Press Release

CELEBRITIES AND ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY LEADERS SPEAK OUT AGAINST ISRAEL EUROVISION BOYCOTT

With the much anticipated Eurovision Song Contest just around the corner, more than 100 artists and leading names in the entertainment industry unite in the spirit of peace and togetherness to show their support for the show in Israel.

London, UK (30, 2019) – The entertainment industry non-profit organisation, Creative Community For Peace (CCFP), has released a statement in support of the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest, which is being held in Tel Aviv, Israel this May.

With over 100 signatories, the statement includes stars such as Sharon Osbourne, Rachel Riley, and Stephen Fry, as well as Gene Simmons and Tracy Ann Oberman, amongst the biggest names across the global entertainment and music industry.

The full statement and list of signatories can be found below. Additionally, over 15,000 people from around the world have signed a similar statement on Change.org, asserting that a cultural boycott of Eurovision does not work to advance peace between Israelis and Palestinians. [LINK]

This news comes as the BBC recently released its own statement in support of the Eurovision Song Contest in Israel this year, noting that the international song contest, as always, embodies the “values of friendship, inclusion, tolerance, and diversity.”

Ari Ingel, Director of CCFP, said: “This year, approximately 200 million people will watch, visit and take part in the Eurovision song contest, celebrating music and the diversity of our different cultures. The members of the entertainment industry who have signed this statement, along with the thousands of individuals who have endorsed its message, all believe in building bridges through music and the arts as a means to achieving greater understanding and peace in the region.”

STATEMENT

We, the undersigned, believe that music is our shared language, one that transcends boundaries and brings people together under a common bond.

We believe that unifying events, such as singing competitions, are crucial to help bridge our cultural divides and bring people of all backgrounds together through their shared love of music.

The annual Eurovision Song Contest embodies this unifying power. Every year, millions of people across Europe, and around the world, join together in a massive display of cultural exchange and celebration of music.

Unfortunately, this year, the spirit of togetherness is under attack by those calling to boycott Eurovision 2019 because it is being held in Israel, subverting the spirit of the contest and turning it from a tool of unity into a weapon of division.

We believe the cultural boycott movement is an affront to both Palestinians and Israelis who are working to advance peace through compromise, exchange, and mutual recognition.

While we all may have differing opinions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the best path to peace, we all agree that a cultural boycott is not the answer.

We call on all our friends and colleagues around the world to express their support for an exciting and successful Eurovision 2019 in Tel Aviv.

SIGNATORIES

Marina Abramović: Performance Artist

Orly Adelson: President ,Orly Adelson Productions

Jason Adelman: Vice President, Strategy & Brand Development at Brand Innovators

Marty Adelstein: CEO, Tomorrow Studios

Michael Adler: Partner, Lichter, Grossman, Nichols, Adler & Feldman

Alberto (Miss Caffeina): Artist

Mitch Allen: Music Producer

Keren Ann – Artist

Alfredo Arense:  Journalist, Radio 3

Baccara (Cristina y María): Artist

Gary Barber: Former chairman and CEO of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and co-founder of Spyglass Entertainment

Craig Balsam: Co-founder, Razor & Tie Entertainment

Richard Baskind: Partner & Head of  Music Simons, Muirhead & Burton

Carlos Baute: Artist

Aton Ben-Horin: Global VP, A&R at Warner Music Group

Daniel Benmayor: Filmmaker

Steven Bensusan: President ,Blue Note Entertainment Group

Maya Binkin: The Art Pilgrim

Neil Blair: The Blair Partnership

Evan Bogart: Hit Songwriter, President Boardwalk Ent.

Joshua P. Binder: Partner, Rotherberg, Mohr, and Binder LLP.

