We at Creative Community For Peace (CCFP) have long admired the ability of art and music to bring people together. Art is our shared human language which can allow us to rise up above that which divides us in order to see what unites us on a deeper level. It lets us glimpse the world from different points of view, gain new perspectives, and wrestle with challenging ideas.

When it falls into the wrong hands, however, art can be misused to do the exact opposite; to divide people and perpetuate conflict, to push one ideology at the exclusion of all others and stamp out dissenting points of view.

Unfortunately, this is what we’re seeing from some Palestinian artists. A number of popular songs created by Palestinian musicians — and promoted widely by both Palestinian governments, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas — have been designed to incite violence against Israelis, widening the divide between the two peoples to the detriment of all in the region.

For example, in November of 2017, the official Palestinian Authority television channel broadcast a song which includes the lyrics, “Jerusalem is ours, and we are marching, and we will bring millions of martyrs,” as well as “[We] are soldiers until we break the Jews.”

Earlier in the year, a music video shown on Awdah TV, a station run by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement, included videos of violent protests and stabbing attacks, with lyrics encouraging Palestinians to become martyrs for Jerusalem by attacking Israelis.

During the uptick in violence in late 2015 and early 2016, known as the “knife intifada” or the “stabbing intifada,” songs that glorified stabbing attacks against Israelis were all the rage on the Palestinian street. The Times of Israel noted that anybody who spent time in Palestinian cities was sure to hear a song called “Lovers of Stabbing,” by a Palestinian band from Gaza, blaring from cars, stores, and restaurants.

According to the Palestinian Maan News, this song encouraged “Jerusalemites and revolutionaries in the West Bank to carry out stabbing operations and to kill settlers,” and these violent songs inspired young Palestinians to follow in the footsteps of the terrorists the songs glorify.

It’s truly disheartening to see artists — who have such a unique and powerful ability to promote unity — use their voices to incite violence and tear people apart.

We at CCFP don’t have a solution to this problem, but the first step is surely recognizing that there is one. We call on all artists — Israelis, Palestinians, and those from all over the world — to raise their voices against hate, and instead cry out for peace.

We — the undersigned artists and entertainment industry executives — are deeply disappointed that Lorde canceled her show in Tel Aviv after receiving pressure from the radical boycott Israel movement. Artists should never become beholden to the political views of a small but loud minority.

The boycott movement, while often painting itself as a movement for human rights, is actually a political movement ultimately aiming to extinguish the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people. Ignoring the many flaws in the other countries on Lorde’s world tour (including the US, the UK, and Russia), the movement singled out Israel —  and only Israel — for a boycott.

Over the past several years, many artists have come under the same pressure Lorde faced from this boycott group over the past week. Some have canceled their shows, but the vast majority — many hundreds, in fact — have stood strong. Recently, several artists have spoken out loudly and forcefully against the divisive, polarizing, and dictatorial nature of the boycott Israel movement.

“All of this creates divisive energy,” Thom Yorke of Radiohead said in June in response to the pressure he was receiving from boycott groups. “You’re not bringing people together. You’re not encouraging dialogue or a sense of understanding.”

The boycott movement is certainly not encouraging real dialogue or a sense of understanding. In fact, they are doing the exact opposite. The boycott movement has come out as a strong opponent of real dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians, even going so far as to denounce projects that work to bring young Israelis and Palestinians together through music.

“The kind of dialogue that they want to engage in is one that’s black or white,” Thom said. “I have a problem with that.”

Indeed, the entire narrative and worldview of the anti-Israel boycott movement is one that’s black or white, with no room for the shades of grey inherent in the immensely complex Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In their view, Israel is wrong and that’s the end of the story. As reasonable people realize, however, it is not quite that simple.

Artists are given a choice by boycott activists; either accept the entirety of the boycott narrative, which includes shockingly extreme and false accusations against Israel utilizing inflammatory language such as “apartheid” and “genocide,” and even comparing Israel’s actions to that of Nazi Germany, or become a target of relentless pressure and bullying.

“It suddenly became very important to make a stand against those people that are trying to shut down musicians, to bully musicians, to censor musicians, and to silence musicians,” Nick Cave said recently about his decision to perform in Israel in the face of boycott wrath.

Lorde became the target of that wrath, and we’re deeply disappointed that rather than rebuff the boycott movement and follow in the footsteps of Radiohead, Nick Cave, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Justin Timberlake, and many other artists who have chosen to build #BridgesNotBoycotts, she canceled her show.

We, the undersigned, and the more than thirty thousand people who have signed our anti-boycott petition, will continue to work for a more peaceful future for Palestinians, Israelis, and the entire region. We truly believe that art and music can and should be part of the solution.

