BDS fail as Black Coffee warms massive crowd in Israel

Grammy Award-winning South African artist Black Coffee left the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement out in the cold on 1 September, when he performed to a sold-out crowd in Rishon LeZion, Israel.

This multi award-winning DJ, record producer, and songwriter, whose real name is Nkosinathi Maphumulo, returned to the Jewish state just four years after his last performance there.

While his 2018 show caused an uproar in South Africa, it didn’t deter him from returning to his Israeli fans. This time, he ignored a press release from extremist group Africa4Palestine, instead putting his energy into his art.

One Israeli fan, Yonny Rosenfeld (38), from Netanya, stayed out until 03:00 to watch the gig. “There was a great vibe. He even played a few Hebrew songs. There were people of all ages in the audience, having a great time,” he says.

“Black artists like Black Coffee are vulnerable to vicious BDS accusations implying that if they don’t support the anti-Israel boycott, they are betraying their community,” says Lana Melman, the author of Artists Under Fire: The BDS War against Celebrities, Jews, and Israel. “They are the unspoken victims of the BDS campaign which disparages them, threatens them, tries to interfere with their right to earn a living, and regularly throws them under the bus.” Melman is also chief executive of Liberate Art, an organisation fighting the campaign for a cultural boycott against Israel.

“Contrary to what BDS proponents want you to believe, most artists refuse to be intimidated by BDS assaults on their reputation and careers,” says Melman, who has worked with almost a thousand artists pressed to boycott Israel and has prevented numerous cancellations of concerts.

“Alicia Keys responded to the campaign against her by telling the New York Times, ‘I look forward to my first visit to Israel. Music is a universal language that’s meant to unify audiences in peace and love, and that’s the spirit of our show.’”

The South African Zionist Federation’s (SAZF) Benji Shulman notes that this is the third time that Black Coffee has performed in Israel to a sold-out crowd. “It’s evidence that South Africans continue to ignore the BDS’s aggressive cultural boycott campaign,” he says. “In 2018, BDS, as well as the ANC [African National Congress] and EFF [Economic Freedom Fighters] drove a major campaign to undermine his visit to Israel. This time, however, the adverse happened, and 3.4 million of Black Coffee’s followers were exposed to the vibrancy of Israel’s cultural scene through the videos he posted on Instagram. Cultural engagement is crucial to dialogue, and the SAZF encourages artists to experience Israel’s democratic diversity for themselves.”

Meanwhile, “BDS attempts to manipulate the emotions of black South Africans by falsely accusing Israel of apartheid,” says Melman. “This deceitful comparison diminishes the suffering of black South Africans, and is a cynical exploitation of one group of people to malign another.

“Black Coffee is being castigated for ‘veering from the policies of the ANC’. Should artists be faulted for having opinions contrary to those of their government?” she asks. “Surely, disagreeing with the ruling party isn’t the same as undermining it and, in fact, is a sign of democracy. Artists have an obligation to be free thinkers and uncover the truth, which they do when they go to Israel and see it for themselves.”

South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) Communications Head Charisse Zeifert says, “The SAJBD is delighted that Black Coffee again chose to perform in Israel and hasn’t allowed himself to be bullied by the BDS movement. He joins countless other respected artists from around the world who regularly visit that country.

“The BDS movement tends to rely on wishful thinking rather than facts when it talks about a cultural boycott between Israel and South Africa,” she says. “There are regular interactions in the sporting, films, music, literature, and arts spheres. Though BDS sometimes attempts to scupper events, the overall effect has been minimal. The SAJBD encourages continued exchanges between Israel and South Africa, and believe it’s an excellent way of building bonds between our two peoples.”

Ari Ingel, the director of Creative Community for Peace (CCP), describes his organisation as “an entertainment industry non-profit organisation started 10 years ago to promote the arts as a bridge to peace, counter rising antisemitism, and the cultural boycott of Israel. We work with hundreds of artists every year, from Jennifer Lopez and Rihanna to the Black Eyed Peas and Maroon 5.

“Africa4Palestine is extremist and its members have really fringe views,” Ingel says. “They’re trying to bully artists into not coming to Israel by flooding their social media with bots, trolls, and fake accounts and harassing them. If it really was ‘apartheid’ or ‘ethnic cleansing’, they would want artists to see it and come back and say, ‘Yes, this is horrific.’ But they understand that Israel doesn’t line up with their narrative. That’s why they don’t want artists to see it for themselves.

“CCP encourages artists to see Israel and the West Bank. That way, they can get a well-rounded perspective,” says Ingel. “We also encourage artists to use their voice as a bridge to peace, because one thing that really brings everyone together is music and the arts.”

He notes that South African BDS movements used the same tactics with the Miss Universe contest in Israel when South Africa’s candidate, Lalela Mswane, was “bullied and harassed not to go. She got death threats. If this was a just movement, that’s not the tactics it would need to employ. It publicly shames artists, as we see with Justin Bieber right now.

“BDS did the same to Lionel Messi, who got death threats, and Paul McCartney. Both came, with messages of peace, and that’s something everyone should get behind. We cannot let extremists dictate the conversation. They’re trying to break their message out of their small echo chamber and use influential artists to spread it. The best thing to do is ignore them, which is what Black Coffee did.”

Though Africa4Palestine said Black Coffee was “setting himself apart from the rest of the civilised cultural world”, his local contemporaries clearly didn’t agree as he was awarded the South African Music Awards’ International Achievement Award on 28 August.

“BDS claims that it’s a non-violent movement, yet its vicious verbal attacks on artists can make victims fear for their safety,” says Melman, who has experienced it first-hand. For example, “the managers for Salif Keita, an albino Afropop singer-songwriter, cancelled his scheduled tour in Israel for fear of personal and professional harm.

“BDS stirs up conflict and hate. It routinely demonises Israel’s seven million Jewish citizens, falsely accusing them of every imaginable form of evil,” says Melman. “The greatest gift to the Palestinian people would be peace, but that’s not on the BDS agenda. In all the years I have dedicated to this mission, I have never seen a BDS statement that offered any semblance of balance, called for reconciliation, or asked an artist to make a positive contribution to better the lives of the Palestinians. BDS doesn’t have a plan for peaceful coexistence with Israel or prosperity for the Palestinian population. The ‘plan’ starts and ends with getting rid of the Jews.”

Melman says she is “deeply concerned about the global effort to impose a cultural boycott on Israel, and the threat it poses to freedom of artistic expression. Art is integral to the human experience. It simultaneously reflects the world in which we live and serves as a vehicle for change. The threat to freedom of expression anywhere is a threat to that freedom everywhere.”