Reconciling Reconciliation

Boycotts That Deserve To Backfire

Pressure from supporters of a boycott against Israel led organizers of an academic conference in December 2018 on “Recognition, Reparation, Reconciliation: The Light and Shadow of Historical Trauma” at South Africa’s Stellenbosch University to disinvite seven professors from three universities in Israel. One of the participants was a Palestinian, Mohammed Dajani, who founded ‘Wasatia’ which aims to bring both Israeli and Palestinian public opinion closer “to having more faith in negotiations and dialogue with each realising that the cake needs to be shared not trampled on.”

In an exclusive article for Lay Of The Land (LOTL), Prof. Mohammed Dajani explains his position why it was so important for him and the six Israelis to participate and how wrong the South African organisations were to oppose their participation.

By Prof. Mohammed Dajani

South Africa has long been a global symbol of the possibility of emerging from a turbulent and conflict ridden past to a hopeful future built on the spirit of reconciliation between its peoples.

It has been the hope of many, including Palestinians and Israelis, to replicate the successful transition towards peace and democracy that South Africa did.

South Africa has always had the potential to play a meaningful role as a negotiator between Israelis and Palestinians. The iconic former President and anti-Apartheid activist, Nelson Mandela, was living proof that reconciliation between historical enemies was possible.

South Africa is a country that I was excited to visit in 2016 to promote peace. Peace is the solution that both Palestinians and Israelis yearn for but there are elements that will do anything to ensure that the normalization of ties between our two peoples never happens. It is not just the fundamentalist elements within both Israeli and Palestinian society that would rather peace not happen, but in the Rainbow nation as well.

The BDS (Boycott Divestment and Sanctions) movement, has found fertile ground in South Africa and is extremely vocal in their support in the breaking down of any constructive and productive dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians. In fact, one could go as far as to deem them anti-normalisation and anti-peace.

Peace will be built from the ground up and through Palestinians and Israelis engaging with each other. This is how we recover from historical traumas.

The reluctance of BDS and their allies to support peaceful endeavours was evident recently when I along with an Israeli colleague, was invited to participate in a conference titled Recognition, Reparation, Reconciliation: The Light and Shadow of Historical Trauma at the University of Stellenbosch. South Africa is always a favoured stop on my lecture circuit because of the historical symbolism of reconciliation and I thought that this conference was a fitting place for my message of peace.

My Israeli colleague and I were asked “not to participate” and were told that it was “a political matter of not allowing the normalisation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict by means of discussions about reconciliation, empathy and forgiveness while Israel continues to attack Gaza and place it under siege, occupy the West Bank, kill and torture Palestinian activists, and deny human rights to people who have been dispossessed of their land”.

There was not attempt to hear the reality of the situation from people who live in the region or give my Israeli colleague and I an attempt to bring context and fact to discussion. This has also robbed participants of the opportunity to ask important questions and engage in meaningful dialogue and does not have the interests of the Palestinian people at heart.

I have endured my fair share of criticism as an academic but never have I had my credibility or identity as a Palestinian doubted before. To accuse me of not being a “genuine Palestinian” because I seek peace and engage with Israelis or Jewish communities around the world is extraordinarily myopic and one can see how preposterous it is for an organization that says it is concerned with human rights to be so set against dialogue and reconciliation.

The irony of not being allowed to speak at a conference which puts this discussion at the forefront of its agenda is such a lost opportunity to promote healing and understanding. It is also counter-productive to academia to not encourage diversity of opinions. It would appear that any contrary opinion to that expressed above is not welcome.

This is deeply troubling for a country that once prided itself in setting the benchmark for discourse.

If there is to be any solution and if South Africa intends to play a meaning ful role, then all voices need to be present at the table. This would not only be in the best interests of Israelis and Palestinians but also academia – after all, this is where future peace makers are shaped.

Original Article

CCFP Staff In Cultural Boycott

The Battle For Cultural Freedom

By Simon Johnson, Jewish Telegraph

As a teenager in Bury in the 1980’s, it was almost obligatory to be a fan of The Smiths. From the moment that the first thrilling chords of “What Difference does it make” rolled across the school common room, I was a fan. And if you were a fan of The Smiths, then you came to know well the idiosyncrasies and utterances of their lead singer, Morrissey.

Through his equally successful solo career after The Smiths, Morrissey has luxuriated in his idiosyncratic attitudes and contrary comments. Those of us who are fans are well used to these and take them with a grain of salt, as evidence of Morrissey’s individual world view. In the last two weeks, though, his contrariness in relation to Israel has exposed him to the wrath of the “Boycotteers”- three ageing entertainers- Roger Waters, Brian Eno and Ken Loach- of whom, more later.

Morrissey, in recent years, has become a fan of Israel. He has played there a number of times and was shown enthusiastically performing whilst draped in an Israeli flag. It clearly had an impact on his creativity as two tracks on his new solo album are inspired by his experiences- They are called “Israel”and “The girl from Tel Aviv who would not kneel”. He has taken on the Boycotteers in the public arena, and stuck to his guns in playing in Israel.

He is not the only one. In recent weeks and months, there has been a stream of artists thumbing their noses at the Boycotteers and playing in Israel.

When I returned from Israel on business earlier this month, I discovered, whilst at Baggage Reclaim, that I had returned on the same flight as Boy George and Culture Club, who had just played an hugely successful gig in Israel. In the last couple of weeks, Nick Cave performed in Israel, and earlier in the summer, Radiohead played a series of dates.

There are, of course, many artists who play in Israel. I have drawn attention to these four artists since their decision to play in Israel stirred the ancient slumbering forms of The Boycotteers- Messrs Waters, Eno and Loach- whose wrath has been incurred. They have engaged in public attacks on the artists, and are beginning to realise that their world view, expounding cultural boycotts of Israel, is not necessarily shared by Artists in the generation below them.

You see, the Boycotteers do not like Artists to play in Israel. They advocate a cultural boycott of Israel and display churlish indignation when an artist does not heed their tiresome and predictable calls for a boycott.

Messrs Waters, Eno and Loach are stuck fighting the ideological battles of the 1970’s. Their concern for the plight of the Palestinian people has prompted them to reach into the radical’s box of tricks from the 1970’s. They have a misty eyed recollection of their battles against Apartheid in South Africa. And because, in their particular view of the world, Israel displays similar behaviour, then the old tactics of boycotts and isolation, can be dusted off and applied to Israel.

They use the Left’s favoured euphemistic sophistry, and describe this as a question of human rights. They think that boycotting and isolating the Israeli people is the only way to make the Israeli Government change their policies.

The problem for the Boycotteers, though, is that the next generation of artists do not see things through the same foggy and cracked lenses. There is a growing generation of artists who believe that culture can be used to build bridges, rather than create division.

So, the Boycotteers lash out publicly at any Artist who dares to disagree with them. Nick Cave is the latest to have felt the public wrath of Roger Waters. But Culture Club got the same. And, in the summer, Thom Yorke, lead singer of Radiohead, also hit back at a public rebuke from the Boycotteers. These recent exchanges have set out clearly the difference of perspective of those who see Boycotts as a means of effecting change and those who reject boycotts as only sowing division.

Morrissey, Nick Cave, Culture Club and Radiohead know that to play in a country does not signify agreement with the Government of that country. Artists have tremendous power. Any of these artists could use the freedom of speech which Israel affords to level bitter criticism at the Government if they wanted. This is their right. I recall one of my favourite bands, REM, being so upset at the direction of US Government policy, that they wrote the song “Bad Day” and proceeded to play it around the US, the world and on prime time TV.

