Elvis Costello Cancels Israeli Gigs Over Palestinian Treatment

Elvis Costello has cancelled two shows in Israel in protest of the country’s treatment of Palestinians.


The singer-songwriter posted a message on Elviscostello.com explaining his reasons for canceling the June 30 and July 1 shows in Caesarea.



"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," Costello wrote, “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… 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.”