Costello cancels Israel shows-No peace, love and understanding from Elvis.

Jerusalem Post ^ | 5-18-10 | DAVID BRINN

[SJackson]

Only two weeks after British rock icon Elvis Costello told The Jerusalem Post that the only answer to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is “dialogue and reconciliation,” he decided to take himself out of the equation by cancelling his two shows scheduled for June 30 and July 1 at the Caesaerea Amphitheater.

Costello posted an announcement on his Web site over the weekend explaining his decision to join the boycott of Israel. “There are occasions when merely having your name added to a concert schedule may be interpreted as a political act that resonates more than anything that might be sung and it may be assumed that one has no mind for the suffering of the innocent,” he wrote.

Saying he couldn’t imagine receiving another invitation to perform in Israel, Costello wrote that since the conflict was “actually too grave and complex to be addressed in a concert, then it is also quite impossible to simply look the other way… sometimes a silence in music is better than adding to the static.”

Costello was set to make his Israeli debut with his new folk/bluegrass band The Sugarcanes, and in his conversation with the Post two weeks ago, he said that he had given much thought to playing in the country, but decided that he was against efforts to boycott performances.

“I know from the experience of a friend who is from Israel and from people who have worked there that there is a difference of opinion there among Israelis regarding their government’s policies. It seems to me that dialogue is essential. I don’t presume to think that my performance is going to be part of the process,” Costello told the Post.

“The people who call for a boycott of Israel own the narrow view that performing there must be about profit and endorsing the hawkish policy of the government. It’s like never appearing in the US because you didn’t like Bush’s policies or boycotting England because of Margaret Thatcher.”

Neither Costello’s US-based management nor the Israeli promoters of the shows have issued official statement yet, and no refund policy for tickets purchased has yet been announced. It’s also unclear whether the announced show by Costello’s wife, vocalist and pianist Diana Krall, will go on as planned on August 9 at the Ra’anana Amphitheater.

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Text: Elvis Costello Joins Boycott of Israel - Cancelling 2 Shows

http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=48066

[The Facebook of Elvis Costello already includes remarks from people criticising him for the decision. www.facebook.com/ElvisCostello ]

It Is After Considerable Contemplation.... 15 May 2010 www.elviscostello.com/#/news/it-is-after-considerable-contemplation/44

It is after considerable contemplation that I have lately arrived at the decision that I must withdraw from the two performances scheduled in Israel on the 30th of June and the 1st of July.

One lives in hope that music is more than mere noise, filling up idle time, whether intending to elate or lament.

Then there are occasions when merely having your name added to a concert schedule may be interpreted as a political act that resonates more than anything that might be sung and it may be assumed that one has no mind for the suffering of the innocent.

I must believe that the audience for the coming concerts would have contained many people who question the policies of their government on settlement and deplore conditions that visit intimidation, humiliation or much worse on Palestinian civilians in the name of national security.

I am also keenly aware of the sensitivity of these themes in the wake of so many despicable acts of violence perpetrated in the name of liberation.

Some will regard all of this an unknowable without personal experience but if these subjects are actually too grave and complex to be addressed in a concert, then it is also quite impossible to simply look the other way.

I offer my sincere apologies for any disappointment to the advance ticket holders as well as to the organizers.

My thanks also go to the members of the Israeli media with whom I had most rewarding and illuminating conversations. They may regard these exchanges as a waste of their time but they were of great value and help to me in gaining an appreciation of the cultural scene.

I hope it is possible to understand that I am not taking this decision lightly or so I may stand beneath any banner, nor is it one in which I imagine myself to possess any unique or eternal truth.

It is a matter of instinct and conscience.

It has been necessary to dial out the falsehoods of propaganda, the double game and hysterical language of politics, the vanity and self-righteousness of public communiqués from cranks in order to eventually sift through my own conflicted thoughts.

I have come to the following conclusions.

One must at least consider any rational argument that comes before the appeal of more desperate means.

Sometimes a silence in music is better than adding to the static and so an end to it.

I cannot imagine receiving another invitation to perform in Israel, which is a matter of regret but I can imagine a better time when I would not be writing this.

With the hope for peace and understanding. Elvis Costello

[Opinionated Blowhard]

Yeesh. Where did they dredge him up from? One good album and then garbage, kinda like Linda Ronstadt. I guess he's trying to pull a Ronstadt and get some publicity by getting political.

[Dr. Thorne]

Israel is a small country that cannot afford to become polluted. Looks like they just avoided a lot of toxic waste.

BTW, has anyone listened to "The Juliet Letters"? Anyone? (crickets chirping)

[17th Miss Regt]

Elvis should go play the West Bank.

I'll bet he would bomb there.

[Karliner]

Maybe he should play in Gaza, let Cynthia McKinney sing a little also, and maybe Rev Wright can come to bless the Qassams.

[Rappini]

This Elvis couldn’t find his A$$ in a lighted room with both hands.

[B Knotts]

A talented guy who has always been misguided in his politics.

[RichInOC]

But Elvis…you could be in Palestine, overrun by the Chinese line, with the boys from the Mersey and the Thames and the Tyne…

[dervish]

my favorite lines.

Oh well, another musician/actor/writer/artist that joins the group of those I no longer want to know about and will no longer buy .

Reminds me of this

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=cba_1207163405

[dennisw]

Elvis should go play the West Bank.

I’ll bet he would bomb there. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Especially if he playing during Bomb-a-dan

[nolongerademocrat]

Wasn’t Obama a part of those protests against “Apartheid” in South Africa that eventually led to performers boycotting South Africa and the collapse of the government there? (Leaving that connection to Bill Ayers alone for a moment)

I notice since Obama has been in the national public eye, there are more and more comments trying to equate Israel with South Africa and Apartheid.

http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1206

http://www.bigcampaign.org/index.php?mact=CGBlog,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=121&cntnt01returnid=72

(Funny, if it was really based on race - how would so many “Arab-Israelis” survive living inside Israel?)

This is politics - Obama wants to collapse the Israeli government - he wants Bibi replaced by “Tzipi” Livni.

Elvis Costello is an Obama supporter:

http://www.nme.com/news/elvis-costello/41953

http://www.breitbart.tv/explicit-elvis-costello-doesnt-think-much-of-oreilly-dobbs/

ISRAEL: Activists urge musicians not to perform in Israel
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/03/israel-israeli-peaceniks-pick-on-the-pixies.html
(Of course, the article doesn’t mention that the “Israeli citizens” who are calling for boycotts are probably “Palestinians” who chose to remain in Israel as Israeli citizens.)

Don’t get me wrong - Apartheid was awful. Israel is not South Africa.

[SunkenCiv]

sometimes a silence in music is better than adding to the static

In his case, all the time. Thanks SJackson.