Israeli DJ cancelled by UK event company due to ‘concerns about his background’

An Israeli DJ well-known for his strong support of Israeli-Palestinian coexistence has had his performance cancelled by a UK events company because of what they termed “concerns about his background”, describing their “solidarity with the Palestinian struggle”.

Origins Sound had planned an event with Roi Perez, a popular Israeli DJ who was one of a number to have performed at Glastonbury this year. However, the company then posted on social media that they had “read the recent statement from Ravers for Palestine and want to be absolutely clear that as a collective, we firmly and unequivocally support Palestinian liberation. We do not want to take any action that undermines that struggle or risks platforming voices in ways that contribute to the ongoing genocide and Israel’s settler-colonial project.”

The screed from “Ravers for Palestine” said that Perez “is not ‘incidentally from Israel. He has served as a linchpin of its nightlife for many years – a convenor and connector, energetically developing and mediatising its scene and encouraging international acts to visit.”

It went on to say that Perez had organised an event in November 2023, and quoted from the event’s literature, which said that “the funds will directly help survivors and evacuees of the 7/10 massacre, unsheltered Bedouin communities, displaced Palestinian communities due to settler violence, queer Arabs in both Israel and Palestine in need of professional psycho-social counselling and other underserved groups.”

The ”ravers for Palestine” group bitterly criticised Perez for this, claiming that “This paragraph fully embodies the eliminationist project of liberal Zionism. The settler as innocent victim of senseless Native ‘massacre’. Caveated scraps available for the natives deemed recuperable or non-threatening: the ‘loyal’ Bedouin model minority, plus queers (ergo, Natives who aren’t at risk of producing more Natives).”

Perez, who is himself queer, is a long-time supporter of the LGBT community.

The November 2023 event also called for “coexistence” and “peace” between Israelis and Palestinians. According to “Ravers for Palestine”, “any settler advocating for ‘coexistence rather than full decolonization and right of return supports the colonial occupation of Palestine and its continuance.”

Both Origins Sound and Roi Perez have been contacted for comment.