Harvey Brown: Professor

Scooter Braun: Founder, SB Projects

David Byrnes: Partner, Ziffren Brittenham ,LLP

Simon Callow: Actor

Ellie Cannon: Doctor and Media Personality

Caroline Civia: President of Clic Entertainment

Isabel Coixet: Filmmaker

Conchita (María Concepción Mendívil): Artist

Deborah Conway: Artist

Jim Cooperman: Senior VP Legal & Business Affairs, The Madison Square Garden Company

Rob Cowan: Point Blank

Rory Cowan: Actor

Josh Deutsch: Chairman/CEO ,Downtown Records

David Draiman: Musician and front man of Disturbed

Craig Emanuel: Partner, Entertainment & Media, Paul Hastings

Ron Fair: Record  Producer & CEO, Faircraft Inc.

Erica Forster: VP of Music Partnerships, DanceOn

Gary Foster: Principal, Krasnoff Foster Productions

Daryl Friedman: Chief Advocacy & Industry Relations Officer, The

Recording Academy/ GRAMMYs

Stephen Fry: Actor, Comedian

Saul Galpern: President, Nude Music Group

Andrew Genger: Red Light Management

Gary Gersh: President, Global Talent, A.E.G. Presents

Gary Ginsberg: Senior VP, Softbank

Daniel Glass: President & Founder, Glassnote Entertainment Group

David Glick: Founder & CEO, Edge Group

Andrew Gould: President of A&R, Downtown Music Publishing

Trudy Green: Trudy Green Management/HK Management

Matt Greenberg: Ritholz Levy Fields LLP

Steve Greenberg: President, S-Curve Records

Sarah Halioua, Producer, Visionnaire Films

Ronnie Harris: Harris & Trotter LLP

Scott Hoffman: Artist (Scissor Sisters), Songwriter and Producer

Neil Jacobson: President, Geffen Records

Zach Katz: Former President of A&R BMG, CEO Raised In Space

Larry Katz: Esq., Lawrence H. Katz, P.C

Allison Kaye: President of SB Projects

Adam Kenwright: Executive Vice President at Ambassador Theatre Group

Ilan Kidron: Artist (Potbelleez)

Amanda Kogan: William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (WME)

Rick Krim: Former Co-President, Sony/ATV Music Publishing

Rosa Lagarrigue: CEO, RLM

Mollie Lehman: A&R at Atlantic Records

Colin Lester: CEO, JEM Artists

David Levy: Partner & Co-Head, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment

Lior: Artist

David Lonner: CEO, Oasis Media Group

Javier López: Artist

Iona de Macedo: Entertainment industry

Ben Maddahi: President of Unrestricted

Imran Majid: EVP/Co-Head of A&R, Columbia Records

Orly Marley

David Mazouz: Actor

Betty Missiego: Artist

Al Murray: Comedian

Mónica Naranjo, Artist

Caroline Norbury: CEO – Creative England

Tracy Ann Oberman: Actress

Antonio Martos Ortiz: Artist

Sharon Osbourne: Manager, Businesswoman, Television Star

Scott Packman, Former Senior EVP & General Counsel; Managing Member of SSP Partners

Jose Ramón Pardo: Journalist, RNE

Donald S. Passman: Partner, Gang, Tyre, Ramer, & Brown, Inc.

Lucía Pérez: Producer, Maestranza Films

Antonio Pérez: Maestranza Films

Dean Raise: C3 Presents

David Renzer: Former Chairman/CEO, Universal Music Publishing Group

Rachel Riley: Actress, TV Presenter

Lindy Robbins: Multi-platinum Songwriter

Jaimison M. Roberts: Attorney at Law

Dan Rosen: CEO, Australian Recording Industry Association

Hanna Rochelle: Founder & President, Lyric Culture

Rick Rosen: Co-Founder & Head of Television, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment

Haim Saban: Businessman, Philanthropist and Producer

Marta Sánchez: Artist

Rafa Sánchez: Artist

Paul Schindler: Senior Chair of the New York Entertainment & Media Practice, Greenberg Traurig LLC