Increasing numbers of artists know that boycotts create division and do nothing to promote peace or coexistence. They realise that Israel is a thriving commercial market, with knowledgeable, passionate fans, and they increasingly want to play there. What they also realise is that playing in Israel actively affords them the right to put across their political views if they choose to do so. They also realise that boycotting a country is a blunt, tired instrument that does nothing to put across their political view.

The Boycotteers hate that they can not just snap their fingers and have younger artists meekly do what they say and boycott Israel. It is instructive to read their increasingly desperate “open letters” to artists such as Nick Cave. Their arguments are repetitive and one can sense their anger rising as they write with incredulity that an artist should not simply do what these “great” men say.

In fact, their efforts have been counterproductive. Nick Cave said that he was playing in Israel because of BDS. What a way of putting a metaphorical two fingers up at the Boycotteers.

The tide is turning. Waters, Eno and Loach are on the wrong side of this debate now. The superb work of groups like Culture for Coexistence and Creative Communities for Peace is helping to cement the message that boycotts create division and it is only through cultural engagement that peace and cooexistence can be fostered.

Meanwhile, Morrissey is being abused on social media for his inclusion of songs about Israel on his album. My advice is, to have a listen to “Every Day is like Sunday”, and then get on social media and support him. Oh, and why not buy his album? It is not often that Israel and Tel Aviv are part of the titles of songs!

CCFP Staff In Cultural Boycott

‘Wish you weren’t here’: Is Roger Waters a peace activist or an anti-Semite?

The ex-Pink Floyd front man’s passionate calls for a cultural boycott of Israel are the subject of a new documentary. Director Ian Halperin says Waters must be held to account for his actions

By Nirit Anderman | Oct. 30, 2017 | 11:56 PM

He’s written some of the greatest songs of all time, fronted one of the most influential and successful groups in the history of rock’n’roll and his “The Wall Live” tour was the highest-grossing for a solo artist. Yet despite this, Roger Waters infuriates a lot of people.

The decision by the former Pink Floyd singer-bassist to become a political personality and exploit his fame and status to fight Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians drives ardent Zionists crazy – they see him as an enemy of Israel who is damaging the Jewish state’s reputation.

Now, a Jewish-Canadian filmmaker has decided to take off the gloves and go head-to-head with the venerable musician, stating unequivocally that Roger Waters is an anti-Semite.

Investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker Ian Halperin, 53, calls his new film “Wish You Weren’t Here,” riffing on one of Pink Floyd’s biggest hits while launching an unapologetic, all-out assault on a member of one of the most respected rock bands ever.

In the documentary – which just toured select Canadian cinemas – Halperin conducts a long series of interviews with subjects who each explain why Waters isn’t a performing artist touring the world with a legitimate political agenda, but instead is an anti-Semite who uses the stage to spread hatred and lies about Israel, and about Jews in general.

The documentary also tries to sketch a contemporary portrait of global anti-Semitism, which is raising its head in various countries, marking Waters as the undisputed leader spearheading this focused assault.

One of the talking heads, David Renzer, says Waters must be taken seriously because he remains one of the most important performing artists in the world, and comes from a legendary band that still gives him an abundance of credibility.

Renzer is the former head of Universal Music Publishing Group (the second largest music company in the world) and one of the founders of Creative Community for Peace, a group established by members of the U.S. entertainment industry to combat the cultural boycott of Israel.

Renzer says he can’t judge Waters’ personal motives, but can relate to things he’s said and actions he’s taken. The music exec accuses Waters of saying “some extreme things,” like how Israel treats the Palestinians worse than the way the Nazis treated the Jews. Renzer adds that someone with such an extreme viewpoint is not a “credible person.”

In recent years, Waters has become one of the art world’s central figures in the fight to persuade other artists to join the cultural boycott of Israel. Indeed, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement obtained Waters’ permission to use his name on letters they send out to various artists, according to Halperin.

When the director asks former British Prime Minister Tony Blair whether the comparison Waters makes between Israel and Nazi Germany is an anti-Semitic act, Blair answers in the affirmative. Blair says the criticism Waters directs at Israel is so ridiculous, it reaches the point where it expresses a basic hostility to the idea of a homeland for the Jewish people.

Halperin first rose to prominence in December 2008, when he was one of the first to claim Michael Jackson was suffering from a serious medical condition. He predicted that Jackson had only six months to live, and the singer indeed died in June 2009. Halperin’s biography, “Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson,” topped the New York Times bestseller list.

Halperin also wrote “Hollywood Undercover,” in which he pretended to be a gay actor and also infiltrated the Church of Scientology (becoming one of the first journalists to do so). He also wrote two books examining the death of Kurt Cobain, exploring the theory that the Nirvana front man was murdered rather than committed suicide, as well as books about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Celine Dion and others.

In recent years, he’s turned his eye toward making documentaries. In a phone interview with Haaretz, Halperin explains that the impetus for his film came after he heard Waters comparing Israel to the apartheid regime in South Africa.

“When I first heard that Waters was singling out Israel and calling for boycotts,” Halperin says, “I was appalled – because I knew that Israel was by far the most democratic country in the Middle East; that it respects women’s rights, gay rights; there’s over 2 million Israeli Arabs and they all have votes, some sit in the Knesset.

“I was just wondering why he is comparing the two countries when South Africa was a two-class system and Israel is not. Sure, the policies of Israel you can criticize, but to call for a boycott against the most democratic country in the Middle East to me is misleading – and he has to be held accountable for it.”

Halperin admits he’s no expert on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but says he is an expert “about being the son of a Holocaust survivor. And my father hid in a hole in the ground for seven years [in Poland] when he was 6 years old. To have somebody like Roger Waters compare Israel to Nazi Germany was the biggest insult to the memory of 6 million innocent Jewish people who died. It really shows to me that he’s an anti-Semite and that he has an agenda not only against Israel, but against the Jewish people.”

Propaganda techniques

Halperin wouldn’t let Haaretz view the entire film and instead sent a video link showing the first 32 minutes; he claims this was an instruction from the producers (the complete documentary is 96-minutes). He also plans to screen the documentary in Israel and is set to visit these shores next month for a private screening. No date has been set for a public Israeli screening.

The opening scene in “Wish You Weren’t Here” makes for uncomfortable viewing, being reminiscent of propaganda techniques that don’t shy away from using any means necessary to frighten viewers.

“Global harassment of Jews has reached a seven-year high,” say captions that appear on the screen in blazing red, bloodlike colors, sprayed onto the screen, flashing the words “Paris,” “Hollywood,” “Iran” and “BDS” in rapid succession. It’s hard not to imagine that a certain prime minister who would have been only too happy to screen this during his speech at the UN General Assembly.

This intro is followed by an array of news reports about anti-Semitic attacks worldwide, as captions present the numbers of anti-Semitic attacks in different countries in 2016: 1,309 in the United Kingdom; 1,266 incidents in the United States; 644 in Germany and 294 in France.

“What is it about Roger? Why is he so bugged about Israel?” wonders the narrator. Then in a speech at an UN conference, the veteran rock star is seen talking about violations of international law that Israel is committing and how it prevents Palestinians from obtaining their rights. He calls for an end to the Israeli occupation in the territories and for granting the Palestinians the right to self-determination.

Waters is clearly investing great efforts to promote a cultural boycott of Israel – but without much success, according to this documentary. As proof, we are offered a long list of artists who performed in Israel over the summer months, including Aerosmith, Justin Bieber, Tears for Fears and Guns N’ Roses. And in order to present arguments for and against the boycott, Halperin’s film dwells on this summer’s highly publicized spat between Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Waters, who tried to dissuade the singer and his band from performing in Tel Aviv.

