Singer Lana Del Rey has pulled out of her performance at Israel’s Meteor Festival. Following pressure from fans and activists, the popular artist announced on Twitter that “It’s important to me to perform in both Palestine and Israel and treat all my fans equally. … therefore I’m postponing my appearance at the Meteor Festival until a time when I can schedule visits for both my Israeli and Palestine fans”.

This decision has been met with controversy. Many fans believe that Del Rey has caved to pressure from activists for the BDS movement. BDS is a Palestine-led movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel in order to pressure the Israeli state to prevent human right abuses against Palestinians. Other fans applaud the artist for supporting freedom, justice and equal treatment for all Palestinians.

Originally the singer stated that her decision to perform in Israel was not “a political statement or a commitment to the politics there”. She expressed her view that “music is universal and should be used to bring us together”. Del Rey has received a considerable amount of backlash for her decision to postpone her performance after supporting it so sincerely.

In response to Lana Del Rey’s cancellation, a statement was released on the Meteor Festival Website that read “Just got the word that Lana will be a no-show at Meteor. We do appreciate her for choosing meteor to help her score some press attention.”

Israel has a history of artists canceling their shows. In 2014, Lana Del Rey canceled what would have been her first show. In a similar incident the singer Lorde cancelled her show in December of 2017 after pressure from pro-Palestinian activists.