Amnesty International pulls out of Cohen concert

Amnesty International has announced it was pulling out of its involvement with Leonard Cohen's concert in Tel Aviv. The announcement comes in the wake of many vociferous protests from around the world, including from its own members. This is a sensible move, but also a self-preserving one since it was becoming likely that it would lose support and members if it persisted with its administration of the concert funds and its partnership with the notorious Discount Bank. Link to Amnesty's statement at the bottom of this article.

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/08/18/18616483.php

A Plea to Leonard Cohen

Here is an interesting point of view from someone who having been conflicted by the boycott appeal regarding asking Leonard Cohen not to perform in Israel finally came to the regretful decision that despite his deep affection and respect for Cohen, the right thing to do in the end was to add his voice to the general appeal and register his support for the boycott. I'm sure many people who are fans of Leonard Cohen, but dismayed by his decision to play Israel, will relate to this.

http://www.counterpunch.org/aloni08032009.html

Tel Aviv concert sells out

All 47,000 tickets for Leonard Cohen's Tel Aviv concert sold out within hours of going on sale, according to reports.

NYCBI condemns Amnesty over Leonard Cohen Israel support

The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel has written an open letter to Amnesty International calling on the human rights organisation to withdraw its support for Leonard Cohen's planned Tel Aviv concert, which it has been reported will benefit Palestine-friendly charities.

Among NYCBI's claims is that "the only Palestinian organization falsely reported in the Jerusalem Post article as being a partner in this project, the Palestinian Happy Child Center [PHCC], has confirmed that it is not taking part." LCBI could not however find a website for PHCC or any news coverage supporting this claim.

Tel Aviv concert to go ahead and benefit pro-peace groups - reports

While there is still no official word from the Cohen camp, Leonard is reportedly donating 100% of the proceeds of his concert in Tel Aviv to various pro-Palestinian and pro-peace organisations.

What do you think? A good move, or will nothing short of a full boycott suffice? Use the blog comments facility, or discuss this on the Facebook group.

Protests outside Dublin concerts

Members of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign held a protest against Leonard Cohen's plans to play in Israel outside the Dublin O2 venue where Leonard is playing his latest shows in Ireland, according to today's Irish Times.

West Bank concert cancelled - reports

Leonard Cohen's proposed concert in Ramallah has been cancelled, according to various news sources in the last few days, most recently today's Guardian. "The Ramallah date was added allegedly in response to pro-Palestinian campaigners who had tried to dissuade Cohen from appearing in Israel," runs the report. "Now Cohen's Palestinian hosts have cancelled the West Bank concert, amid claims that the planned gig was a hollow attempt to 'balance' performances." PACBI's statement says "Ramallah will not receive Cohen as long as he is intent on whitewashing Israel's colonial apartheid regime by performing in Israel."

Here at LCBI we do feel this is a missed opportunity on Ramallah's part and hope they reconsider.

Both shows meanwhile are still unlisted on Cohen's official tour schedule, and the Cohen forum thread which has promised a "big announcement" about this for the past three weeks has been updated only to say that the announcement has been delayed, and won't appear in the first half of July.

In other news, our petition asking Leonard not to perform in Israel now has 83 signatures, and the Leonard Cohen Boycott Israel Facebook group has risen to 61 members.

Concerts in Israel and West Bank?

According to this article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Leonard Cohen will be performing at Ramat Gan Stadium near Tel Aviv on September 24 and also at the Cultural Palace in the Palestinian city of Ramallah on September 26.  

Note that neither date is yet listed on the official tour itinerary.

We welcome the news of the Ramallah concert as a positive development and await more specific information next week.

Major announcement coming next week

The webmaster of the Leonard Cohen Files says there will be an important announcement next week regarding the concert in Tel Aviv.  Check here for details.

Tel Aviv show pulled from Leonard Cohen's tour itinerary

In the last 24 hours Leonard's European tour itinerary has stopped listing the Tel Aviv show. (Until 22nd June it was at the bottom of that list as the last date on the tour, below the Barcelona gig on 21st September.)

The leonardcohen.com webmaster notes on the discussion forum that AEG Live requested him to remove the date without giving a reason.

Another moderator of the group points out that dates have disappeared and reappeared before, so it could just be temporary.

Certainly we would hope that if the show had been cancelled because of the growing opposition to it, there would be some kind of announcement from the Cohen camp to that effect.

In the meantime watch this space...

Posted via email from Leonard Cohen Boycott Israel!