Musicians band together, geo-blocking their music from Israel in response to the Palestinian genocide
BY KLARA FERRAIOLI-SCHUBERT, IMAGE BY SHERVIN LAINEZ
On 10 October, it was announced that Lucy Dacus and Clairo joined the cultural boycott No Music For Genocide, a movement which urges musicians to geo-block their music and prevent it from being played across all Israeli streaming platforms. This movement is not only a demonstration of solidarity with Gaza but also the power of actions and voices to ignite change.
This October marked the second anniversary of the Gaza war, which has resulted in the death of over 67,000 Palestinian people, at least 20,000 of whom were children, as well as widespread famine and destruction.
Clairo and Lucy Dacus have previously advocated against the Palestinian genocide, with both having shown their solidarity with the Artists4Ceasfire movement, a collection of musicians, actors and other artists who called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
In October 2023, Clairo released her song Lavender, dedicating all proceeds to Doctors Without Borders to fund humanitarian medical aid in Gaza. During Clairo’s Coachella performance in April 2025, US Senator Bernie Sanders made a surprise appearance to introduce her set and praised Clairo for her activism.
Israel has repeatedly denied claims that its actions in Gaza meet the definition of genocide. In September, a UN commission on human rights found that the death toll and destruction caused by Israel in Gaza had met the criteria for genocide. However, Israel has rejected these accusations.
Since No Music For Genocide’s launch in September 2025, over one thousand global artists and record labels have joined in response to the ongoing genocide and ethnic-cleansing in Gaza. Lorde, Hayley Williams, Wolf Alice, AURORA, Rina Sawayama, MUNA and Japanese Breakfast are among other artists who have aligned themselves with the boycott.
Band Wolf Alice demonstrated their support for Palestine during their Glastonbury set in June 2025, with lead vocalist Ellie Rowsell saying: “Before we go, we want to express our solidarity with the people of Palestine.”
By uniting in a boycott and pushing back against art-washing, these musicians and labels are taking what the campaign calls a “tangible act [which] is just one step toward honouring Palestinian demands to isolate and delegitimise Israel as it kills without consequence.”
The mission statement continues, drawing parallels to the successful cultural boycotts against apartheid in South Africa, which they say “prove that our creative work grants us agency and power”. No Music For Genocide is a confrontation of the belief that professional industries can or must be neutral in times of crisis.
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