A free concert planned for Sunday in Marseille by Franco-Israeli singer Amir, the target of calls for a boycott by pro-Palestinian activists, was canceled for “security reasons” by the organizers, a few days after the interruption of a performance by DJ Barbara Butch in Grenoble.
This concert was to take place in a large shopping center in France’s second city, as part of a series of free shows throughout the summer. Calls for a boycott have circulated on social networks, as during several recent shows by the singer.
“For security reasons, the Sunset Live session scheduled for this Sunday, July 26 at the Terrasses du Port is canceled. This decision aims to guarantee the safety of artists, the public, our teams and all people present on the site. We regret this cancellation,” wrote the center’s management in a Facebook post.
The Union Palestine Marseille collective, which had called for a boycott “in an exclusively peaceful approach”, welcomed what it described as “a victory for popular mobilization”. He accuses the singer of having participated in “events in support of the Israeli army” and sees it as a sign of validation of “the settlement policy carried out by Israel”.
But the cancellation also provoked many indignant reactions.
The Marseille Provence branch of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (Crif) “expressed its deep concern” believing that “under the pretext of freedom of expression and supposedly peaceful boycott, these organizations are gradually imposing their law on cultural life”.
The National Crif had already denounced on Monday a “hunt for Jewish artists or artists committed against anti-Semitism” after the interruption in Grenoble (south-east) of a concert by DJ Barbara Butch by pro-Palestinian activists, by calling on the Ministry of Culture.
The concert of this 45-year-old Jewish artist, a figure of Parisian LGBTQ+ nights, was interrupted after around twenty minutes due to action by pro-Palestinian activists and the radical left party La France Insoumise (LFI). She will file several complaints, in particular for provoking hatred and violence.
Barbara Butch was targeted by cyberharassment combining fatphobia, lesbophobia and anti-Semitism after her performance at the opening show of the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.
“Faced with the new Red Guards, let’s not give in anything. Amir must sing in Marseille,” the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism (Licra) was outraged.