Steve Schnur: Worldwide Executive & Music President, Electronic Arts

Sam Schwartz: Partner, Gorfaine/Schwartz Agency

Jonathan Shalit OBE: Chairman – InterTalent Rights Group

Ben Silverman: Chairman & Co-CEO, Propagate Content

Gene Simmons: Band member of KISS

Ralph Simon: Chairman & CEO, Mobilium Global Limited

David Simone: President – DSW Entertainment

Soraya: Artist

Jeff Sosnow: SVP of A&R at Warner Music Group

Jose Ortega Soto (Manzanita): Artist

Gary Stiffelman: Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig LLP

Aaron Symonds: Film Composer

Traci Szymanski: President of Co-Star Entertainment/Israelife Media Group

Sharon Tal Yguado: Head of Event Series at Amazon

Adam Taylor: President, APM Music

Joyce Trabulus: Manager

Mario Vaquerizo: Artist and TV & Radio Collaborator

José Sainz de Vicuña: President, Impala films

Peter Wade: Producer and President of WonderSound

** Note – The signers of this statement do so as individuals on their own behalf and not on behalf of their companies or organizations. All organizations and companies listed are for affiliation purposes only.

Notes to editors:

Creative Community for Peace (CCFP) is a non-profit organization comprised of prominent members of the entertainment industry who have come together to promote the arts as a means to peace, support artistic freedom, and counter the cultural boycott of Israel. CCFP is apolitical, and does not stand for any government official or party, and does not receive funding or support from any government, or government related entity.  Instead, CCFP believes in artists and their ability to affect lives and effect change. Furthermore, CCFP’s advisory board is made up entirely of independent entertainment industry professionals and it is these entertainment industry professionals and staff that direct its day-to-day operations.  More than 35,000 people have signed CCFP’s general anti-boycott petition [LINK].

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Itzik Cohen, who plays Captain Gabi Ayub on the hit Israeli TV show Fauda, wrote this guest blog for Creative Community For Peace (CCFP), expressing his views on the show and on its contribution to peace.

Fauda is a startup, a series that was made on a very low budget, and in the midst of the summer heat, with a great deal of tension of a possible war in the air. None of the actors or creators thought for a minute that the whole world would embrace the series. Most of us thought that even in Israel it would be considered a niche series.

Reality proved otherwise. In fact, Fauda changed everything we knew about Israeli Television and it became a phenomenon. Everyone who was part of the series upgraded their career.

But everything begins and ends with sensitive and meticulous work. The show’s creators, Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff, together with Assaf Bernstein, the director of the first episode, placed an emphasis on the complexities and sensitivities of the characters, and insisted on not creating Jewish or Arab stereotypes.

This is the reason they cast me. I come from a background in comedy and musicals, and so fit beautifully as the opposite type cast for the dramatic and complex role of Captain Gabi Ayub. They didn’t want the stereotype of the tough and macho Shabak investigator, but instead wanted to reach the heart of the conflict in order to show how people find themselves in complex and dangerous situations that end up touching our hearts.

Read the rest on the Times of Israel: http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/fauda-star-itzik-cohen-the-show-has-become-a-great-force-for-bringing-people-together/

Creative Community For Peace (CCFP) recently visited Musrara: The Naggar Multidisciplinary School of Art and Society and spoke with people who are blending art and social activism to improve their neighborhood, their city, and their country.

The school brings artists from all over Israel to the Musrara neighborhood of Jerusalem in order to learn and to create. Students can choose from five different tracks: Photography, New Media, New Music, Visual Communication, or Phototherapy.

One of the things that separates the Naggar school from other art schools is that they encourage students not only to achieve artistic excellence in their fields, “but also to generate social change by contributing to and empowering the weak through community-based artistic volunteerism in Jerusalem and nationwide.”

This commitment to volunteering and social change is a big part of the reason why the school was located in the Musrara neighborhood. In 1987, when the school was founded, the neighborhood was in poor shape.

