Australian pop-music star Natalie Imbruglia has apparently cancelled her planned performance in Israel after being pressured by the anti-Semitic BDS movement, which calls on artists and businesses to desist from cooperation with Israel – under pretense to criticism of Israeli policy.
Although Imbruglia had been scheduled to perform in Tel Aviv on March 1st, a recent look at her website showed that the performance had been removed from her list of upcoming performances.
The concert was apparently almost sold-out at the time of her cancellation; Imbruglia’s ticket-ordering site shows that only 29 seats are left for the concert.
The cancellation was hailed by BDS groups. One group called “Don’t play Apartheid Israel” praised the pressure exerted on Imbruglia “after a solid campaign by concerned groups and Indigenous people [sic].”
In late January, the BDS movement sent an open letter to Imbruglia calling on her to cancel her concert in Israel, citing the “Zionist colonization of Palestine” and Israel’s “collective punishment” of Palestinian Arabs, among a litany of other anti-Israel accusations.
Imbruglia’s cancellation came even as a host of high-profile international performers are still set to perform in Israel over the course of the year. Among these are Fatboy Slim, Radiohead, The Pixies, Justin Bieber, Aerosmith, Rod Stewart, Guns N Roses, and Nick Cave.
