Elvis Costello Pulls Out of Israel Concerts in Protest

Elvis Costello has canceled two concerts he was due to play in Israel this summer to protest the nation's treatment of Palestinians. "There are occasions when merely having your name added to a concert schedule may be interpreted as a political act that resonates more than anything that might be sung," the British songwriter wrote on his web site. "It may be assumed that one has no mind for the suffering of the innocent."

He also referred to "despicable acts of violence perpetrated in the name of liberation," and concluded that "sometimes a silence in music is better than adding to the static." Carlos Santana and Gil Scott-Heron have also joined an artists' boycott of Israel, the Independent reports. (More Israel and Palestinians stories.)