As a result of the conflict between Israel and Jordan, which each controlled half of Jerusalem between 1949 and 1967, Musrara was located in a no man’s land between the opposing sides. Residents of the neighborhood were often subjected to attacks by Jordanian snipers. As one can imagine, not many people wanted to live there.

However, during this time, hundreds of thousands of Jews were fleeing or being expelled from Arab countries and needed homes in Israel. Many of them, particularly those from North Africa, were settled in Musrara by the Israeli government. The neighborhood became a place of unemployment, poverty, and isolation, and remained that way for some time, even long after the war ended.

Mr. Sabag told CCFP that Musrara was not a neighborhood people were proud to say they were from. This negative perception was one of the things he set out to change when he founded the school, by bringing artists to interact with the community.

At the Musrara school, the artists don’t simply create art in the community or for the community, Mr. Sabag stressed. Rather, they create art together with the community. And the school doesn’t only affect the community, the community affects the school.

“The school operates in a real life space,” he said. “It’s affected by its immediate environment. Its identity as an art institution is sharpened by the history of the neighborhood and the history of the social struggle which strived to bridge the gaps in Israeli society.”

One example of the school’s current integration with the community is the Musrara Mix Festival, which will be held this year from May 29 to May 31. The school works with the community to install works in buildings throughout the neighborhood, in public spaces, and even in the backyards of the residents. The point is for the festival to be part of the neighborhood and for the residents of the neighborhood to have a stake in the festival.

While the heart and soul of the school is certainly centered around Musrara, they also look further afield. One of their programs, for instance, is a workshop for Arab women, teaching photography to Arab women from eastern Jerusalem and empowering them to become leaders in their community. And the general message of the intersection between art and social activism is a constant throughout the school.

“The parallel lines between the artistic field and the social field have been revealed to me, and continued to be revealed throughout my years of study and creativity,” said Yafit Reuveny, an alumni of the New Music Department. “They continue to be significant factor in the narrative I create in my works.”

We at CCFP — an organization comprised of prominent members of the entertainment industry dedicated to promoting the arts as a means to peace, defending artistic freedom, and countering the cultural boycott of Israel — are strong believers in the power of the arts to create positive social change, and we’re happy to see the Musrara School validating that belief in Jerusalem.

Dear Mr. Sarandos and Mr. Friedlander,

As the Chief Content Officer and Vice President of Original Series for Netflix, you’ve surely heard that Fauda, the hit Israeli television series which is distributed by Netflix and dramatizes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has found itself in an unusual situation. The anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement has threatened to sue Netflix if you don’t drop the show, which they claim encourages the “violation of international law and human rights.”

As an organization comprised of prominent members of the entertainment industry dedicated to promoting the arts as a means to peace and to defending artistic freedom, we at Creative Community For Peace (CCFP) want you to know that we stand behind you and Netflix in the face of this blatant attempt at artistic censorship.

The BDS movement seeks to isolate Israel in the cultural, academic, economic, and diplomatic arenas. Its myopic and simplistic anti-Israel worldview is threatened by the worldwide exposure Netflix has generated for Fauda’s nuanced portrayal of issues related to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

This worldview was evident in the letter BDS wrote to Netflix, in which they continued their habit of using inaccurate and inflammatory language, such as “colonialist” and “apartheid,” to describe Israel. As always, they assign every evil imaginable to Israel, while absolving the Palestinians of any and all responsibility or agency.

On the other hand, Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff, Fauda’s co-creators, go out of their way to show the conflict — and the individuals caught up in the conflict — in all its complexity. Mr. Raz, for example, has said that he sometimes sits down with his Arab actors to rewrite scenes when they feel their characters are incorrectly portrayed.