Flying pigs with Stars of David

Halperin says that when he started researching Waters, “I found out that he had pigs floating around at his concert with the Star of David emblazoned upon them. If he’d been doing that at his concerts with a Muslim crescent, he wouldn’t get out of the arena alive.

“But for some reason, this guy’s able to get away with it when it comes to the Jewish people. I’ll be honest, all kidding aside, I’m not a proctologist but I know an asshole and jerk when I see one – and Roger Waters is that.

“He’s making a huge mistake, [and] he owes Israel and the Jewish people a huge apology. Because what he’s doing is bringing hatred and negative stereotypes of Israel and the Jewish people to masses. He’s the highest-grossing solo artist of all time on this tour – more than Madonna, Bruce Springsteen or Michael Jackson.”

The flying pigs are in fact a motif that has accompanied Pink Floyd’s live shows since 1977: gigantic, pig-shaped inflatables that float above the stage and audience. After he left the band in 1985, following bitter arguments and prolonged legal disputes with the other members, Waters continued using the pigs in his solo shows.

At a July 2013 concert in Belgium, the pigs were stamped with a Star of David – leading to a huge public outcry, with many people accusing Waters of anti-Semitism. On the other hand, the pigs have over the years also previously borne such diverse symbols as the hammer and sickle, the U.S. dollar sign, the McDonald’s logo and even the image of U.S. President Donald Trump.

It’s OK for someone to have different political opinions than yours. Where do you draw the line between anti-Semitism and somebody who just sees Israel in a different light?

“I’m a big proponent of the First Amendment. I’m the first person to say, ‘Hey, if you want to criticize Israel and its policies, no problem.’ But if you call for a boycott against Israel, which is by far the most democratic country in the Middle East, and if you have pigs flying around with the Jewish symbol, the Star of David, and if you make all these crazy statements that Israel has to be given back and stuff like that, I have a big problem with it. I think there are bigger human rights violators than Israel in the world – if [Waters] is so concerned about human rights, why doesn’t he target Iran, Syria, China, Russia?

“The [other] problem I have is when he calls Israel an apartheid system – and that to me is completely false, because I am an expert on that subject. I was very instrumental in the campaign to free Nelson Mandela, and it is completely apples and oranges. South Africa was a two-class system; Israel is not. In Israel, everybody has a vote, everybody can run for office.”

Except for the Palestinians.

“There’s more than two million Israeli Arabs living in Israel. They all have votes, and some sit in parliament. That’s not what South Africa was about.”

The good Arab

The world premiere of “Wish You Weren’t Here” took place in Toronto on October 2, in association with B’nai B’rith Canada. Together with Halperin, the organization decided that the film’s critical content in itself wasn’t enough, so they turned the screenings themselves into acts of protest.

Since Waters was in Canada on his latest world tour in October, the organizers decided to follow him and screen the documentary everywhere he was performing, showing it on the same evening, in the same city. Six such screenings have taken place, including in Quebec City, Ottawa and Montreal. Halperin says the crowds at these screenings have been “mixed,” with Jews, Palestinians and “some people who are curious about it.”

The movie includes interviews with Pope Francis, the Jewish-American billionaire Ronald Lauder, the Jewish-American jurist Alan Dershowitz and many others. Some have thought-provoking things to say: Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky, for example, questions the decision to boycott Israel, of all countries, pointing to the conflicts in Syria and Iraq.

By contrast, other parts of the film provoke discomfort and embarrassment. One cabdriver, supposedly representing a typical Palestinian, defends Israel, saying that it isn’t just killing Palestinians randomly, but is only doing so to defend Israeli homes.

A psychologist is called upon to comment on the fact that Waters’ father was killed while serving as a British soldier in Italy during World War II, when Waters was only 5 months old. She offers a particularly excruciating psychological analysis: Apparently, this trauma makes Waters identify with victims, not wanting to believe that his father died in vain. This then leads him to conclude that the Nazis were right when they set out to kill the Jews. Come on, really?

Waters himself is not interviewed in the film, but many minutes are devoted to excerpts from old recorded speeches. Halperin says he approached Waters for an interview or for comments, but that nobody from Waters’ camp responded. The director claims, though, that critics who’ve seen the film tell him it was very fair, since he also presents Waters’ side of the story – even interviewing people like Naomi Klein and Noam Chomsky who support Waters’ views. “It’s not a hatchet job at all,” says Halperin.

The director insists that when Waters ends the Canadian leg of his tour this month, he won’t be pursuing him elsewhere with his documentary, noting that he’s already in production on two other films. “I’m not obsessed with Roger Waters,” he laughs.

Halperin and B’nai B’rith’s protest against Waters over the past month joined the pro-Israel protest that has been accompanying the musician’s North American tour. In June, the Zionist Organization of America tried to arrange a counter-boycott – turning to several stadium-owning U.S. companies with a request not to allow Waters to perform in them. This failed.

Subsequently, several attempts were also made through the courts to prevent Waters’ performing in Long Island, claiming this contravened a local law against the BDS movement. This attempt also failed, though, and the performance was held last month as scheduled.

A few days later, pro-Israel demonstrators were stationed outside two Waters performances in Brooklyn and New Jersey. The protesters paraded 12-foot-high inflatable Pinocchio dolls, bearing signs paraphrasing a classic Pink Floyd song: “Roger Waters: We don’t need your lies about Israel.”

Halperin says he has no link to these demonstrations. “I have no time to hold a picket sign against Roger Waters, who I do consider a good artist, I gotta be honest,” he says. “I like his show, except for his politics. I mean, I respect anybody who’s 74 years old who is jumping around on stage for three hours with a decent show. But no, I’m not in front of his house every day with picket signs.”

What about your film’s funding? Did Jewish organizations help finance it?

“I like when people mention the funding,” he laughs, “because I could be a prick and say, ‘Hey, who funds your life? Who buys your groceries?’ Look, fortunately I’ve sold millions of books; my films have been seen in 180 countries so most of it I funded myself. There isn’t one main Jewish organization or anything, I have no time for that.

“I’m a person that puts my money where my mouth is, and usually when I get behind something, I’m not afraid to take a financial risk. Usually it pays off, because I’m respected in my business and people want to work with me, and I’ll recoup it.”

Your film deals with Waters, but also attempts to paint a contemporary picture of anti-Semitism worldwide. Would you say anti-Semitism is growing or declining right now?

“Unfortunately, it’s thriving, and that’s what concerns me the most. Face it, Waters is 74; he has his own platform, but he’s [probably] not going to be around too much longer. But with contemporary anti-Semitism, it’s extremely dangerous because in Europe there’s less than 2 million Jews left today. That is astounding and very concerning. Jews are leaving in droves, and [anti-Semitism] is spreading everywhere.

“The U.K. last year had the most recorded number of anti-Semitic attacks; the U.S. number two,” he continues. “Incredibly, my research shows that in France, the government clamped down after the Charlie Hebdo, kosher market and Bataclan [attacks, in January and November 2015, respectively], so in 2016, recorded anti-Semitic incidents decreased 50 percent in France. The French government at least has made a concerted effort to combat it, and I think that’s a good sign. But in the U.K., the U.S. and Germany, it’s thriving.”

Read the original article.

CCFP Staff In Cultural Boycott

I’m an Arab. Here’s why I’ll be performing with Radiohead in Israel.

Much has been said and written ahead of Radiohead’s concert in Tel Aviv this week. The successful British rock band has been under pressure to cancel its visit to Israel, in another attempt to boycott the only democracy in the Middle East.

Among the critics was director Ken Loach, who called on the band not to perform in Israel and “whitewash the country’s human rights violations.”

But such an approach is counter-productive and only hurting those who wish to promote peace and tolerance in a troubled region.

