ISRAEL: Elvis Costello cancels Tel Aviv concerts as 'matter of conscience'

What's so funny about peace, love and understanding? Nothing for Israeli fans of Elvis Costello who will not see the legend perform in Tel Aviv this summer after he canceled all scheduled shows there, citing concerns over the treatment of Palestinians.

"There are occasions when merely having your name added to a concert schedule may be interpreted as a political act ... and it may be assumed that one has no mind for the suffering of the innocent," Costello wrote on his website.

"I must believe that the audience for the coming concerts would have contained many people who question the policies of their government on settlement and deplore conditions that visit intimidation, humiliation or much worse on Palestinian civilians in the name of national security," the statement continued. "I hope it is possible to understand that I am not taking this decision lightly. ... It is a matter of instinct and conscience."

Reactions in Israel have ranged from disappointment to outrage.

Israeli Culture and Sports Minister Limor Livnat lashed out at Costello, saying: "An artist boycotting his fans in Israel is unworthy of performing here," according to Ynetnews, the website of the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

Ariana Melamed, also writing for Ynet, said that although she understood and even respected artists who chose to boycott Israel over the occupation, to pull out after the contracts had been signed and tickets had gone on sale was hypocritical.

"After all, the occupation and oppression did not start all of a sudden, exactly in the period between the start of ticket sales and the show, right?" she wrote.

"The belated discovery of the local reality shows that the boycotters-cancellers actually have no ongoing interest in the state of human rights around here, but rather, a momentary interest in a politically correct label," she continued, adding that Costello did not call off shows in the United States and England after the start of the Iraq war.

Costello is one of several high-profile artists to cancel appearances in Israel this summer, including Gil Scott-Heron and Santana.

Scott-Heron and Costello, in particular, are known for their socially conscious lyrics and activism, making them vulnerable to accusations of hypocrisy for playing in Tel Aviv while Israel continues to occupy Palestinian lands.

Scott-Heron, who wrote the well-known "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," was one of the leading proponents of the boycott against apartheid-era  South Africa, which many pro-Palestinian activists had likened to Israel.

The artists may have been influenced by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign, a broad movement calling for a boycott of Israel that has gained momentum since 2005 and persuaded a number of artists, universities and institutions to sever ties with Israel.

Sarah Colborne of the U.K.-based Palestine Solidarity Campaign, told the Guardian that Costello's decision was a sign the movement was working.

"We are increasingly seeing artists taking a stand against allowing themselves to be used by the Israeli state to normalize their occupation and apartheid policies against Palestinians," she said, according to the Guardian. "Principled artists understood it was unacceptable to play under the apartheid South African regime in Sun City."

– Meris Lutz in Beirut

Photo: Elvis Costello performs at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival on April 29, 2010. Credit: Rick Diamond / Getty Images

Comments

[Mike S]

Good for you Elvis. This boycott needs to be supported by all freedom loving people.

[KNP]

Good for him. Quit the whinning and get a clue, Israel.

[Joe]

Who cares about Elvis Costello? Over rated and under talented. Just another worthless celebrity terrorist sympathizer.

[2 cents]

does this guy think his thoughts on this subject are meaningful? he's a musician of some sort, right?

[tink]

Ok, fine the Jews 'got' their land but the Palestinians happened to be living there, whoops.

@Jean, god says I can have your house, so move out.

[Jamal]

What's so funny about peace, love, and understanding? It's funny when people like Sarah Palin and her Israel first neocon friends try to define it.

[Boo Boo]

More people need to realize that Israel is doing to the Palestinians what Germans did to the Jews, Gays etc.
We are all guilty as we sit back and continue to send Americans tax money to Israel to fund all of this.
Good for Elvis for canceling his show.

[rip]

so elvis chooses to pull out of a concert in israel and at the same time israel chooses to ban noam chomsky? funny.

[Paul]

Elvis has it all wrong. Israeli Arab Muslims live within Israel’s pre ’67 borders while hardly any Jews live in Arab countries.The Jews were all thrown out.Arabs in Israel have access to education, medical care, and work. They have titled land and can open their own businesses. These facts beg the question: What does Israel have to prove? How can a country be accused of “practicing apartheid” when it welcomed Ethiopian Jews and gave them homes (you see them everywhere working in shops, hotels, interacting with everyone): Israel gave Muslims representation in the Knesset: has a legal system available to Arab Muslims – a system where the Israeli Supreme Court even ruled against the State in favor of Arabs in certain cases. Why is it so difficult to get these points across to a guy like Elvis ?Maybe because he's simply a misinformed pop star.
The State of Israel demonstrates on a daily basis that it is an open society – far from perfect – but still much closer to Western democratic ideals than its neighbors.
Elvis-you are totally off base.

[Thurston Howell III]

Until the Palestinians stop firng missiles from Gaza, planting bombs in markets and kidnapping its citizens, the Israelis need to ensure their security. Somehow Israel will survive without Mr. Costello. Perhaps Mr. Costello wants to play in one of the enlightened Muslim lands instead...Iran, Syria, Saudia Arabia, Iraq, etc.

[dan szafranski]

I'm a fan of Elvis Costello - but what the hell?? Why did he book the show in the first place?? Did his just gain his social conciousness over the last month or two<<

[Roy G. Rarehell-Twane]

What Rob said is right:

Where are the bleeding heart champions speaking for the Palestinian underage boys trained by hamas as suicide bombers? or the underage Palestinian girls marrying hamas male adults? Israel is a country of less than 8 million citizens surrounded by hostile arab countries bent on the EXTERMINATION of jews (as prescribed by their prophet Mohamed and the Koran).

(The only correction is that the suicide bombers are actually murderers - murder bombers...RGR-T.)

[rip]

seems like the season for boycotts, whether it's LA/Arizona and the controversy of whether LA should renegotiate their electricity contracts and allow Arizona to send their electrons to other markets or now with elvis. i'm sensing we are on the cusp of a huge global boycott of israel akin to if not even more powerful then against apartheid south africa since israel is even more vulnerable and smaller and possesing less resources, to a trade boycott. they are a proud and resourcful people so even with a global boycott, they should manage as an increasingly isolated people. they seem to have their own indigenous music talent, so why fret over santana or elvis costello or perhaps many many other anglo saxon artists and products and services. good luck to them.

[tmiller1963]

America Rules your an idiot. People like you can actually justify Hamas. Just not in your backyard!

[mohammed]

"I hope it is possible to understand that I am not taking this decision lightly. ... It is a matter of instinct and conscience."

and that is the ultimate truth .

Elvis is the kind of friend I would like to have and they are rare believe me , since I don't care much for atheists .

[thetruth]

I think your an idiot too Jean.

The West bank is the worlds biggest concentration camp.

Enough said.

[August]

I'm always amazed by the Israelis calling the Palestinians "Terrorists" for throwing dirt-clods at Israeli bulldozers plowing over their homes!

[youareuniquelikeeveryoneelse]

Can someone please show me the map that God created which shows the borders of Israel?

[no longer an EC fan]

matter of conscience! remember 9/11 mr. costello ? has your conscience caused you to forget.

[eric]

This article refers to "Palestinian lands". Quick history lesson - Israel was attacked in 1967 by Arab countries, won land they had been keep Palestinians on. It was never "Palestinian Land".

Question for those who support the rights of Palestinians to have their own country - why didn't the Arab countries give them their own country when they had the land? Why did they keep Palestinians (and still do in Jordan and Lebanon) in refugee camps instead of allowing them to assimilate?

Not quite as cut and dry a human rights issue with some perspective here.