Israeli music scene jolted by boycott movement
Cancellations turned festival into battleground between Israeli regime and boycott movement
Israel’s Meteor Festival was meant to bring together indie groups from around the world in what organisers billed as a Woodstock-like “cutting edge musical journey that surpasses borders and distorts time and space.”
Instead, some 20 acts, including headliner Lana Del Rey, withdrew at the last minute amid apparent pressure from a Palestinian-led international boycott campaign. The cancellations turned the weekend festival into the latest battleground between the Israeli occupation regime and the boycott movement that wants to end Israeli regime rule over Palestinians.
Campaign organisers claimed success, saying it reflects growing opposition to Israeli occupation regime’s policies among international millennials.
“The fact that these artists are cancelling is showing just how different the younger generation is viewing Israel,” said Diana Buttu, a Palestinian analyst who supports the movement known as BDS. The campaign, founded in 2005, calls for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israeli businesses, cultural institutions and universities.
BDS says it seeks to end the regime’s occupation of lands captured in the 1967 Mideast war and discrimination against Palestinians of the 1948 areas. It calls for the “right of return” for millions of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to homes their ancestors fled or were expelled from in the 1948 war over Israel’s creation.
The campaign compares itself to the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, and its nonviolent message has resonated with audiences around the world.
Modest impact
Although BDS says it’s pushed some companies and investment funds to curtail their activities in Israel, its economic impact appears to be modest. Culture and academia have been easier targets. Virtually any artist who plans to perform in Israel these days can expect to come under pressure on social media to cancel.
A growing list of performers, including Israeli-American actress Natalie Portman and singer Lorde, have cancelled appearances in Israel in recent months.
Del Rey joined that list on August 31 when she announced that she was withdrawing from the Meteor Festival after an intense BDS lobbying campaign. In a statement on Twitter, the Grammy-nominated singer said she was “postponing” until she could perform for both Israeli and Palestinian audiences.
Other no-shows included “of Montreal,” a popular indie band that previously performed in Israel. “Now is not the time for escapism and celebrations,” it said on Facebook. “Now is the time for activism and protests against Israeli apartheid, Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the human rights atrocities being carried out every day in Gaza by Israeli [occupation] forces.”
It is difficult to quantify the impact of BDS pressure.
Del Rey did not explicitly endorse the boycott message, and Portman said outright that she does not support BDS.
The movement’s inroads have raised alarm in Israel.