This is the power of this show — and the reason it attracts legions of fans from around the world — which mirrors the power of the arts in general; they bring up difficult but important conversations, expanding our horizons and allowing us to experience different points of view. We wish the BDS movement would join us and the creators of Fauda — and Netflix, of course, for distributing Fauda — in striving for understanding and dialogue, which is the only path to peace.

“It’s a shame that the BDS movement continues in its campaign of divisiveness and hatred toward Israelis instead of focusing on other messages,” the show’s producer told The Wrap, referring to their demand. “It’s a shame they don’t see the messages we get from people in Turkey, Qatar, Dubai and other Arab countries who talk about how this series opened their eyes in regards to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. People who once hated anything to do with Israel have been exposed to the complexity of the conflict and the humanity on both sides.”

Sadly, attempts to block true understanding and instead force a black and white, good versus evil view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict upon the world are nothing new for BDS. In threatening to sue Netflix for distributing a television series with which they disagree, they have simply taken those attempts to the next level of absurdity.

We have every confidence that you and Netflix will disregard these threats and stand behind the show. We offer our assistance if ever you should need it.

Sincerely,

Jason Adelman, Head of Brand Strategy and Business Development, Habana Avenue

Orly Adelson, President of Orly Adelson Productions

Marty Adelstein, CEO of Tomorrow Studios

Michael Adler, Partner of Lichter, Grossman, Nichols, Adler & Feldman

Craig Balsam, Co-Founder of Razor & Tie Entertainment

Richard Baskind, Partner and Head of Music at Simons Muirhead & Burton

Aton Ben-Horin, Global head of A&R a Warner Music Group

Steven Bensusan, President of Blue Note Entertainment Group

Adam Berkowitz, Sr Television Agent at CAA

Josh Binder, Partner of Rothenberg, Mohr, and Binder, LLP

David Byrnes, Partner of Ziffren, Brittenham, LLP

Civia Caroline, President of Clic Entertainment

Josh Deutsch, Chairman/CEO of Downtown Records

David Draiman, Musician

Craig Emanuel, Partner of Loeb & Loeb LLP

Ron Fair, Record Producer and Former Chief Creative Officer and Executive VP of Virgin Americans

Marc Fineman, Founder and CEO of FINE

Erica Forster, Entertainment Industry Executive

Gary Foster, Principal of Krasnoff Foster Productions

Daryl Friedman, Chief Advocacy & Industry Relations Officer of The Recording Academy / GRAMMYs on the Hill

Andrew Genger, Red Light Entertainment

Gary Gersh, President of Global Talent at AEG Presents

Jody Gerson, Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Publishing Group

Gary Ginsberg, Executive Vice President of Corporate Marketing and Communications of Time Warner Inc.

Daniel Glass, President and Founder of Glassnote Entertainment Group

David Glick, Founder and CEO of Edge Group

Andrew Gould, Music Executive

Trudy Green, Trudy Green Management/HK Management

Ari Ingel, Denovo Music

Neil Jacobson, President, Geffen Records

Larry Katz, Entertainment Attorney

Zach Katz, Chief Creative Officer of BMG Chrysalis, North America

Amanda Kogan, WME

Rick Krim, West Coast President of Sony/ATV Music Publishing

Colin Lester, CEO of JEM Artists

David Levy, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (WME)

David Lonner, CEO of Oasis Media Group

Ben Maddahi, President of Unrestricted

Scott Packman, Esquire

Donald S. Passman, Partner of Gang, Tyre, Ramer, and Brown, Inc.

Dean Raise, Manager at C3 Presents

David Renzer, Chairman of Spirit Music Group and Former Chairman/CEO of Universal Music Publishing Group

Hanna Rochelle, Founder and President of Lyric Culture

Rick Rosen, Head of Television Department at William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (WME)

Steve Schnur, Worldwide Executive and Music President of Electronic Arts

Sam Schwartz, Co-Principal of Gorfaine/Schwartz Agency

Paul Schindler, Senior Chair of the New York Entertainment and Media Practice, Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Ben Silverman, Chairman and Co-chief Executive Officer of Propagate Content

Ralph Simon, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Mobilium Global Limited

Jeff Sosnow, SVP Artist and Repertoire at Warner Music Group

Gary Stiffelman, Partner of Greenberg Traurig LLP

Aaron Symonds, Film Composer

Traci Szymanski, President of Co-Star Entertainment/Israelife Media Group

Adam Taylor, President of APM Music.

