"More importantly, how much are we really doing for Palestinian rights if people there don’t seem interested in our kind of music at all?"

"in our kind of music"??? Really, Jello? I can't even.

I guess he would've played at places that had segregated facilities in the Jim Crow south too with a clear conscience.

Each and every cancellation, is a very welcome victory for the BDS movement, regardless of the "stated" reasons. The campaign to ask Jello to cancel was amazing! In a short time, "Punks Against Apartheid" formed, many many letters were written, and this showed great ad hoc organization. A facebook page "Jello Biafra : Please Don't Play Apartheid Israel - Find Out The Facts" endeavored to educate Jello's "team," and it did a great job as well! Too bad a similar effort towards Napalm Death's concert did not receive the same result. But, a recent campaign to get August Burns Red to cancel was a huge success... but again, their stated reason was not that they joined BDS...but the great thing is BDS is being taken seriously...(esp. by the zionist entity)

A bit heavy handed I think,I know "ha ha profanity" all about the Palestinian music scene,that does not brand me racist ..and thats all he was saying ,he was being considerate,this is a victory,the bitterness here is digusting..

"a fringe movement he has a right too ignore"do you have trouble getting your big fat heads through doors,egomaniacs!everybody has the right to ignore!,there is what?6 billion on this planet?people have their own issues too,learn to except that!
The BDS comment is the only thing on this page that has'nt angered or annoyed me...before you inevitably write me off....half a little think on that,go on even thirty seconds'

This is good news. I only wish that the BDS campaign would have more influence over the really big musical acts; the loathsome Elton John comes to mind.

Agreed that cancellation is victory regardless of the stated reasons for doing so. We learned a lot from this campaign, which I think was far more strategically important than Napalm Death. Sure, he has a lot of "clash of civilizations" misconceptions about the situation, but I think he can be an important ally in the future.

No one has even heard of this guy anyway but thats besides the point. Not playing music isn't a victory, how about actually doing something productive in the form of lets say... talking about the issues and stop being so petty.

Sure he's shown a certain level of ignorance, but he's explicitly stated his intention to visit Israel-Palestine to see the situation himself.

Surely now is a time to help set his travel itinerary in Jerusalem, the West Bank, Palestinian cities in Israel, and even Gaza. If he comes back and still isn't a supporter of BDS then feel free to write him off.

I've been a lifelong advocate for justice in Palestine, but it still took me time to understand the value of BDS and its potential to succeed. The demands aren't as simple as they were in South Africa, but they are undeniably just.

When I say engage, I mean something like this, as in the case of Kareem Abdul Jabbar:
endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=3038

I don't know the guy, so I lookes on Wiki and foud this:
"Politically, Biafra is a member of the Green Party of the United States[1] and actively supports various political causes. He ran for the party's Presidential nomination in 2000, finishing second to Ralph Nader.[2] He is an anarchist[1] who advocates direct action and pranksterism in the name of political causes. Biafra is known to use absurdist media tactics, in the leftist tradition of the Yippies, to highlight issues of civil rights and social justice."

How the hell is it possible that an anarchist, which I consider myself too, is saying that ;"claiming that the boycott movment against Israeli apartheid was “divided” and “not as unified” as the South African anti-apartheid movement, and therefore it didn’t really apply to him.

Noam Chomsky is an anarchist too and I feel myself much more bound to him

I am struck by the self-indulgence of this post. The author seems to want to convey a sense of agonized self-awareness that rings false and only evades the issues involved in the BDS movement concerning Israel. This self-indulgence is well expressed here:

"Whoever started punksagainstapartheid.com now admits it was aimed solely at one person - me. It is obvious that not everyone signing the petition has any idea who I am, or knows anything about punk, possibly the majority. The last time I looked I could only find three names of people I actually knew. Some made it clear that I will be on their bad list no matter what I do because I dared to even think of playing in Israel."

The BDS movement is not about Jello Biafra, nor is it about well-meaning Israelis, of whom there are many. It is about the Palestinian population who have been forced to live without any civil, human or political rights under brutal military occupation and creeping ethnic cleansing for 44+ years running. These facts are exceedingly well documented, publically available and, notwithstanding an unprecedented propaganda campaign, well known to everyone who pays more than passing attention to world affairs.

That Jello Biafra is among those NOT paying attention is adequately demonstrated by this extraordinarily sentence: "I can't back anyone whose real goal or fantasy is a country ethnically cleansed of Jews or anyone else." To equate ending the occupation with "ethnically cleansing" the occupied territories of Jews -- a slogan propagated by Israeli settlers and now, equivocally, adopted by Jello -- is not just naive, but moronic.

Every generation is faced with an overarching moral struggle and this is what gives history its meaning. It is also what provides reason for, variously, hope and despair, and sometimes, hope arising out of despair. The BDS movement is intended to inspire the Palestinian people to draw hope out of the well of despair. It is not intended to make performers like Jello Biafra, or individual well-meaning Israelis, feel good or validated.

Everyone of conscience is called upon to take a side in today's overarching moral struggle, which is ending Israel's occupation. Taking a side does not imply "buying into hardline absolutes." It involves becoming part of an organized movement so that it can grow and gather sufficient strength to actually accomplish something in the real world. Equivocating in itself is also taking a side; it means not adding one's voice to the collective "No" that is the simple, unequivocal message of the BDS movement. Join or don't join -- that's up to you. But please spare us the manufactured, self-serving agonizing moralism concerning your choice.

It is a bit ridiculous that he is so uninformed at this late date. I was listening to the Dead Kennedys when I was in high school, and now, in my 40s, I have a much fuller understanding of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Where has he been all this time? But truthfully, I've never been impressed with him as a political figure.

his head has been under a rock.

Personally, I think he spent a lot of time on his letter, and to be fair, even if some of his viewpoints might be misguided, he's showing a genuine interest in learning about the situation. He did cancel the show. Cut the guy some slack.