BDS – Entertainment

By Rebel Fagin

Israel uses culture as a form of pro-Israeli propaganda. This is why the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement has called on artists, performers, writers and cultural institutions to boycott, or work towards canceling, events, projects and other attempts to distract from the ongoing genocide. BDS is asking organizers of events, and performers themselves, to reject artists from Israel, or cancel events that whitewash the occupation.

In order for cultural institutions to end collusion in Israel’s apartheid they must publicly recognize the human rights of the Palestinian people as enshrined in international law, and end all complicity in violating Palestinian rights. When artists perform in Israeli venues or festivals, they help create the false impression that apartheid in Israel is somehow “normal.”

As awareness of Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people grows, more artists are joining the boycott. Seven-thousand writers and book industry figures have pledged to not work with any publishers, festivals or publications that are complicit in violating Palestinian rights. Those supporting the boycott include Sally Rooney, Rachel Kushner and Arundhati Roy.

Performers who support apartheid Israel include Eden Ben Zaken, Itay Levi and Aviv Geffen, who was joined on stage last May by Art Garfunkel. In recent years, Madonna, Coldplay, Justin Bieber, Justin Timberlake, Metallica, Lady Gaga and Paul McCartney have performed in Tel Aviv. It’s not just the pop world. Plamena Mangova, Julia Adabda and Madeleine Carruzzo are among the classical musicians who support Israeli apartheid through their performances. Meanwhile there are other performers organizing cultural boycotts.

No Music for Genocide, an organization of entertainers, is asking artists, labels and distributors to boycott Israel as “just one step toward honoring Palestinian demands to isolate and delegitimize Israel.”

Blues poet Aja Monet said, “Boycott is one of the most effective and enduring efforts that one can take to fight a militarized, overtly violent, three-headed monster of a system. We’re in a place where capitalism rules everything. The most effective thing we can do is to be strategic about where we put our resources.”

Over 1,000 musicians are boycotting Israel through No Music for Apartheid. No normalization of apartheid in Israel.

Here’s what we can do to support them. Organize with others to convince local art venues, or complicit institutions, to not accept partnership, or sponsor performers from the Israeli government, its lobbies or complicit institutions. Create a statement of support for the boycott. Picket venues or artists who support Israel’s apartheid through their art. PACBI, the Palestine Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel and BDS urges artists, cultural workers and cultural organizations to boycott and work towards the cancellation of activities that involve Israel and its lobbies in whitewashing Israel’s violations of basic human rights.

Here are the guidelines:

A cultural product can be boycotted if it is commissioned by an official Israeli body or a non-institution that serves Brand Israel. Normalized projects are the most sinister, as they allow the oppression to continue. For artists to be removed from the boycott list they must first publicly recognize the rights of the Palestinian people and then end all forms of complicity in violating Palestinian rights, whitewashing or justifying Israel’s violations of international law and Palestinian human rights.

Eden Ben-Zaken, Idan Raichel, Noga Erez, Paul Wilbur and the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, all supporters of apartheid Israel, plan on touring the US in 2026. The people at BDS suggest boycotting them and, if you can, leafletting the venues they are appearing at as to why you are boycotting them. Israeli cultural institutions generally support the occupation as they work towards diverting attention away from Israel’s violations of international law and human rights. Let’s turn the attention back towards the people suffering under an illegal occupation.

Sources: bdsmovement.net, npr.org, yahoo.com

Rebel Fagin is regular Peace Press contributor and board member of the Peace & Justice Center of Sonoma County.

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