This approach is hurting me. I am a Muslim Arab woman. I am a singer. And this Wednesday, I will share the stage with Radiohead in their concert.

I was born in Haifa and grew up in Lod—two cities with a mix of Arab and Jewish communities, living side by side. It wasn’t always easy, but my personal experience has taught me that open dialogue is the only way to overcome our differences. Ever since I won a singing competition on Israeli TV, my music and my story have inspired many in Israel to open their minds and hearts to Arabic music and my people’s culture.

I have dedicated my life to music, and dedicated my music to breaking down borders and bringing people closer together. That is why this past year I did what no other Arab-Israeli has done before, and sang in Israel’s official Independence and Memorial Day ceremonies.

“Playing in a country isn’t the same as endorsing its government,” Yorke wrote in response to Loach claims. However, I believe that it has everything to do with endorsing its people, and using music to engage with them. After all, if we don’t engage one another, and work together, we will never find peace between us.

This Wednesday, I will also perform alongside one of Israel’s most talented artists, Dudu Tassa—a Jewish singer—to bring a message of co-existence to every corner of the country. The two of us were fortunate enough to be invited by Thom Yorke to tour with Radiohead across the U.S. earlier this year.

I must admit, I had never heard of Radiohead before receiving Yorke’s invitation, but that tour changed my life and was one of the peaks of my career. A peak I am looking forward to ascending again this week when I share the stage with Radiohead in front of a sold out crowd in Tel Aviv.

An Arabic proverb says “music is the nutrition of the spirit.” Music feeds people’s spirits and opens them up. Music builds bridges and this is exactly what I am hoping to achieve through this concert.

Those who call for boycott are only trying to divide us. They are trying to shut down the music. I will not be a part of that. Sadly, there are too many countries in the Middle East in which such a concert could have never taken place.

I was lucky to be born in Israel, and I am grateful for the opportunity to build bridges of understanding.

Alongside Thom Yorke and Radiohead I plan on rocking Israel this Wednesday.

Nasreen Qadri is an Arab-Israeli singer who rose to national prominence in 2012 after winning the singing contest “Eyal Golan is Calling You.” Radiohead perform in Tel Aviv on Wednesday July 19.

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CCFP Staff In Cultural Boycott

FORGET BDS: KEEP ON ROCKING IN THE FREE WORLD

BY DAVID BRINN, Jpost.com

APRIL 16, 2017

With a staggering number of international musical acts streaming to Israel, does anyone even remember BDS?

The variations on “Hava Nagila” and “Hatikva” – two “Jewish” songs that foreigners most often associate with Israel – are going to be stretched to their limits over the next few months, as the onslaught of international artists performing at local venues rises to a crescendo.

That quaint obsession has turned into a clichéd but almost obligatory requirement for many visiting bands and artists from the US and Europe, and is a source of pride for concert-goers. But the musicians in question often come away from their experience in Israel with considerably less anachronistic, more vibrant impressions.

“Most of the artists that come here leave as goodwill ambassadors for Israel,” says Guy Beser, the CEO of Bluestone Entertainment, one of the country’s leading concert promotion companies.

“They feel the warmth of the audience and of the people. We take them to the North, the Dead Sea and Jerusalem, and they fall in love with the country. And when they stay and perform in Tel Aviv, they immediately understand that the country is nothing like they expected. After experiencing the real reality of Israel, they leave with a different impression. And the artists talk to each other and the managers talk to each other.”

Beser – who together with his partners in Bluestone, including Madonna’s Israel-born manager, Guy Oseary, has previously brought Bon Jovi, Backstreet Boys and Enrique Iglesias to Israel – has an action-packed summer ahead, with shows by Aerosmith (May 17), Britney Spears (July 3) and Guns ‘n’ Roses (July 15). They’ve joined a thriving industry full of veterans like Shuki Weiss who have been importing entertainment to Israel for decades, including some of the world’s top entertainers like Paul McCartney, Elton John, The Rolling Stones and Madonna.

The three-year-old Bluestone Entertainment made international headlines last month when mammoth concert conglomerate Live Nation acquired a majority stake in the company, a move seen by many as a giant vote of confidence in Israel as a reliable and professional destination for the world’s biggest touring artists. It also apparently means that the constant thorn in the side of the Israel concert industry – the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement – is no longer considered to be a serious threat.“BDS is losing, and the power of music is winning,” says Beser. “For the great majority of artists, the political issues are on the back burner – they are coming to play for their fans.”

Bluestone and the other Israeli concert promoters are up front with artists, agents and managers about the likelihood of them being approached, boycotted, criticized and petitioned by BDS supporters after they announce a date in Israel. Together, with efforts by organizations like the Creative Community for Peace, an NGO founded by Los Angeles music executives that supports artists who plan to perform in Israel and face BDS campaigns, the promoters prepare the artists for the onslaught and provide encouragement and reinforcement every step of the way. According to Hillel Wachs, a promoter with 2B Vibes, the company bringing the Pixies, Paul Young and Macklemore to Israel this summer, when a politically aware and influential act like Radiohead agrees to perform here, it creates a ripple effect.

“It sends a message that BDS is not really a factor, and that it’s acceptable to come to Israel even if you don’t agree with every government policy,” he says.

“Most artists realize that the situation is not black and white. The superstars like Britney Spears are not affected by BDS and neither are the acts that appeal to the 60-plus crowd. But there are some current, younger artists who may be politically aware, and it’s a bigger issue for them to come here. But they still come,” he adds, pointing to American indie rock band All Them Witches, which consists of liberal Bernie Sanders supporters, who had no problem with performing last year in Tel Aviv and are returning this year on July 9.

“There’s a general understanding that it’s a complex issue and that music is supposed to supersede political conflict and bridge gaps to bring people together,” Wachs says.

There’s also the understanding that Israel is a viable and lucrative place to perform. The 2017 concert lineup is staggering in its volume and diversity, with old-timers like Rod Stewart and Foreigner, youth-oriented pop and hip hop from Justin Bieber and Tyler the Creator, top-flight critical darlings Nick Cave and Pond, ’90s nostalgia like Dinosaur Jr., Tears for Fears and Pet Shop Boys, the aforementioned superstars and recurring (popular in Israel) oddities like Smokie, Engelbert Humperdinck, and Abba, Dire Straits and ELO tribute bands.

Although it may seem like Israel is a hot destination, Wachs says that it’s really no different from the past few summers since Operation Cast Lead (2008-9), which resulted in numerous cancellations.

“There have been more shows announced earlier this year, but that’s just the nature of the beast, with agencies in New York and London planning the routing of tours much more in advance than they used to,” he says.

“There does seem to be something for everyone, with lots of big-name acts for both young and older audiences. But I wouldn’t go so far as to call Israel a hot concert destination. Over time, however, it’s become quite normative to include Israel in routing a tour when it works out. And because there’s more competition in Europe and because we pay a premium to get artists to come here, it’s financially worth their while.”

THE CHOICE available to Israeli music fans has also made them more selective when deciding what to fork out their money to see, says Wachs. And with prices for the big shows at venues like Tel Aviv’s Hayarkon Park reaching upward of NIS 400 to NIS 600 for standing and looking at the video screen tickets, promoters are working extra hard to ensure they’re bringing over artists who will fill the seats or grass.

“There’s certainly a thought process going on that didn’t exist before, when the choice of shows wasn’t so vast,” he says. “Now a younger fan has to think, Well, I’ll go to Macklemore but not Justin Bieber, or an older fan might consider if it’s an artist who may not be touring much more and it’s the last chance to see them. Concert-goers are working within a limited entertainment budget.”

