#BDS: Macy Gray, Performing in Israel is Already Political – Stand for Human Rights and Cancel!

"Dear Macy Gray,

We are a group of Israeli citizens who support the Palestinian Call [1] for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) on Israel, as a means of bringing to an end Israel’s decades-long systematic oppression of the Palestinian people.

We are writing to you today to share with you our deep concern about your upcoming shows in Israel and urge you to cancel them. We know that you performed in Israel before, but some artists who come here are not fully aware of their performance’s implications when they choose to do so. In recent months, artists such as Carlos Santana, Gil Scott Heron, Elvis Costello, Gorillaz Sound System, the Klaxons, the Pixies, Devendra Banhart, Faithless, Leftfield, and Tindersticks cancelled their scheduled shows in Tel-Aviv after familiarizing themselves with the current socio-political reality in Palestine/Israel. Film stars Meg Ryan and Dustin Hoffman, and film director Mike Leigh cancelled their scheduled appearances in Israel as well.

In 1948 Israel expelled and confiscated the land and property of about 800,000 Palestinians. They and their descendants are still denied return and compensation as sanctioned by the UN General Assembly Resolution 194. The remaining Palestinians have been put for years under martial law, and until now, constituting 20% of Israel’s citizens, they are subjected to a systematic discrimination in violation of international law, and specifically, the crime of apartheid.

For decades, Israel has been keeping a population of four million Palestinians under martial law, and in the case of Gaza – a life-costing military siege. Palestinians living under Israeli military control have to endure house demolitions, the annexation of their agricultural fields and orchards, unlawful military invasions to their homes, and systematic denial of access to adequate medical services, high education and work; their villages are surrounded by checkpoints and a 26 ft. high wall, quashing their right to move freely, sometime even within their own villages. In the context of your show, this also means that a Palestinian girl, a fan of your music living under Israeli occupation, is not allowed by law – and denied by walls, fences and checkpoints – to come see you perform in Tel-Aviv."

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