The Museum on the Seam: Healing Jerusalem’s divides one exhibition at a time

By: Nick Lieber, Editorial Associate and Analyst, Creative Community For Peace

 

There is no shortage of creative and innovative projects working to build bridges between Israelis and Palestinians. For example, the Jerusalem YMCA Youth Choir brings people together through music; the Peres Center for Peace does so through sport; and the Museum on the Seam — which CCFP recently visited — uses socio-political contemporary art.

The Museum on the Seam is built — as its name attests — in an area referred to as “the seam,” which is an invisible line running through Jerusalem where the eastern side of the city, primarily populated by Palestinian Muslims, meets the western side, which is primarily populated by Israeli Jews.

After decades of national conflict, these places where Israelis and Palestinians intermingle can be places of tension and discord, and sometimes even violence. Some, however — including Raphie Etgar, the founder and chief curator of the Museum on the Seam — have seen their potential as places for nurturing togetherness and understanding.

The building the museum is housed in was formerly a military outpost stationed on the ceasefire line between Israel and Jordan, when the two countries controlled different parts of the city. Now, it houses socio-political contemporary art museum committed, in its own words, to “advancing dialogue in the face of discord and to encouraging social responsibility that is based on what we all have in common, rather than what keeps us apart.”

“This country bears so many conflicts and disagreements, every day, again and again,” Mr. Etgar told us. “Many good people in this country are trying their best to make a change and bring peace and common sense, or at least reduce the conflicts. This museum specifically, I thought to myself, would do the same thing but in a different way, and that is through art.”

For many years now, that is exactly what the museum has done; bridge gaps by facilitating dialogue and discussion through art exhibitions focusing on the social and political issues of the day. They don’t focus only on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but also on the various other conflicts present within Israeli society.

Their current exhibition, called “Thou Shalt Not,” examines the intersection between religion, which is often rooted in tradition and a disinclination toward change, and contemporary art, which serves as a mirror reflecting the rapidly changing times. The exhibit features works by 30 artists, half of whom are religious and half of whom are secular.

 

“We don’t think that our exhibitions are right or wrong, because this is not the point. The point is to put things on stage and let people discuss it. The discussion is the most important thing, because the discussion — if people do it the right way — brings them closer,” Mr. Etgar said. “The museum is here to let people meet, and maybe this is the way they will agree. If not on everything, then on something. And that is quite enough.”

In the past, their exhibitions have facilitated discussion on the problem of violence within Israeli society, the interaction between humans and nature, issues of discrimination, exploitation, and humiliation, and much more.

One of their most popular exhibitions, called “Coexistence,” was designed to bring a positive message of diversity and acceptance to the world community. It features works created by artists from all over the world and is still traveling to various locations, now having visited more than 30 cities.

As Mr. Etgar sees it, one of the most important things these exhibitions have demonstrated is that people, even those who would consider themselves enemies, are more closely connected than they might think.

“There’s always part of ‘the other’ in ourselves,” he said. “If you take the time to think about it, you’ll realize that even your enemy has some part in you. It might be the part that upsets you, makes you angry, makes you concerned, but this is the part that’s in you. It’s part of you and there’s nothing you can do about it. I believe that we don’t think completely isolated from all these parts that are included in us.”

At CCFP, we applaud the work that is being done to build bridges through art at the Museum on the Seam, and look forward to a more peaceful future.

Photo by Gage Skidmore, Wikimedia Commons.

 

In the recently released Warner Bros. film “Wonder Woman,” Diana learns about the evil that can live inside women and men, an evil that can push us to hatred and war. For a brief moment, she even has to wonder whether or not people are worth saving at all.

This past week, as we watched the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign sink to a new low, how could we not ask ourselves the same question? After applying sustained pressure, activists associated with this movement of hatred and propaganda successfully forced the governments of Lebanon and Tunisia to ban the screening of “Wonder Woman” in their countries. Why? Simply because its star — Gal Gadot — is from Israel.

We at Creative Community For Peace (CCFP) condemn in the strongest terms this blatant example of discrimination and political censorship. The arts should be used as a way to promote dialogue and build bridges for peace, yet BDS is using it as a pawn in their dangerous game of division.

BDS is not, despite what its activists would have one believe….

Read the rest of the piece HERE.

Natalie Imbruglia and the Desperation of BDS

By: Nick Lieber, Editorial Associate and Analyst, Creative Community For Peace

It’s been a sad year for supporters of the cultural boycott of Israel — and conversely, an excellent year for those of us who believe in artistic freedom and the power of the arts to build bridges for peace.

