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In Press Release

BRIDGES, NOT BOYCOTTS: The BDS movement’s reach goes much further than just pressuring Artists not to perform in Israel

The Meteor Festival in northern Israel opened on September 6 with dozens of artists from around the world. They included many performers who were pressured to boycott – such as Kamasi Washington, Pusha T, Soulwax, and Mura Masa – but instead created a space where Israeli fans of all backgrounds and opinions could set aside their differences and come together in peace.

Despite the incredible lineup and ultimate success of the event, we at Creative Community For Peace are deeply saddened that Lana Del Rey (and several others) decided to pull out of the festival and postpone their performances in Israel.

We recognize that Lana’s decision might have been made with the best of intentions. “It’s important to me to perform in both Palestine and Israel and treat all my fans equally,” she wrote on Twitter. “Unfortunately it hasn’t been possible to line up both visits with such short notice and therefore I’m postponing my appearance at the Meteor Festival until a time when I can schedule visits for both my Israeli and Palestinian fans, as well as hopefully other countries in the region.

Why is it difficult to perform for both Israelis and Palestinians?

Lana isn’t the first artist to try and fail to perform in both Israeli and Palestinian venues, nor to misunderstand the reason for the failure. In another high-profile incident in 2015, Ms. Lauryn Hill canceled her scheduled performance in Tel Aviv after she was unable to schedule a corresponding gig in Ramallah. “Setting up a performance in the Palestinian territory at the same time as our show in Israel proved to be a challenge,” she wrote on Facebook.

Like Lana Del Rey, who cited “short notice,” Lauryn Hill gave the impression that it was logistical or time constraints that prevented her from being able to set up both shows. However, apparently unbeknown to both artists, this is not the case. Even had they tried to set up both shows years in advance, they would have been unlikely to succeed, as the true culprit behind these failures is the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement and the pressure its activists exert on Palestinian concert venues not to welcome artists who perform in Israel.

Read the rest on the Jerusalem Post: https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Bridges-not-boycotts-567286

CCFP Staff
In Ignore

Colombian superstar Carlos Vives rebuffed BDS pressure, had a very special night in Tel Aviv

Despite facing weeks of intense pressure from supporters of the boycott Israel movement, Grammy Award-winning Colombian musician Carlos Vives (perhaps best-known in the USA for his collaboration with fellow Colombian superstar Shakira on their 2016 single “Bicicleta“) went ahead with his July 31 show in Tel Aviv, tweeting soon after that it was a very special night.

Over the past month, Carlos has been on a world tour, traveling across the globe to share his music with his fans. He performed in Chile, Costa Rica, Germany, and the United Kingdom without a hitch. When it came to his July 31 concert in Tel Aviv, however, he was attacked by activists attempting to make Israel — and only Israel — off limits to international artists.

BDS Colombia, the main anti-Israel group in Carlos’s home country, launched a petition calling on him not to perform in Tel Aviv. It attracted thousands of signatures and was circulated by boycott groups around the world. In the days and weeks leading up to his Tel Aviv show, boycott activists bombarded his social media accounts with misleading information about Israel, portraying it as an “apartheid state” and trying to force him to cancel his concert.

As an organization comprised of prominent members of the entertainment industry who are dedicated to promoting the arts as a means to peace and to countering the cultural boycott of Israel, CCFP jumped into action behind the scenes, offering our support to Carlos and his representatives. In the end, Carlos decided to rebuff the boycott pressure and join the many Latin American artists who have performed in Israel in recent years. These artists include Maluma, Wisin, Daddy Yankee, Bomba Estereo, Ricky Martin, Nicky Jam, and Carlos Santana, among others.

“We’ve traveled to many countries, looked for accordion music in other cultures different to ours,” Carlos said in a video posted to his Instagram account. “Languages and history, politics and culture separate us. But what unites is all is music.”

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