The Rolling Stones will follow in the footsteps of Beyonce and the Pixes by announcing plans for a concert in Israel, triggering pro-Palestinian activists to push further for a boycott of the Jewish state.
A spokesperson for the legendary British rock band announced the performance will take place in Tel Aviv on June 4, according to AFP.
The Stones have joined a line of artists who have been likened to supporting “apartheid” by the Palestinian movement Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), which calls for a cultural and academic boycott of Israel, echoing a similar campaign in South Africa.
American-Jewish BDS activist, Brenna Thomas told Al Bawaba: “By entering that nation and spending money on hotels and food, they are helping to support an economy based on war and the suffering of others - the others being the indigenous population of a land the Israelis are continually stealing.
“The Stones make a statement by going to Israel that they are OK with apartheid and racism. That says a lot about them as people and none of it is nice.
The BDS campaign has been successful on numerous occasions, most notably when professor Stephen Hawking joined the academic boycott of Israel last year.
The movement pressurizes businesses and famous people to disassociate with Israeli companies primarily located in illegal settlements in the West Bank
Scarlett Johansson was recently dropped as an ambassador for Oxfam after she became a global brand ambassador of SodaStream, which operates in the illegal Israeli settlement Ma'ale Adumim.
Writing recently in The Salon, avid supporter of the BDS campaign, Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters said: “What can we all do to advance the rights of Palestinians in the occupied territories, Israel and the diaspora?
“Well, BDS is a nonviolent, citizen-led movement that is grounded in universal principles of human rights for all people.”
