be a singer, he replied, “It called to me. I was singing since I was tiny. I was singing with my grandparents and my parents at the Sabbath dinner tables and I was the leader of the congregation in prayer. I was trained as a cantor as a young man. That’s where I got my original training as a singer, learning to lead the Jewish congregation in prayer as a cantor.”

The musician added that although he is not religious, he is a “very proud Jew” and has “great respect” for his heritage. He explained, “I have a love of my people and my heritage and my family. And that is really what I think will end up counting.”

Listen to Sarah Idan’s full interview with David Draiman in the video below.