New Zealand pop sensation Lorde canceled a performance in Israel scheduled for next summer after caving to pressure from pro-Palestinian activists.
The singer said in a statement Sunday that “the right decision at this time” was to cancel her concert, scheduled for June in Tel Aviv.
Her announcement followed calls by proponents of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement to cancel her performance over Israel’s human rights record.
Lorde joins artists including Roger Waters, Lauryn Hill and Elvis Costello in boycotting Israel over its treatment of Palestinians.
Lorde said that after having “lots of discussions” about the matter, “I’m not too proud to admit I didn’t make the right call on this one” in first scheduling the concert.
Lorde’s cancellation was welcomed by members of the BDS movement. The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel posted a statement on Twitter thanking the artist for “heeding appeals from your fans against Israel’s art-washing of its brutal oppression of Palestinians.”
Israeli Culture Minister Miri Regev said she hoped Lorde would reconsider her decision.
“Lorde, I expect you to be a pure heroine, like the title of your first album, a pure culture hero, free of any external — and if I may add, delusional — political considerations,” Regev said in a statement.
The Israeli concert promoter responded to the cancellation, saying: “We forgive her.”
The singer, 21, was nominated for a Grammy Award for her 2017 album “Melodrama.”
With Post wires