Cave feels heat over decision to play Israel concerts
Former Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters and producer Brian Eno have hit back at Australian musician Nick Cave after he accused them of trying to “bully” him and other musicians into not playing in Isreal.
Cave has just played two sold-out concerts in Tel Aviv. After Cave announced his plan to include Isreal on his European tour, Waters and Eno joined other artists in signing an open letter from the group Artists for Palestine UK urging Cave not to play in Isreal “while apartheid remains”.
At a news conference in Tel Aviv at the weekend, Cave said he was playing in Israel to make a stand against people trying “to bully musicians, to censor musicians, and to silence musicians”. He added that musicians who choose to play shows in Israel “have to go through a sort of public humiliation from Roger Waters and co”. He also said Eno had asked him three years ago to sign up to a boycott of Israel.
Waters and Eno joined others from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement in criticising Cave’s comments.
Waters wrote: “Nick thinks this is about censorship of his music? What? Nick, with all due respect, your music is irrelevant to this issue. So is mine, so is Brian Eno’s, so is Beethoven’s. This isn’t about music — it’s about human rights.” He added, “We hurl our glasses into the fire of your arrogant unconcern, and smash our bracelets on the rock of your implacable indifference.”
In response to Cave’s comments on attempts at “silencing” artists, Eno said they were “rather grating when used in a context where a few million people are permanently and grotesquely silenced”. “Israel spends hundreds of millions of dollars on hasbara, and its side of the argument gets broadcast loud and clear. Coupled with the scare-tactic of labelling any form of criticism of Israeli policy as ‘antisemitic’, this makes for a very uneven picture of what is going on.”
Cave said he had a special connection with Israel and loved Israelis. He said he first performed in Israel with his band the Bad Seeds “20 years ago” and instantly felt “a huge connection” that he “couldn’t really describe”.
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel — a key group in the BDS Movement — described Cave’s Tel Aviv concerts as a “propaganda gift to Israeli apartheid”.
“We thank Nick Cave for making one thing abundantly clear — playing Tel Aviv is never simply about music,” It wrote. “It is a political and moral decision to stand with the oppressor against the oppressed.”
Cave isn’t the only artist to clash with Waters over playing in Isreal. In July, Radiohead performed their longest concert in 11 years in Tel Aviv, following a series of exchanges between Waters and Thom Yorke, the band’s singer.
A long list of artists including Metallica, Madonna, Elton John, Rihanna and Ozzy Osbourne ignore the pressure from groups like Artists for palestine UK and continue to perform in Israel.