One person reaping the rewards of more concert choices, but paying for it, is 54-year-old music fan and Ma’aleh Adumim resident Israel Friedman, who bought tickets to see Radiohead and Nick Cave, and recently attended American indie favorite Grandaddy’s performance last month in Tel Aviv.

“If I had unlimited funds, I would go to see a lot more shows,” says Friedman, who prefers smaller venues and current artists over the legacy acts.

“There’s quite an audience in Israel for new music, and people here are knowledgeable about what’s out there. I like to go to shows like Grandaddy at the Barby Club because they are less expensive, you are close to the band and you get a worthwhile experience for your entertainment shekel.”

Still, Friedman is going to join the tens of thousands flocking to Hayarkon Park to see Radiohead, perhaps the concert of the summer in the pecking order of rock perennials still touring. Ticket sales for it and most of the summer shows are healthy, according to the promoters, and Beser, for one, isn’t concerned about too many shows competing for the consumer’s attention and shekel.

“The Israeli fans have proved in the last three years that there is a real market and demand for live international shows,” he says. “And it’s going to get bigger; Israelis are going to start getting the megashows and the festivals. That’s my dream show to promote – bringing over one of the big festivals that Live Nation owns [such as Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo and Reading]. We will see more and more shows coming to Israel in the next few years.”

OF COURSE, the wild card in the deck is the unpredictable security situation in the region. But despite flare-ups and saber rattling with Hamas on the volatile southern border with Gaza, chaos emanating from Syria and Lebanon, and the specter of Palestinian terrorism never far away, both Beser and Wachs are optimistic that the summer shows will pass quietly.

“Posturing on the part of our neighbors is not new, and we’re looking forward to a fantastic summer of live music in Israel,” says Wachs.

Just in case, all the promoters take out insurance policies that protect them in the event of cancellations due to unforeseen circumstances.

“We are living in the Middle East, and you can never really plan that far in advance,” says Beser. “We hope this summer will be full of shows and good vibes, and not missile attacks, but we have insurance taken out for that specific reason with every show and artist we host.”

So with BDS barely a factor, the promoters plan, the bands rehearse and the fans buy their tickets in heady anticipation. All of them hope that Hamas and Hezbollah don’t have other plans.

Read the original article at Jpost.com

CCFP Staff In Cultural Boycott

Fans Urged to Rally Behind The Chemical Brothers After BDS Supporter Roger Waters Calls on British Electro Duo to Cancel Israel Show

by Shiryn Ghermezian for Algemeiner.com

An entertainment industry advocacy organization called on fans to rally behind famed British electro duo The Chemical Brothers as they face pressure by anti-Israel activists, including former Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters, to cancel their upcoming concert in the Jewish state.

“We need YOU to write messages of support to English electronic music duo the Chemical Brothers,” the group, Creative Community for Peace (CCFP), posted on Facebook on Tuesday.

Waters recently joined thousands of performers who signed an open letter by Artists for Palestine UK, demanding that The Chemical Brothers — Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands — back out of their Tel Aviv show, to express solidarity with the BDS movement.

The letter says, “Your recording company, Virgin EMI, may tell you that playing Tel Aviv on November 12 is a cool thing to do. But Tel Aviv’s hipster vibe is a bubble on the surface of a very deep security state that drove out half the indigenous Palestinian population in 1948 and has no intention of letting their descendants back in. If you go to Tel Aviv, your presence will be used by the Israeli authorities to reassure their citizens that all’s right with the world and nobody really cares that the Palestinians are suffering… Please don’t go.”

In addition to the letter, more than 7,000 people signed a petition asking The Chemical Brothers to boycott Israel. The petition accuses Israel of “severe violations of international law,” and claims that the Jewish state uses culture as “a form of propaganda to whitewash and justify its regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid over the oppressed Palestinian people.”

The petition also says, “Artists who perform in Israel are actually taking part in whitewashing the occupation and apartheid. When international artists, such as the Chemical Brothers, perform at Israeli cultural venues and institutions, they help to create the false impression that Israel is a ‘normal’ country just like any other.”

CCFP’s Communications and Project Coordinator, Tara Khoshbin, told The Algemeiner on Wednesday that the Chemical Brothers are “just the latest in a long list of artists to receive massive pressure by supporters of BDS.” She added, “Many artists who choose to perform in Israel are bombarded by hundreds or thousands of anti-Israel messages, very often containing misinformation and distortions which we believe dampen hope for rational discourse and a positive way forward.”

The Chemical Brothers have not responded to the petition or letter as of yet. Tickets remain on sale for their Tel Aviv show.

Original article here.

CCFP Staff In Cultural Boycott

Letter from Singer Joss Stone After Israel Concert

Read the inspirational letter from singer Joss Stone on her performance in Tel Aviv, calling the very idea of BDS counterproductive and discriminatory.

“Dear music lovers !

I just want to make a quick comment on my gig in Israel…

Firstly, I LOVED the experience of playing in this place… Mainly because of the people. Because of their beautiful spirit. Because of their warmth and kindness, their ability to let go and feel. Music did that, not me.

And Secondly I’d like to say how pleased I am when I read comments from people who clearly understand the point of the world tour, and how sorry I am that so many of you had to enter into arguments on whether I should have visited Israel or not. Thank you for standing up for us and our mission at hand.

What we are trying to achieve whilst running from country to country on this literal total world tour is simply to spread love and joy through music. Excluding no one. I do not discriminate.

I’m not trying to make political statements I am just trying to spread good feeling to everyone I can. I do not blame millions of individuals for what their government has chosen. As I hope people don’t blame me and my family for what our government has done. I treat each person the same until given a direct reason not to.

If we want to discount the people of countries that have done dreadful things then we would only have the Antarctic left. ‘He who is with out sin cast the first stone’.

We can not live our lives speaking of hate and sadness and then expect things to become brighter and more peaceful. To condemn those you have never met in the hope for peace is quite simply counter productive. To put it as politely I can … It is a little bit silly. Some may even say foolish.

To dismiss our brothers and sisters of this world because you are angry at a creation of someone that lives on the same land as them is judgmental and actually quite nasty. You cannot feel justified in spreading bad feeling, ever. Maybe some people feel they are helping but please believe me when I tell you you are making it worse.

I understand the reasons people call for a boycott… I understand… But surely you want the boycott because you want peace, surely you want to spout anger because you want peace, surely you fight because you want peace… Well news flash…. Adding fire to fire just makes things hotter.

We are sad because we hear, see and live in amongst such terrible moments. Collectively we must try to hold on to our love for people. All people not just some but ALL! We become as bad as the ones we protest against when our words and decisions are coming from a place of hate.

I know sometimes it’s hard and can seem impossible but please use your love. It’s always there waiting to be tapped into. Don’t brush it to one side because you feel the need to make the world right and you think spreading hate, upset and destain will work… it will only add darkness to darkness. Useful? Nope.

Gandhi would probably word this much better than me but I guess in a nutshell… just be nice.

Don’t punish the general population. It is incorrect to do so and massively unkind.

So… bringing it back… I love my job. I love the people I meet through this musical connection. In every place I have been there has been a massive light and it is found in the people. Always.

Photos taken by Stokography using the Sony A7s”

CCFP Staff In Cultural Boycott

Why the anti-Israel boycott movement is an immoral threat to peace, By Yossi Klein Halevi

BDS is at once immoral and a threat to peace. Immoral, because it perpetuates the lie that Israel is solely or even primarily to blame for the absence of a Palestinian state — rather than the repeated rejection by Palestinian leaders of peace plans presented over the decades. Immoral, too, because it ignores the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hate education on which generations of Palestinians have been raised, an education that denies any place for a Jewish state in any borders.

