Anger over rumored Beyonce, J. Lo concerts in Israel

Rumors have been circulating online that American superstars Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez have signed deals to perform concerts in Israel this summer.

Israeli media claim that Lopez has agreed to hold a concert in Hayarkon Park in Tel Aviv this summer and several websites have said Beyonce will tour Israel this year as well. A concert date for Tel Aviv was reported to have appeared on Beyonce's website earlier this week but since has been removed. Neither pop-star has ever performed in Israel and both have yet to publicly confirm or deny the rumors. Nonetheless, social media users have begun entreating the singers to boycott Israel.

Notably, the rumors have arisen just after Beyonce's provocative Super Bowl performance in which she and her back-up dancers wore Black Panther-inspired costumes. Her dancers also posted an image to social media raising their fists with the black power salute backstage.

The Black Panther Party was founded in 1966, following the assassination of black civil rights activist Malcolm X in 1965. The Black Power movement drew heavily on Malcolm X's ideology in the formation of the party. Having visited the Middle East and specifically Palestine, Malcolm X was a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause, a tradition that has continued until the present day with the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States expressing solidarity with Palestinians.

In 1964, Malcolm X said, "Did the Zionists have the legal or moral right to invade Arab Palestine, uproot its Arab citizens from their homes and seize all Arab property for themselves just based on the “religious” claim that their forefathers lived there thousands of years ago? Only a thousand years ago the Moors lived in Spain. Would this give the Moors of today the legal and moral right to invade the Iberian Peninsula, drive out its Spanish citizens, and then set up a new Moroccan nation where Spain used to be, as the European zionists have done to our Arab brothers and sisters in Palestine?"

Beyonce has expressed her clear solidarity with the black power movement, but it remains to be seen whether she accepts the extension of Malcolm X's ideology to Palestinians. Choosing to perform in Israel would stand in stark contrast to her Super Bowl performance's powerful message against oppression.

As the concert is not yet confirmed, the BDS Movement  – which fights for the boycotting and sanctioning of Israel – has also expressed its hope that the rumors about Beyonce are false.

"The Palestinian BDS National Committee hopes that the rumours about Beyonce performing for apartheid Israel turn out to be false, just as previous rumours about her performing there have turned out to be untrue.

As the Israeli government's offer of free trips to Israel for Oscar nominees shows, Israel is becoming more desperate than ever to use culture to whitewash its crimes and deflect growing international pressure over its oppression of Palestinians," said a post on the organization's official Facebook page .

Reports have circulated in the past about Beyonce performing in Israel, turning out in the end to be false. We'll say "Inshallah" and hope it's the same again this time.