No artist has canceled a show in Israel due to pressure from the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement — a movement that seeks to isolate Israel in the international arena for the ultimate purpose of eliminating it as the Jewish state — since December of 2015, and its supporters are desperate to claim any victory they possibly can.

We at Creative Community For Peace (CCFP) — an organization comprised of prominent members of the entertainment industry dedicated to promoting the arts as a means to peace and to countering the cultural boycott of Israel — are constantly in touch behind the scenes and can confirm that Australian popstar Natalie Imbruglia canceled her March 1, 2017 concert in Tel Aviv for reasons completely unrelated to politics.

However, boycott supporters have continued to claim the opposite despite the lack of supporting evidence.

To read the rest of the piece on The Times of Israel, please click HERE.

 

Music industry boycott of Israel? Not so much

By: David Renzer and Steve Schnur

When we saw the article “Radiohead announce Israel gig despite industry boycott,” we at Creative Community For Peace (CCFP) — an organization comprised of prominent members of the entertainment industry dedicated to promoting the arts as a means to peace and to countering the attempted cultural boycott of Israel — couldn’t help but ask ourselves, “What industry boycott?”

Despite the many groups and individuals calling very loudly for a cultural boycott of Israel — as part of the strategy of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement to isolate Israel and ultimately eliminate it as the Jewish state — more than 800 international artists, from all corners of the industry, have performed in Israel over the last 5 years.

In 2016 alone, more than 230 international artists performed in the tiny country, including: The Chemical Brothers, Tiesto, Armin Van Buuren, Ricky Martin, Major Lazer, Queen and Adam Lambert, Eagles of Death Metal, Sia, Julian Marley, Carlos Santana, Joss Stone, Avicii, Tame Impala, Wiz Khalifa, Megadeath, Elton John, Deep Purple, Eroz Ramazzotti, Jason Derulo, Craig David, Donovan, Jethro Tull, Ibeyi, and Sean Paul, among many others.

To read the rest of the piece on The Times of Israel, please click HERE.

Rock Band BETTY Slams Boycott Groups in Exclusive Interview to CCFP

By: Nick Lieber, Editorial Associate and Analyst, Creative Community For Peace

Perhaps best known for their Broadway play “BETTY Rocks” and contributing the theme song to the television show “The L Word,” the band BETTY is fronted by three outspoken and dedicated female musicians who use their art and raise their voices “to strive for a better world through political and social activism,” as Amy Ziff, the cellist and one of the vocalists of the band, told Creative Community For Peace (CCFP).

At CCFP, an organization of prominent members of the entertainment industry dedicated to promoting the arts as a means to peace and to countering the cultural boycott of Israel, we believe that art is powerful. It is humanity’s shared language and allows us to connect on a deep and meaningful level, to encounter new and challenging ideas, and to make positive changes in society. BETTY clearly agrees.

“I think artists and musicians have the responsibility to help society in a myriad of ways,” Amy said when asked what the role of art and artists should be in the world. “We look forward to continuing to perform and host workshops around the world to empower women and girls, as well as people in the LGBTQ community, and to lend our voices for social change.”

BETTY has been fortunate enough to travel around the world, not only in their private capacity as independent musicians, but as American cultural ambassadors.

“We’ve had amazing and unique experiences everywhere we’ve gone,” Amy said. “Argentina, India, throughout Eastern Europe, the Baltic States, Mexico…to name a few.”

One place they had never performed — at least until this month — was Israel.

“We’ve always wanted to perform in Israel,” Amy told us before the show. “We are most excited about making a connection with people here in Israel, and we hope that our music and performance resonates with them.”

Connect and resonate, they did. And it won’t be too long before they return.

“We are really excited about the upcoming women’s festival here in Israel,” Amy said, referring to a new project scheduled to take place in October 2017, “bringing together American and Israeli artists for cultural exchange.”

And what do they have to say to those who are opposed to cultural exchange between Americans and Israelis and support a cultural boycott of Israel?

“People that wish to impose cultural boycotts on Israel are either misinformed about the country, or anti-Semites disguising themselves under a mask of “anti-Zionism,” Amy said.

We at Creative Community For Peace (CCFP) greatly appreciate BETTY’s commitment to equality and cultural exchange. We look forward to seeing them continue rocking out around the world.

The Radicalism of Roger Waters

Hatred and Discord at UCLA and a Campus Near You

Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters recently narrated a film entitled “The Occupation of the American Mind,” which purports to expose a vast conspiracy between the “Israeli government, the U.S. government, and the pro-Israel lobby…to shape American media coverage of the [Israeli-Arab] conflict in Israel’s favor.”

