Performers and Israeli BDS

"I'm Israeli. I'm a stranger in America. I'm an outsider," he said, speaking in a hotel lobby across a valley from the walls of Jerusalem's historic Old City.

I predict we will be losing another "friend" soon. Auf Wiedersehen, mein Herr.

  What's with the anti-German bigotry around here?

Dear Julio Iglesias,

We, youth and students of the Gaza Ghetto, entrenched and surrounded by Israeli Gunships, Snipers, Jeeps, F16s and Merkava tanks at every turn, are saddened to see that once again, you will entertain an apartheid regime, and ignore the horrors Israel is inflicting on us.

This is not the first time an oppressed group has called on you to heed calls for boycott, divestment and sanctions of apartheid.

Those in the South African apartheid liberation struggle described you then as one to, “have chosen to make profit in a land of exploitation and misery instead of taking a stand on principle and foregoing blood money.”[1]

You performed twice in the infamous Sun City of South Africa in 1983 and 1984. Your claims to have had “a child with a colored woman" and to "sing duet with Diana Ross who is colored"[2] were unacceptable excuses and no similar excuses will see us Palestinians forget your turning your back on our call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) of apartheid Israel. By performing in Israel you directly contravene the 2005 Palestinian Civil Society Call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) [3], that has been heeded by international artists and writers such as Elvis Costello, the Pixies, Carlos Santana, Annie Lennox, Gorillaz, John Berger, Adrienne Rich, Massive Attack, Faithless, Gill Scot-Heron, Devendra Banart, Mike Leigh, Ken Loach, Meg Ryan, Arundati Roy and many others, who have put equality, anti-racism and the will of the oppressed against the appearance money and adulation. Adulation from, in this case, many young people who have served in the Israeli Occupation Forces that occupy and control us and our land, bomb our villages and destroy or steal our houses, olive groves and—more importantly—our human dignity.

You must be aware of the fact that we will not be able to attend your performance, because of the checkpoints, control of our movement, restrictions on our education, our job prospects and the growth of our towns and villages. Why? Because we are the undesired 'ethnic group’ for the region so far as Israel is concerned. Does this not ring a bell of South African Apartheid? It does for Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Ronnie Kassrils and many other anti-apartheid heroes. Desmond Tutu has called this worse than apartheid and described the possibility of the Cape Town Opera performing there as 'unconscionable”!’[4] Some courageous British academics and intellectuals went as far as describing Gaza as “the Guernica” of our time.

In contrast to the tidal wave of Western artists now boycotting Israel-linked events (the Yardbirds just cancelled a scheduled Tel Aviv show), iconic singer and actor Barbra Streisand performed at a fundraising gala in Los Angeles for Friends of the IDF. Streisand supports OneVoice, which promotes a two-state solution that fails to address structural injustices and has long been discredited.

Guests of honour included media magnate Haim Saban and former Israeli Military Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, who commanded the attacks on Gaza in 2008-09 which killed 1,400 Palestinians. An Israeli propaganda video about Streisand’s appearance at the gala features armed Israeli soldiers running in a scenic sunset.  A shameful sunset in her own career.