The BDS movement not only places the entire onus for the conflict on Israel, it is counter-productive. The primary beneficiary of the attempt to turn Israel into a pariah state is the Israeli hard right. Far-right politicians have long argued that the world hates the Jewish state not because of what it does but because of what it is — and therefore Israel should dispense with the niceties of democratic norms in its war against Palestinian terrorism, end the illusion of a negotiated agreement and stake its maximalist claim to the entirety of its ancient homeland. In intensifying the Israeli public’s sense of siege and despair, while encouraging Palestinian intransigence, the international movement to isolate and punish Israel undermines a two-state solution.

Like a majority of Israelis, I recognize that the ongoing occupation of the Palestinian people is a long-term threat to my country’s well-being. The occupation challenges the integrity of Israeli democracy and threatens its Jewish majority, which is demographically essential for maintaining the only corner of the planet where Jews are sovereign. For these reasons, a majority of Israelis, according to polls, supports a two-state solution.

But that same majority of moderate Israelis is deeply wary of the ultimate goal of the Palestinian leadership — both the nationalist Fatah party and the Islamist militant group Hamas. As the Palestinian media broadcast on a daily basis, the goal isn’t two states living in peace but a single Arab-majority state in which Jews would be at best a tolerated minority. And given the fate of minorities throughout the Middle East today, the likely scenario is far more nightmarish.

The Palestinian national movement as a whole intends to destroy Jewish sovereignty through the “right of return,” the demand that descendants of Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war — a war of aggression initiated by Arab states against Israel’s creation — move to the Jewish state, rather than to a future Palestinian state. That would create an Arab majority in Israel, undermining the state’s Jewish identity from within. Israel would collapse.

Israelis across the political spectrum well understand the chilling implications of the right of return, even if much of the international community does not. The BDS movement — whose website endorses the right of return as one of its three core goals — promotes that vision of a world without Israel. BDS dupes those of its supporters who genuinely seek a two-state solution into believing that they are working for peace. Indeed the BDS website doesn’t even mention two states for two peoples among its goals. Even if Israel were to uproot every settlement, redivide Jerusalem, forfeit its claim to the holy places and return to the eight-mile-wide borders of the pre-1967 war, the BDS movement presumably would press on until Israel was erased from the map.

BDS activists brand Israel as an illegitimate colonialist state, a European transplant in the Middle East. This historical distortion erases 4,000 years of intimate connection between the Jewish people and the land. It ignores another factor of demography: A majority of Israel’s Jews don’t come from Europe, but from the Arab world, descendants of the nearly 1 million Jews effectively expelled from Arab countries where Jews lived for millenniums. Israelis call them the forgotten refugees.

As a means of applying economic pressure on Israel, BDS has failed. Despite the boycott, investments in Israel haven’t diminished. Israel is far too integrated into the global economy and the high-tech sector to be isolated.

The attempt to turn Israel into a version of the old, apartheid South Africa will also fail because there are too many people around the world who admire Israel. Israel-lovers are no less passionate in defending the Jewish state than Israel-haters are in seeking to harm it.

The real threat of BDS, though, is more subtle than economic pressure. BDS creates an atmosphere in which Israel is solely to blame for the failure of peace between Jews and Arabs, and it negates the very idea of a nation-state for the Jewish people. BDS takes one of the world’s most complex and heartbreaking conflicts — between two traumatized peoples — and turns it into a morality play between darkness and light. The movement to criminalize Israel is itself a crime. Rather than Israel, it is the BDS movement that must be exposed and ostracized for its bigotry and hatred.

Yossi Klein Halevi is a senior fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. His book “Like Dreamers” won the Jewish Book Council’s 2013 Book of the Year award. He is working on a book about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-halevi-bds-is-immoral-20160628-snap-story.html

CCFP Staff In Cultural Boycott

How do international acts get to Israel? With a concerted effort

As performers book gigs in Tel Aviv and elsewhere, promoters explain what draws them here… and what really keeps some of them away

By: Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel

‘We raise the issue early on, so that the minute they announce their concert, they know to expect the BDSers’
How do international acts get to Israel? With a concerted effort As performers book gigs in Tel Aviv and elsewhere, promoters explain what draws them here… and what really keeps some of them away.

Ronnie Wood, guitarist for The Rolling Stones, visits the Western Wall before the band’s 2014 concert in Tel Aviv. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash 90)

That’s assuming that there’s no war or uptick in terrorist attacks. Wachs — and every other Israeli concert promoter — is keeping his fingers crossed.
“2014 was also going to be a great summer,” he said. “And then Gaza happened.”

For now, however, things are looking good. Alternative acts like South Africa’s Die Antwoord and indie band Tame Impala are coming, teenie bopper favorite Jason Derulo just left, and nineties band Simply Red, guitarist extraordinaire Carlos Santana and icons Elton John and Brian Wilson are on tap for May, June and July. The word’s still out on whether superstar Beyoncé or the beloved Bruce Springsteen will answer promoters’ prayers and prove true the constant rumors of August shows.

Those who come, said Wachs, choose to perform here for a simple reason: They’re artists, and their job is to perform.

“They want to play for fans, they want to come,” he said. “Some people don’t want to come for political reasons, but for the most part agents will tell you that politics and political opinion is not at the top of a performing artist’s list.”

Iconic musician Carlos Santana will perform in Tel Aviv this summer, several months following the release of a new studio album, 'Santana IV' (Courtesy Carlos Santana)

Iconic musician Carlos Santana will perform in Tel Aviv this summer, several months following the release of a new studio album, ‘Santana IV’ (Courtesy Carlos Santana)
Iconic musician Carlos Santana will perform in Tel Aviv this summer, several months after the release of a new studio album, ‘Santana IV.’ (Courtesy Carlos Santana)

It’s a bit of a challenge, though, considering the attention being paid to the very vocal Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement and the unofficial spokesman of its musical department, Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame, who’s known for trying to sway the opinion of many of the performers who announce plans to play in Israel.

Yet while a few artists who’d scheduled gigs have folded under BDS pressure and canceled their concerts, most promoters don’t think it’s a serious problem.

“I think the BDS thing is used by some promoters as a promotional thing,” said George Cohen of 3A Productions. “It creates a buzz when there is no buzz.”

“There are, of course, guys that we know aren’t going to come, like Massive Attack or Elvis Costello, or our dear friend Roger Waters,” said Cohen. “But most artists, it’s just a question of how many zeroes in their check. If a show was canceled because of BDS,” he said, “you know that it’s because it wasn’t really selling.”

3A is a relatively new promotion company, with one of its bigger summer shows coming up in a few weeks when hip hop’s Wiz Khalifa will be performing at Rishon Lezion’s Live Park’s amphitheater in June.

Khalifa, a rapper known for his use of marijuana, was very interested in coming to Israel, said Cohen, primarily because of the rich local electronic dance music scene, or EDM.
“People know that Israel knows its EDM,” said Cohen. “DJs know that about Israel and these people know that about Israel, and they’re not influenced by this political shit.”

Ditto for ticket sales, he added, which “are flying high because this is hip hop and Wiz is a superstar.”

It’s also, “finally,” a concert for the young crowd, and not one of the old rock stars for the 50-plus crowd, he said.

But BDS? It isn’t a real obstacle to convincing musicians to come to Israel, agreed promoters.

It’s just “bullshit,” said Carmi Wurtman, Wachs’s partner in promotion and production company 2B Ventures.

It’s not that there isn’t any pressure from the BDS sources, said Wurtman. But when “everything’s normal here, it’s normal,” said Wurtman. “And bands come.”