Other participants in the film include: Amira Hass, an Israeli journalist who has expressed support for deadly rock-throwing attacks against Israelis as a “birthright and duty” of the Palestinians; Max Blumenthal, whose anti-Israel tirades are favorites of the arch anti-Semite and white supremacist David Duke; and Stephen Walt, best-known as the author of a controversial book alleging that a pro-Israel lobby controls American foreign policy in the Middle East.

In fact, nearly every supposed expert participating in this film is at best highly critical of Israel — and at worst entirely hostile to Israel and her very right to exist — immediately ruling out any chance that it is meant to be a serious and balanced critique of a lack of diverse perspectives in the American media.

Waters himself has previously compared Israel to Nazi Germany, saying that when it comes to Israel, “the parallels with what went on in the 30’s in Germany are so crushingly obvious,” blamed a mythical “Jewish lobby” for a lack of support for his views within Hollywood and the wider United States (disturbingly mirroring anti-Semitic canards of extreme Jewish power), and downplayed and almost tacitly supported the firing of rockets into Israel by the Hamas terrorist organization.

But perhaps the best evidence that this film was created as pure propaganda rather than a scholarly pursuit is its stamp of approval from the group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). SJP is the leading anti-Israel organization on US campuses, well known for its radical views and tactics — which we at Creative Community For Peace (CCFP) would argue often infringe upon freedom of speech.

SJP makes a habit of disrupting and shutting down events which present narratives with which they disagree. Just this year, SJP chapters have disrupted events from Georgetown to UC Irvine, from the University of Maryland to the University of New Mexico — among many others — that were deemed to be too pro-Israel.

Earlier this year, for example, SJP at UC Irvine was chastised by university administrators for violating student conduct policies after disrupting the screening of an Israeli film. In 2014, the SJP chapter at Loyola University in Chicago was suspended for blocking Jewish students from attending an event. And that same year, SJP at UCLA was reprimanded by the president of the University of California system for violating the principles of “civility, respect, and inclusion.”

Today, Waters himself is set to participate in a screening of the film with SJP at UCLA. Isn’t it rather telling that this film — criticizing the media for only showing one narrative, highlighting only one side of a complex conflict, is being screened by an organization that makes a habit of silencing all narratives but their own?

That a cohort of those who have expressed their desire to eradicate Israel as the Jewish homeland has produced a film without balance is no surprise. But to those us us who wish to build bridges, it is quite disheartening.

This film may soon be coming to a campus near you, bringing a myopic narrative — which is counterproductive to the nuances a peace resolution requires —  in the hope of isolating Israel in the form of boycotts, helping to deny Israelis and Palestinians the opportunity to achieve the diplomacy and dialogue so necessary needed to form the mutual respect, compromise, and cooperation on which the road to peace will ultimately be paved.

As always, we at CCFP — an organization comprised of prominent entertainment industry executives devoted to promoting the arts as a means to peace and to countering the cultural boycott of Israel — are disappointed that Roger Waters, who could do such good in the world by raising his voice for peace, has instead chosen to align himself with the voices of hatred and discord.

Why Artists Can’t Perform in Israel & Palestinian Territories

By: Nick Lieber, Editorial Associate and Analyst, Creative Community For Peace

Last year, to our great disappointment, American musician Ms. Lauryn Hill canceled her scheduled concert in Israel, citing her inability to also perform in the Palestinian Territories.

“When deciding to play the region, my intention was to perform in both Tel Aviv and Ramallah,” she wrote on Facebook, announcing the cancellation of her show. “Setting up a performance in the Palestinian Territory, at the same time as our show in Israel, proved to be a challenge.”

What was missed in the ensuing uproar, the praise she received for supporting justice or the criticism for singling out Israel, was the reason it proved to be such a challenge in the first place.

Ms. Lauryn Hill was hardly the first musician to try and fail to perform in both Israel and the Palestinian Territories, and, unless something changes, she certainly won’t be the last.

So what’s the problem? Did they all have simple scheduling conflicts? Perhaps they were unlucky finding available Palestinian venues? Did the Israeli military prevent them from performing there?

From her vague message, it could have been any or all of them, when, in fact, it was none.

The truth is that artists are unable to perform both in Tel Aviv and Ramallah because Palestinian venues, due to pressure from the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), refuse to host anybody who has performed in Israel.

As Ali Abunimah, a leading BDS activist and founder of the Electronic Intifada, notes, PACBI welcomes visits by musicians, but not if those visits are accompanied by visits to Israel or attempts to facilitate dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians.

