TEL AVIV // Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories is again drawing international condemnation - this time from the music industry.
In what activists for Palestinian rights say is a major boost to their goal of spurring a cultural boycott of Israel, the British rocker Elvis Costello this week became the latest in a list of music stars to call off his planned summer gigs in Israel, saying that he was protesting the "intimidation" and "humiliation" of Palestinians. The singer-songwriter's cancellation follows similar moves in recent months by the rock guitarist Carlos Santana and the rap forefather Gil Scott-Heron.
Costello's announcement was one of the first open endorsements by a mega-star of the campaign to persuade artists to boycott Israel because of the government's right-wing, pro-settler policies, widely viewed as a key obstacle to the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
Such steps are adding to other tactics used by activists, such as divestment from Israeli companies, demonstrations at speeches of top Israeli officials in the US and Europe, legal actions against Israeli politicians abroad and calls to boycott Israeli universities and academics.
Sarah Colborne, the director of campaigns and operations at the UK-based Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said Costello received thousands of e-mails from supporters of such campaigns in the UK and US during the past few weeks. She added: "This is a message to the Israeli government that artists are not prepared to be used to whitewash Israel's occupation."
It is too early, however, to speak of a cultural boycott against Israel. The country has been visited by high-profile performers including Paul McCartney, Leonard Cohen, Madonna and Depeche Mode in the past two years. Additionally, in the coming months Elton John, The Scorpions, Rod Stewart, Rihanna and the Pixies are all scheduled to play here.
Nevertheless, activists say a full-fledged cultural boycott against Israel could isolate the country and help persuade it to end its control over Palestinians, just as it is credited with contributing to the collapse of the apartheid regime in South Africa.
Omar Barghouti, a founding member of the six-year-old Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, based in Ramallah, said the recent cancellations by high-profile performers within a period of a few months indicate that the potential for other artists to catch on was "quite good".
Indeed, a report this week in a New York-based Jewish newspaper, The Forward, cited an unidentified music industry executive as saying that in recent months, he had approached more than 15 performing artists with proposals to give concerts in Israel in return for "high levels" of financial compensation, but none had agreed.
Campaigners have next targeted Elton John, who is due to perform in Tel Aviv in mid-June. A new video clip version of his 1976 hit Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word has been circulating on the Internet, replacing those words with Always Seems to me that Boycott Seems to be the Hardest Word, and urging him to cancel his concert.
Mr Barghouti added that an escalation of a cultural boycott may eventually hurt the Israeli economy. "The logic of cultural boycotts ? is that they hurt the image of the oppressor state, making it and its products less appealing to the international public. The impact on the economy is slow, gradual and not linear - but it is inevitable."
For activists, attempts to trigger a cultural boycott are in tandem with other measures being used to pressure Israel.
Israel's business arena has already felt the heat of the campaign. Israeli media reported in August that New York-based BlackRock, the world's biggest asset manager, last year sold its shares in Africa-Israel Investments because the Israeli real estate company's activities in the occupied West Bank were opposed by several Norwegian banks that offered BlackRock funds to their clients.
High-profile Israeli political figures have also been targeted. An arrest warrant was issued last year at the request of Palestinian groups in London for former foreign minister Tzipi Livni in connection with alleged war crimes related to Israel's Gaza offensive, prompting Ms Livni's cancellation of her trip to the UK. Moshe Yaalon, a cabinet minister and former military chief of staff, cancelled a trip to the UK in October because of concerns he would face possible charges for his involvement in a 2002 assassination of a top Hamas military figure that killed 14 other people, including children.
Requests for such warrants in Britain are allowed under the principle of "universal jurisdiction," which permits domestic courts around the world to try cases of war crimes and crimes against humanity even if the infraction occurred abroad and the suspect is not a citizen.
But triggering a cultural boycott remains a key goal.
Costello's cancellation came as a surprise to many Israelis, especially since two weeks ago he was quoted in an interview with the right-leaning newspaper The Jerusalem Post as suggesting that he opposed efforts to boycott performances.
In a statement posted on his website, Costello said he made his decision despite realising "that the audience for the coming concerts would have contained many people who question the policies of their government on settlement and deplore conditions that visit intimidation, humiliation or much worse on Palestinian civilians in the name of national security".
While acknowledging that he did not expect to be invited to Israel again, he said his move was "a matter of instinct and conscience". He added: "Sometimes a silence in music is better than adding to the static."
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
How Alia's experiment will help humans get to Mars
Alia’s winning experiment examined how genes might change under the stresses caused by being in space, such as cosmic radiation and microgravity.
Her samples were placed in a machine on board the International Space Station. called a miniPCR thermal cycler, which can copy DNA multiple times.
After the samples were examined on return to Earth, scientists were able to successfully detect changes caused by being in space in the way DNA transmits instructions through proteins and other molecules in living organisms.
Although Alia’s samples were taken from nematode worms, the results have much bigger long term applications, especially for human space flight and long term missions, such as to Mars.
It also means that the first DNA experiments using human genomes can now be carried out on the ISS.
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Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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UAE Rugby finals day
Games being played at The Sevens, Dubai
2pm, UAE Conference final
Dubai Tigers v Al Ain Amblers
4pm, UAE Premiership final
Abu Dhabi Harlequins v Jebel Ali Dragons
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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The White Lotus: Season three
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