Two New Zealand BDS activists have rejected an order by an Israeli court to pay damages for writing an open letter which led to Lorde cancelling a concert in Tel Aviv.

Justine Sachs, who is Jewish, and Nadia Abu-Shanab, who is of Palestinian descent, were ordered to pay 45,000 shekels (about £9,000) for causing mental harm to three Israeli teenagers who had purchased tickets to the show.

The teenagers — Shoshana Steinbach, Ayelet Wertzel and Ahuva Frogel — claimed their “artistic welfare” was damaged because of the cancellation and that they suffered “damage to their good name as Israelis and Jews”.

In December 2017 Lorde cancelled her planned June 2018 concert after a social media campaign sparked by the open letter.

The lawsuit is the first ruling to cite a 2011 Israeli anti-boycott law that allows civil action against entities who call for a boycott of the state.

Ms Sachs and Ms Abu-Shanab said they believed the legal action was "a stunt of which the sole intention is to intimidate Israel's critics”, Haaretz reported.

The pair said: “Our advice from New Zealand legal experts has been clear: Israel has no right to police the political opinions of people across the world.”

Legal experts said the judgement was not automatically enforceable under New Zealand law, and the chance of the women being compelled to pay damages was unlikely as they were not in Israel when they wrote the open letter and did not participate in the court process in any way.

A spokesperson for the New Zealand ministry of foreign affairs said it would be up to the courts of New Zealand to decide whether the claim for damages was enforceable.

In December Ms Sachs and Ms Abu-Shanab wrote that the concert would be interpreted as “giving support to the policies of the Israeli government, even if [Lorde] makes no comment on the political situation.”