PACBI’s message is clear: You must choose one or the other. You can’t perform for both Israelis and Palestinians. You can only perform for either Israelis or Palestinians.

We saw echoes of this dangerous and divisive message in 2013, when Alicia Keys performed in Dubai after her concert in Tel Aviv. PACBI urged the venue in Dubai to cancel her show and “tell her that she is not welcome in Arab countries,” simply because she performed in Israel. We saw it again last year when the Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel in Lebanon (CBSI) called on the Lebanese people to boycott Chris Brown’s show if he continued with his performance in Israel, which he did.

Ms. Lauryn Hill, on the other hand, decided to cancel her performance “and seek a different strategy to bring [her] music to ALL of [her] fans in the region.”

At Creative Community For Peace (CCFP), we were disappointed that Ms. Lauryn Hill chose to punish her Israeli fans for the hypocrisy and intolerance of a Palestinian organization. We reject PACBI’s black and white narrative that you’re either with Israel or the Palestinians.

Unless and until PACBI is challenged, and their “you’re with us or against us” mentality is called out and rejected, it is unlikely that anybody will be able to perform for all of their fans in the region.

Until then, the many hundreds of musicians who have performed in Israel, including Justin Timberlake, Rihanna, Elton John, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Alan Parsons, Brian Wilson, Craig David, Jason Derulo, and Suzanne Vega will continue to find themselves barred from Palestine.

Artists Bid Farewell to Shimon Peres

By: Nick Lieber, Editorial Associate and Analyst, Creative Community For Peace (CCFP)

“Dear friends,” Shimon Peres said to Barack and Michelle Obama three years ago, “after everything I have seen in my life, I earned the right to believe that peace is attainable.”

Believe in peace, he surely did. And for the last few decades of his life, the once prime minister and president, who passed away this week at the age of 93, fought strongly for it.

We at Creative Community For Peace (CCFP) join world leaders and Hollywood artists — many of whom have met President Peres — in mourning his passing and celebrating the enduring legacy of peace he leaves behind.

“In memory of this remarkable human being, Shimon Peres,” Madonna wrote with a photo she posted on Instagram. “A symbol of peace not only for Israel but for the Middle East and the rest of the world.”

“I am deeply saddened at the news of the passing of Former President of Israel Shimon Peres. The world has suffered a great loss,” wrote disco diva Gloria Gaynor, who performed in Israel last July. “My prayers go out to his family, friends, and countless people who have benefited from his life’s work of commitment to peace in Israel and beyond.”

“Godspeed my friend,” said actress Sharon Stone, who together with actor Robert DeNiro, was a guest of honor at the Presidential Conference hosted by President Peres in Jerusalem in 2013.

 

“R.I.P. Shimon Peres,” actor Michael Douglas shared on Facebook. “We spoke on a panel in 2015 when I visited Israel to receive the Genesis Prize. He was an extraordinary man of peace. I send my deepest condolences to his family and to the people of Israel.”

“President Shimon Peres was a voice of reason who also happened to have the sensibility of a poet…thoughtful and soft-spoken, but his words echoed loudly around the world,” singer Barbra Streisand said. “His mind was expansive and his heart was compassionate. He was a brilliant statesman, gifted with the ability to listen to others who did not share his views and still remained determined to find a path forward.”

 

Actress Morgan Fairchild called his death a great loss for Israel, for the world, and for peace. Paula Abdul, who met President Peres in 2013 and famously called him “sababa” (Israeli slang for “cool”), said “I’m deeply grieved that Shimon Peres has passed away. Going to Israel was life-changing for me [and] I treasure the memory of my visit [with] him. Shimon Peres’ warmth [and] kindness moves my heart to this day.”

The loss has been taken particularly hard by Israeli artists. The story of President Peres’s life was the story of Israel itself. He served as an inspiration and a source of hope for the people of the embattled country desperately wanting a better future for the entire region.

“A visionary. A man of peace. A friend of all people,” Israeli actress Gal Gadot, best known for her roles in The Fast and the Furious and Wonder Woman, wrote on Twitter. “Goodbye dear Shimon, your memory is cherished and your legacy lives on.”

A visionary. A man of peace. A friend of all people.
Goodbye dear Shimon, your memory is cherished and your legacy lives on. pic.twitter.com/TEYaXzKySF

— Gal Gadot (@GalGadot) September 28, 2016

“I have had the privilege to know a rare man [whose] contribution to Israel is impossible to explain in words,” Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli said. “Rest in peace, dear man.”

Though President Peres is gone, we can — and at CCFP we will — ensure that his legacy lives on by continuing to work for the peace he long desired. We believe in the power of the arts and culture to build bridges toward peace.