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As spoken-word artist and Hip Hop forefather Gil Scott-Heron announced he will cancel his planned Tel Aviv gig, scheduled for May 25th due to extreme pressure from Israel boycotters in London, noted Israeli journalist/blogger Guy Hajaj wrote this in YNET (translated from Hebrew):

Not A Black & White Situation
By Guy Hajaj

I was disappointed twice when I learned that poet and artist Gil Scott - Heron had succumbed to the pressure from within and outside of Israel and removed the Tel Aviv show from his official tour schedule.

First, I was disappointed personally because I expected to see, on May 25, an artist whom I deeply admire, and identify with many of his poems. The second disappointment was much deeper. I expected Scott - Heron to not surrender.

I can understand him. The pressure on him was great, the show’s web page was filled with dozens of in strong reactions from both sides, those supporting the boycott of Israel urged him “not to break the boycott” (broken every day by most of the world, making it difficult to really call it a boycott) , both by the Israelis who tried to convince him to come and perform anyway. It’s not a simple case. The Israeli – Arab conflict is not simple,it is extremely complex. I expected an intelligent artist like Scott – Heron to understand it. Understand that this is not a black / white situation. I expected him to identify himself with the position of Greg Dulli, Twilight Singers’ leader, who arrived with his band for two amazing performances at The Barbie Club in 2006, at the end of the Second Lebanon War. Despite similar international pressure, Dully said at the time he came to play for people, not their governments.

This is a sensible position, and one has to know to distinguish between government policy and the audience that comes to show, who did not necessarily voted for the government or support its policies. I expected n artist like Scott-Heron, who throughout his career advocated independent thought, whose art is based on rhetoric and speaking and listening, to know the most important thing in a debate is dialogue. I expected him to be a part of this discussion, to come to Israel to talk - and to listen. To say onstage what he has to teach us; and listen to the many voices who speak of this conflict on both sides of the border on both sides of the political map. To listen and make a decision out of knowledge and understanding of the complexity of the situation.

I was expecting from Scott-Heron to follow his artistic follower, spoken word artist Saul Williams, who also faced similar pressures last year. Williams arrived in Tel Aviv, gave a 50-minute appearance of speech-only, which stopped the heartbeat of everyone who was in the room. Williams was not afraid to talk onstage about his feelings towards this visit, to draw similarities and differences between the U.S. wars and wars of Israel, to ask hard questions, to seek answers. The next show he went to visit Jerusalem and the village of Bil’in. He met people on both sides, he spoke with them He listened, he learned. and some time after the visit he published on his blog a long post on this visit, it told in his honest, direct manner, his thoughts about the conflict. He came to be heard and to hear. among other things, he wrote of his decision to arrive here: “In my opinion, in order for things to improve, Israeli children should be inspired to think for themselves, to question what they were born into; I can boycott the young students in Israel just like I can ban those in America.”

I was expecting a political artist like Scott - Heron, whose pen is his sword, to know that the only thing listeners can not stand is hypocrisy. hypocrisy is to boycott Israel, but to appear in America, who goes out to fight unnecessary wars, whose attitude towards blacks is still not equal and fair, who massacred Indians, whose hands are definitely not squeaky clean. I expected a lot, maybe I expected too much. Perhaps the situation in Israel and Palestine, from the outside, looked so sharp - clear, simple and maybe it’s absolutely impossible to be angry about Scott – Heron, listening to one side of the debate and not hearing the other side. But you can definitely blame ourselves, the Israeli public, by not saying with a strong enough voice that there is another side to the debate, claiming that the situation is indeed very complex, complicated and requires a thorough observation to determine an opinion or act. Perhaps Scott - Heron will come. Even Leonard Cohen did not mention the Israeli concert on its official site in Israel, but he did come and the show did happen.

Maybe Scott - Heron will change his mind at the same speed he changed it from the moment he signed an contract to perform in Israel to the moment he declared, in England, that he refuses to get here. I hope he will come, make his voice heard and also listen to a variety of voices here. The choice to remain silent, especially from an artist whose power is his word, would be considered cowardice and narrow-mindedness – the exact opposite of what Gil Scott-Heron represents.