Tom Gross at NRO notes a facet about the late Lou Reed – who passed away Sunday after a long battle with liver failure – that has gotten rare mention in the media; he was one of New York’s few arts intelligentsia who were staunchly pro-Israel:<\/p>\n
I mention Reed\u2019s Jewishness because not a single obituary I have read of him in the mainstream press mentions it, when for Reed it was an important factor.<\/p>\n
Reed, who died yesterday of liver failure at the age of 71, was born Lewis Allan Reed to a Jewish family in Brooklyn. He said that while \u201che had no god apart from rock \u2018n\u2019 roll\u201d his Jewish roots and standing up for Israel meant a lot to him. He was a frequent visitor to the country, last performing in Tel Aviv in 2008, and his aunt and many cousins live in Haifa and other Israeli towns.<\/p>\n
Reed even had an Israeli spider named after him to thank him for his support for the country.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Like Gross, I remember his “Good Evening Mr. Waldheim”, from 1989’s\u00a0New York\u00a0<\/em>album.<\/p>\n