BDS, added Wachs, tends to have more of an effect on bands that generally don’t feel comfortable politically in Israel. There are bands that “don’t want the headache” of an Israeli concert, and others who don’t think twice about it.
“As a promoter, we respect those who come and those who don’t,” he said. “We raise this issue early on so that the minute they announce their concert, they know to possibly expect the BDSers. BDS is a well-oiled guerrilla internet operation; when someone announces a concert in Israel, they may all of a sudden get 650 messages on Facebook and that flips them out. We try to take out the sting and the surprise.”

Elton John's last concert in Israel was in 2010, and he said that 'no one could have stopped him from performing in Israel' (Courtesy Shuki Weiss)

Elton John’s last concert in Israel was in 2010, and he said that ‘no one could have stopped him from performing in Israel’ (Courtesy Shuki Weiss)
Elton John’s last concert in Israel was in 2010, and he said that ‘no one could have stopped him from performing in Israel.’ (Courtesy Shuki Weiss)

One of Israel’s best-known promoters, veteran Shuki Weiss, who has handled giants like the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and this summer’s Elton John concert, said at a recent anti-BDS conference sponsored by Yedioth Ahronoth last month that the government tried to get John to sign a declaration of loyalty as a condition of receiving a work visa to perform in Israel.

The Interior Ministry sharply dismissed the claim as “delusional” and threatened to sue him for defamation, but Weiss and other promoters are pushing to get the government’s assistance in offering some kind of insurance to promoters to cover their losses if concerts are canceled as a result of war or an extreme security situation.

“The state does not place any importance on artists’ visits because it’s not an existential requirement,” said Weiss at the conference. “I heard lots of replies [from government officials] along the lines of ‘Let ‘em not come then; who needs them anyway?’”

Wachs’s partner Wurtman pointed out that pop singer Jason Derulo, their most recent performing artist, had a great time traveling in Israel. He garnered lots of comments — not all positive — when he tweeted to his 3.68 million followers about his experience.
But the financial burden on promoters can be tremendous when a show gets canceled. In the summer of 2014 when Israel was fighting in Gaza, two of Wurtman’s shows were canceled, CeeLo Green and the band America.

“America was close to being sold out and then all hell broke loose,” he said.

Green was still willing to come, said Wurtman, but was forced to cancel because large gatherings were banned due to the danger of rocket attacks.

“Bigger promoters can handle losses, and we take loans,” said Wurtman, who also produces festivals in order to ensure a steady income. “I call it double jeopardy, what we have in Israel. In the rest of the world, they sell tickets to break even. But here you have to weigh that, and whether the artists will cancel or not.”

Fly in, fly out
For the bands, it’s often the logistical and technical issues involving a concert in Israel that tend to make them think twice about coming here.

The first issue is location, as the Middle East doesn’t offer the mobility that Europe does. It’s not likely that bands will ever be able to cross borders in a tour bus, to perform in Tel Aviv one night and in Beirut, Amman or Damascus over the weekend. Or in Gaza City, for that matter.

“An agent has to figure out how much it pays to move each artist,” said Avi Yossef from the Zappa Group, which promotes concerts and also runs its own ticket agency and clubs. “There’s two travel days for Israel, and setup days, so that’s four days. It’s much easier in Europe where you just need one day in each country, and then you hop on the tour bus to get to the next place. You can’t just go from Israel to another place; we’re the unusual market for shows.”

The Rolling Stones perform on stage at Hayarkon Park in Tel Aviv, on June 4, 2014. (Photo credit: AFP/ JACK GUEZ)

The Rolling Stones perform on stage at Hayarkon Park in Tel Aviv, on June 4, 2014. (Photo credit: AFP/ JACK GUEZ)
The Rolling Stones perform on stage at Hayarkon Park in Tel Aviv, on June 4, 2014. (AFP/Jack Guez)

That said, Israel isn’t as unusual a destination as it used to be, 3A’s Cohen pointed out.

Sure, it’s a “bit more extreme here than anywhere else,” he said. “You have to convince them to come here, and money isn’t the only issue. But Tel Aviv is becoming more of a regular stop on tours.”

There’s also something of a domino effect in progress, said Yossef.

“Israel is part of the market now,” he said. “It’s a trend that Israel is ‘normal.’ There are times I’ll pick up the phone or send an email and I get a response in 24 hours. That’s new.”

Israel isn’t the only country dealing with a life-threatening security situation, noted Yossef.

The terrorist attack at the Eagles of Death Metal concert in Paris’s Bataclan that killed 89 in November and the one in Belgium’s Brussels Airport that killed 16 in March have created a significant change in the European tour plans of American artists, he pointed out.

“France and Belgium are markets that are now dead because of what happened,” Yossef said. “If Beyoncé would have had four shows in France, maybe now she’ll do just one out of sympathy.”

Israel’s security situation may not seem so terrible when seen in light of the unexpected attacks that took place in those cities, said Yossef.

But bottom line, artists’ agents have no agenda other than their commissions on the shows, said Yossef.

The artist, he said, “wants 30 to 40 shows in the US, 10 in Canada, and can go to Hong Kong or Thailand for the final handful of shows. If there’s anything left, they may go to Dubai, or Israel or South Africa. That’s how uninteresting we are to them.”

Much of the decision about whether artists will make their way to Israel depends on the number of zeroes on their paycheck, agreed promoters.

“We’re an exotic destination for a European tour,” said Cohen. But what’s more attractive is that Israeli promoters pay more than what a performing artist could get in a similar market like Greece, Turkey or Lebanon.

“There’s no need for an artist to come to Israel,” said Wachs. “It’s got to be really worth their while to come here instead of traveling by bus in Europe.”

Israeli promoters end up paying a premium for that loss of travel time, and for the headache created by coming all the way over to the Middle East.

Rihanna last visited Israel in 2010, and performed at Tel Aviv's Sacher Park (Miriam Alster/Flash 90)

Rihanna last visited Israel in 2010, and performed at Tel Aviv’s Sacher Park (Miriam Alster/Flash 90)
Rihanna last visited Israel in 2010, and performed at Tel Aviv’s Sacher Park. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

The current price tag for performing artists ranges from as low as $2,000 a night for an unknown indie band playing at Tel Aviv’s Barby Club to $15,000 or $17,000 for a better-known act at the same location.

Fees for performances in the larger, outdoor venues can range from $50,000 to $450,000 for an artist performing in Rishon’s Live Park to $4 million for the superstar shows in Tel Aviv’s much larger Yarkon Park, which holds about 60,000 people. And that’s not including the price of renting the venue, the technical setup or insurance.

And while some concerts sell out — Wachs said 2B Ventures sold 90% of the tickets for the recent Jason Derulo concert and sold out Janice Ian last summer — that’s rare.

“There’s a lot of risk here and a lot of luck and lot of doing your homework,” said Wachs, a former Philadelphian who managed bands in high school but left the business behind when he first moved to Israel. “The bass player’s father can get sick and the show gets canceled. And you think certain shows are going to succeed and they don’t.”

It’s something of a crap shoot, agreed Yossef. Some shows are more in demand, some less so, and much of it is a matter of marketing and reading the market with regard to the hottest artists.

With more promoters now in Israel, and many with deeper pockets, the landscape has become more crowded.

“It’s very much tied to paying a lot of money,” said Wachs. “People can afford to bring people in and that means there’s no barriers in this business. And then prices go up for the next artists.”

International artists who do perform in Israel can’t come too regularly, though, because they won’t sell enough tickets. Wachs pointed to the last Lady Gaga show in September 2014, for which 21,000 tickets were sold in a 35,000-seat venue.

“They took a huge beating, and I think it’s because she was here too much,” he said. “Elton John comes here every seven or eight years and sells out because he’s an icon.”

