Icelandic artist Bjork appears to have joined a music boycott of Israel as her work became unavailable to Israelis via two key streaming services over the weekend, Hebrew media reported on Sunday.
Most of the singer and songwriter’s music was not accessible to users in Israel on Spotify and Apple Music as of Sunday, though listeners abroad reported still being able to access them.
Her songs and videos were still available on Sunday on her official YouTube channel and on the Bandcamp service.
Bjork, who has in the past shown support for the Palestinians, did not make a formal announcement about removing her music from streaming services in Israel. However, the move appeared to align with hundreds of other artists who have joined the “No Music for Genocide” collective, calling for a cultural boycott of Israel over the war against Hamas in Gaza.
The news came after British trip-hop group Massive Attack announced on Thursday that they were joining the collective, modeled on the “Film Workers for Palestine” group, which has called for a similar boycott in the movie industry.
“No Music for Genocide” is just one instance in a growing global backlash against Israel within the cultural and sports arenas over the war in Gaza. It offers advice to artists about how to geo-block their songs so they are unavailable on streaming platforms in Israel.
The war in Gaza was sparked by the Hamas-led terror onslaught on October 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 hostages taken to the Strip.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 65,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
Israel says it has killed over 22,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught. Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
Agencies contributed to this report.