Pop and Middle East Conflict

Anyone who goes to the homepage of the Israeli pop singer and rapper Noga Erez and opens the menu item “Tour Dates” will currently only find a single date next year: On July 16th she will play at a festival in Ostrava in the Czech Republic, alongside Iggy Pop and Snow Patrol.

In the summer of this year that is now ending, Noga Erez was still performing somewhere almost every weekend, traveling from festival to festival. The fact that things will be completely different next year is not due to a creative crisis or a lack of enthusiasm among fans – on the contrary: with her famous third album “The Vandalist”, which was released last September, the 34-year-old also achieved international success finally the breakthrough. Noga Erez now revealed the reasons for her so far largely appointment-free summer in a video that she posted on her Instagram page.

Her baby bump can also be clearly seen in it. Erez is eight months pregnant and will probably take some time off after the birth. But she doesn’t seem to be the type to skip an entire festival season because of this: The video was recorded in a packed club in Tel Aviv.

If Erez expressed himself politically, it was certainly not for the extreme right-wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu

Her management had just informed her that she had been uninvited to a festival, says Erez – “and I wish that was an isolated incident”. But don’t be. The cancellations have increased recently, including cancellations to media appearances, and there are probably political reasons for that.

Like almost all young Israeli adults, Noga Erez was in the army; only a few Israelis dare to take the legally complicated route of refusing military service, which is frowned upon in large parts of society. She served in the music corps there more than 15 years ago. And when Erez expressed himself politically in the past years and months, it was certainly not for the extremely right-wing government and policies of Benjamin Netanyahu: rather, she advocated for the two-state solution and against the controversial judicial reform, called for peace and also after October 7th to a deal for a ceasefire.

The disinvitations are probably explained by a boycott logic that is generally directed against Israelis: “It’s not because of what I may have said. It is because I was born where I was born.” These words from Erez precisely describe the program of the BDS (“Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions”) movement. “I believe that boycotting artists will not bring any solution at all,” added Erez, adding that now is the time when common positions need to be sought. Spoke and said goodbye for the maternity break – which, as of now, won’t end until July at the earliest.