Lady Gaga performed in Israel in 2009, and again in 2014, a span of time that may be too short for fans (Miriam Alster/Flash 90)

Lady Gaga performed in Israel in 2009, and again in 2014, a span of time that may be too short for fans (Miriam Alster/Flash 90)
Lady Gaga performed in Israel in 2009 and again in 2014, a span of time that may be too short for fans. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

The cost isn’t limited to the artist’s price, either; there’s also the entourage, putting them up in hotels and creating shows with massive stages and technical costs.

“Israel is more relevant now, but it’s also more of a pain in the ass,” said Wurtman. “It’s a fly-in, fly-out show, and we pay a premium fee for the extra nights and the hotel rooms.”

Yet big ticket shows, and even smaller concerts featuring an international artist, can be a tremendous element in showing off Israel to musicians with star power and global influence.

And once they’re here, said Wachs, they usually like Israel.

“The promoters are very professional here for the most part,” he said. “And people treat the artists like family, and they like it. Fewer people bother them on the street, no one asks for their autograph, they don’t get bothered.”

The concert lifestyle
Artist availability and ticket prices began changing in the late 1980s and 1990s as the standard of living rose in Israel and local audiences were exposed to more foreign music both at home and abroad, said Wachs.

It was a far cry from one of his first shows in Israel, a 1980s Shlomo Artzi concert when the singer dragged in his own amplifier at Tel Aviv’s Tzavta club.

“He was one of Israel’s biggest stars, and there he was, schlepping his own equipment,” marveled Wachs. “There wasn’t much of an industry in those days.”

Shlomo Artzi now has his own roadies, but back in the day, said promoter Hillel Wachs, Israel's beloved songster schlepped his own equipment (Moshe Shai/Flash 90)

Shlomo Artzi now has his own roadies, but back in the day, said promoter Hillel Wachs, Israel’s beloved songster schlepped his own equipment (Moshe Shai/Flash 90)
Shlomo Artzi now has his own roadies, but back in the day, said promoter Hillel Wachs, Israel’s beloved songster schlepped his own equipment. (Moshe Shai/Flash90)

But for music lovers, there’s no greater business, said Wurtman, who owned clubs and bars in Jerusalem before managing Hadag Nachash, the Jerusalem-based hip hop band led by vocalist Shaanan Streett.

“I’m the luckiest person in the world because I get to work in my hobby,” said Wurtman, “That’s why I do it. I truly love music and feel it’s a bonus to go around Israel and give that to people.”

Wurtman also produces festivals like Jerusalem’s Sacred Music Festival in September, the annual Sunbeat Festival in June and the Eilat Chamber Music Festival, as well as student festivals in Jerusalem and Beersheba.

He’s also one of the only promoters in his hometown of Jerusalem, and despite his love-hate relationship with the capital, he tries hard to bring headliners to Israel’s largest but poorest city.

“It’s difficult to do things here,” said Wurtman, who brought rapper Matisyahu to Jerusalem’s outdoor Sultan’s Pool ampitheater during the height of the stabbing attacks last October. He lost money on that concert.

But he keeps on working in Jerusalem. This week, he’s producing Geek PicNic, an outdoor technology extravaganza for 45,000 people at the city’s Sacher Park. Tickets have been selling well, but after last week’s terror attack on the number 12 bus, he got “that heavy feeling” of dread.

American Jewish singer Matisyahu smiles as he performs at the Sacred Music Festival in the Old City of Jerusalem, September 4, 2015. (Eric Cortellessa/The TImes of Israel)

American Jewish singer Matisyahu smiles as he performs at the Sacred Music Festival in the Old City of Jerusalem, September 4, 2015. (Eric Cortellessa/The TImes of Israel)
American Jewish singer Matisyahu smiles as he performs at the Sacred Music Festival in the Old City of Jerusalem, September 4, 2015. (Eric Cortellessa/The Times of Israel)

For now, though, all is quiet on the Jerusalem front. As for this summer, no one knows what will happen until it’s over.

Promoters have to have a lot of passion for this work, said Wachs.

Still, “there’s no greater feeling as a promoter when you’re backstage at a show, the lights go down and the crowd explodes,” he said. “You’ve enriched their life on some level. We have many moments of stress here in Israel, and having that moment to sit back and enjoy a show — that’s a great feeling of satisfaction. It’s fun.”

http://www.timesofisrael.com/how-do-international-acts-get-to-israel-with-a-concerted-effort/

CCFP Staff In Cultural Boycott

Open Letter Opposing Cultural Boycott Of Israel

J.K. Rowling, Daniel Battsek & Other Brits Write Open Letter Opposing Cultural Boycott Of Israel

by Anita Busch and Anthony D’Alessandro

In a letter published today in the UK’s The Guardian, artists across Great Britain including Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, Dame Hilary Mantel (Wolf Hall) and Simon Schama are rallying in support of Israeli-Palestinian dialogue versus cultural boycotts in a new group known as the Culture for Coexistence. The letter comes in response to a letter the newspaper published in February by 700 artists calling for the cultural boycott of Israel.

That letter last winter, which included the signatures of Brian Eno and directors Mike Leigh and Ken Loach, read: “We will not engage in business-as-usual cultural relations with Israel. We will accept neither professional invitations to Israel, nor funding, from any institutions linked to its government. Since the summer war on Gaza, Palestinians have enjoyed no respite from Israel’s unrelenting attack on their land, their livelihood, their right to political existence.”

Today’s letter in the Guardian includes 150-plus signatures and reads as follows:

In February 2015 you published a letter from UK artists announcing their intention to culturally boycott Israel.

We do not believe cultural boycotts are acceptable or that the letter you published accurately represents opinion in the cultural world in the UK.

Therefore we are writing to declare our support for the launch and aims of Culture for Coexistence – an independent UK network representing a cross-section from the cultural world.

We will be seeking to inform and encourage dialogue about Israel and the Palestinians in the wider cultural and creative community. While we may not all share the same views on the policies of the Israeli government, we all share a desire for peaceful coexistence.

Cultural boycotts singling out Israel are divisive and discriminatory, and will not further peace. Open dialogue and interaction promote greater understanding and mutual acceptance, and it is through such understanding and acceptance that movement can be made towards a resolution of the conflict.

Ultimately we all believe in a two-state solution so that the national self-determination of both peoples is realised, with the state of Israel and a Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security.

Cultural engagement builds bridges, nurtures freedom and positive movement for change. We wholly endorse encouraging such a powerful tool for change rather than boycotting its use.

Other names included on the list included such distinguished entertainment executives such as National Geographic Films president Daniel Battsek, docu film producer John Battsek, producer John Heyman, Lord Melvyn Bragg and MP Michael Dugher. The Culture for Coexistence’s letter was applauded by Los Angeles-basedCreative Community for Peace, which last summer published a “Hollywood Speaks” statement in the trades and major U.S. newspapers during the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict from CCFP & Friends that said, in part, “We join together in support of the democratic values we all cherish and in the hope that the healing and transformative power of the arts can be used to build bridges of peace.” That statement included 300 signatures from people including Seth Rogen, Sylvester Stallone, Sarah Silverman, Bill Maher and Harvey and Bob Weinstein.

CCFP co-founder David Renzer said in a statement today: “We are pleased to see prominent UK artists supporting the positive powers of the arts while at the same time not falling prey to many of the falsehoods and misinformation that have been spread by the Boycott Israel (BDS) movement. We look forward to working closely with Culture for Coexistence to promote peace and coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians through the cultural and creative industries. As their letter so accurately points out, ‘cultural boycotts singling out Israel are divisive and discriminatory and will not further peace.'”

http://deadline.com/2015/10/harry-potter-author-jk-rowling-wolf-hall-producers-israel-support-guardian-open-letter-1201591421/