Sharon Tal Yguado, Head of Event Series at Amazon

Jonathan Yunger, Co-President of Millenium Media

 

*Please note that all companies are listed for affiliation only.

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.

Grammy-nominated American rapper Vic Mensa recently published an article in TIME magazine wherein he compared the experiences of Palestinians to his experiences as a black man in America.

This article, unfortunately, contains a great deal of inaccuracies and omits a great deal of context. The fault for this lies less with Mr. Mensa and more with Dream Defenders, the organization that planned his trip to the region.

“I do not pretend to be familiar with every nuance of the longstanding turmoil that engulfs Israel and Palestine,” Mr. Mensa acknowledged in his article. “I can only speak to the experiences I had there.”

The problem is that the experiences he had there were carefully crafted by Dream Defenders, which makes no secret of its opposition to the very existence of the State of Israel, and which brought Black artists and activists on a delegation to the region to give them a view of the situation which would lead them to adopt the same position.

The description of the delegation on the Dream Defenders website includes shockingly incendiary and hateful language, including referring to Israel as a “settler colonial project” and accusing Israel of massacring Palestinians in order to test and sell military technology.

“After every Israeli assault against Gaza their sales have been a part of the package,” they write, evoking classic stereotypes of the greedy Jew.

Is it any surprise that an organization working to delegitimize self-determination for the Jewish people and the existence of the State of Israel would create a trip that makes Israel appear illegitimate?

As we so recently celebrated the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., we can’t help but think of what this great man had to say about Israel and how he would have felt about a Black rights organization working to demonize it.

As Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights leader who worked with Dr. King, wrote: “On March 25, 1968, less than two weeks before his tragic death, [Dr. King] spoke out with clarity and directness stating, ‘peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity. I see Israel as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy. Peace for Israel means security and that security must be a reality.’”

The world and the region have changed drastically since Dr. King was assassinated in 1968, but that much, at least, remains the same.

According to Clarence B. Jones, Dr. King’s attorney and close friend, Dr. King also “warned repeatedly that anti-Semitism would soon be disguised as anti-Zionism,” another term for opposition to the existence of Israel.

The anti-Zionism of Dream Defenders is in no doubt shaped in part by Linda Sarsour, an activist who serves as one of its eight Advisory Board members. Ms. Sarsour is an avowed anti-Zionist and a supporter of the discriminatory Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which works to isolate Israel in the cultural, academic, economic, and diplomatic arenas with the ultimate goal of ending its existence as the homeland of the Jewish people.  

We at Creative Community For Peace (CCFP) — an organization comprised of high-level entertainment industry figures dedicated to promoting the arts as a means to peace, defending artistic freedom, and countering the cultural boycott of Israel — hope Mr. Mensa will have the chance to travel back to the region and gain a wider perspective on this supremely complex conflict.

Jason Derulo, Alicia Keys, Freddie Gibbs, Rihanna, Damian, Julian, and Ziggy Marley, Bobby McFerrin, Craig David, Gloria Gaynor, Lisa Simone, Alan Youngblood Hart, Buddy Guy, Wiz Khalifa, Noname, and DJ Black Coffee, are just a few of the many Black artists who have traveled to Israel over the past several years and seen much more than the narrow worldview Dream Defenders showed Mr. Mensa.

Only by rejecting the uncompromising black and white narrative of groups like Dream Defenders and BDS and acknowledging the conflict’s many shades of gray can we hope to make any progress toward resolving it.

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.