Dear Justin, 

We the undersigned appeal to you to cancel your planned October 13, 2022 performance in Tel Aviv Israel. 

According to Human Rights Watch, the most respected human rights organization in the world, and B’tselem, Israel’s largest human rights organization, Israel is practicing apartheid. From the river to the sea, Israel privileges one group of people (Jews) over another group of people (Palestinians) in order to maintain Jewish Israeli control over demographics, political power, and land. To achieve this, Israel dispossesses Palestinians from their lands, demolishes Palestinian homes, subjects Palestinians to checkpoints, child imprisonment, and numerous daily humiliations and violence. The separate and unequal system that Israel imposes on Palestinians is a daily nightmare.

This fall, Israel designated six Palestinian civil society human rights organizations as “terrorist” organizations. Israel has not been able to evidence that these groups are involved in terror but nevertheless, they are continuing to persecute the groups. Employees of the organizations have been spied on by Israel who implanted spyware on their phones without their knowledge or consent. 

In the West Bank, Israel has two sets of laws for two groups of people. Israeli settlers, who live illegally on Palestinian land and frequently carry out violent attacks, are subject to Israeli civilian law while Palestinians are subject to Israeli military law. Under Israeli military law, protest is illegal and children as young as 12 are arrested and denied their basic rights. Israel is the only country in the world with a juvenile military court and it is for Palestinian children only. 

In Gaza, due to the Israeli blockade, over 50% of the population is unemployed and essential goods, like medicines and fuel are in short supply. 97% of the water in Gaza is unfit for human consumption and electricity is usually only four hours a day at most. Palestinians in Gaza are unable to leave. It’s an open-air prison. 

When you released your album Justice, faced criticism for using samples of Dr. Martin Luther King in the album’s songs. You responded to the criticism by listening and learning and admitting that you “just didn’t know better” and you hadn’t received an education in Black history during your upbringing. “I want to keep growing and learning about just all social injustices and what it looks like for me to be better,” you said. We hope you learn about the crimes Israel commits against the Palestinian people and follow the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King to stand with the oppressed.

If you choose to follow through with your performance in Tel Aviv, it will be seen as an endorsement of Israel’s brutal military occupation and disregard for Palestinian rights. Canceling your performance, on the other hand, would send a strong message that Palestinians, like all people, deserve equal rights and freedom. You would be following in the footsteps of artists like Lauryn Hill, Lorde, Natalie Portman, Lana Del Ray, and others.  We appeal to you to show solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom, dignity, and equality by canceling your October 22 performance in Israel. 

Codepink Petition