The activists were ordered to pay damages of $18,000 by Israeli court for the cancellation of singer Lorde's concert in Tel Aviv last June. 

New Zealand activists, Justine Sachs and Nadia Abu-Shanab, were ordered to pay an $18,000 New Zealand dollar fine (around €10,000) to three Israeli teenagers for writing an open letter to Lorde. In the letter which they wrote in December, they told Lorde playing "a performance in Israel sends the wrong message. Playing in Tel Aviv will be seen as giving support to the policies of the Israeli government, even if you make no comment on the political situation." You can read the letter in full here.

Lorde went on to cancel her June performance. The Israeli court responded last week to the cancellation of the gig, by fining the activists for damaging the "artistic welfare" of Israel. In response, Sachs and Abu-Shanab set up a crowdfunding campaign and the donations have been rolling in ever since. The pair now plan to not pay the fine they were charged with, but instead will be donating the $29,000 (over €16,000) to the Gaza Mental Health Foundation.  

Sachs has been tweeting the news to her followers on Twitter, thanking everyone who contributed to the fund: "I'm so proud and humbled by the public support, solidarity, and generosity! We live in truly dark times where it is easy to feel cynical and fatalistic." You can read all of Sachs' follow-up tweets below:


The Israeli court have yet to comment on the situation.