Bruno Mars plays sold out concert in Israel despite outrage from human rights group
Bruno Mars delighted a 60,000 crowd in Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park, in Israel, on October 4th. He sang the Hebrew words “Ani ohev otach” ("I love you") and surprised the crowd with a solo piano version of the Israeli children’s song, “Shlomit Bona Sukkah”. Dressed in Israeli colours - a white shirt and blue trousers - he told the crowd: “Tel Aviv, I think I want to marry you!”. Mars will play another concert in the country on Saturday (7). Then the singer will play in Qatar on Sunday, a country notorious for its human rights violations.
On the weeks leading up to the concert in Israel, human rights groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), a pro-BDS group, asked him to cancel the concerts. JVP and other activists cited concerns over the Israeli government’s use of such concerts to “divert attention from the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
JVP wrote in a letter that “by playing in Tel Aviv, you would be crossing an international picket line (...) Whatever your intentions may be, Israel’s far-Right government, its most racist, homophobic, and authoritarian ever, will embrace and promote your performance to whitewash, or art-wash, its crimes against Palestinians.”
Bruno Mars's father reportedly is half-Jewish and half-Puerto Rican while his mother is Filipino.
The concert has been celebrated as a victory against BDS on social media:
BDS organizations wanted to convince Bruno Mars to boycott Israel...but he is here with us performing in front of tens of thousands of happy Israelis Arabs and Jews and even singing in Hebrew!
Another glorious failure for BDS...
💙🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/QnLJptQcKH
- יוסף חדאד - Yoseph Haddad (@YosephHaddad) October 4, 2023
Bruno Mars Performs in Israel Despite BDS Pressure 🇮🇱💙
Despite Jew-haters' efforts to cancel the show, Bruno Mars performs in front of dozens of thousands of Israelis for the first time, singing in Hebrew!
WATCH: Shlomit Bona Sukkah! 🕊🎶 pic.twitter.com/ipNxRtPswz
- Adam Albilya - אדם אלביליה (@AdamAlbilya) October 5, 2023
Sources - 1, 2, 3, 4