AMIENS, France | A concert featuring French Jewish DJ Barbara Butch has been canceled in Amiens after a local branch of the Association France-Palestine Solidarité called for a boycott, prompting condemnation from French government officials and Jewish community leaders who say political intimidation is increasingly pushing Jewish artists off stages.
La Lune des Pirates, the Amiens venue that had scheduled Butch alongside two other artists for Sept. 19, said it canceled the electronic music evening after reviewing what it described as the broader context surrounding the event.
“The conditions necessary for the safety and reception of the public are no longer met,” the venue said.
The Amiens branch of Association France-Palestine Solidarité, or AFPS, which had called for a boycott of Butch, welcomed the decision.
“The call for a boycott worked; the concert is canceled,” the group wrote on Instagram, describing the outcome as a “victory.”
The cancellation has intensified a broader French debate over whether campaigns targeting Butch are legitimate political protests against her positions concerning Israel or part of a pattern of antisemitic intimidation directed at Jewish cultural figures.
No French authority has formally determined that the Amiens boycott itself was antisemitic.
Minister Calls Cancellation a ‘Capitulation’
Aurore Bergé, France’s minister responsible for combating discrimination, sharply condemned the cancellation.
Speaking on CNews, Bergé described the venue’s decision as “an act of cowardice” and “a capitulation.”
“One cannot simply deprogram an artist from a stage for one reason: she is Jewish, and because she is Jewish, she is now being subjected to calls for a boycott,” Bergé said.
Her comments represent the government minister’s assessment of the campaign rather than a legal determination that the boycott was motivated by antisemitism.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez also criticized the cancellation on Sept. 10, saying state authorities had been prepared to provide security for the event.
Nuñez said contacts had taken place locally with state services and that security arrangements could have been implemented.
“All the security guarantees had been provided,” he said, adding that “the defense of freedom of expression must not suffer any retreat.”
That statement raises questions about the venue’s explanation that it could no longer guarantee safe conditions.
Amiens Mayor Frédéric Fauvet, however, defended the decision as a difficult response to practical circumstances.
“The configuration of the venue did not allow the security of the event to be guaranteed,” Fauvet said, while expressing regret that organizers had reached the point of cancellation.
Campaigners Cite Butch’s Israel-Related Activities
The boycott organizers have focused on Butch’s political positions and Israel-related activities rather than publicly presenting their campaign as opposition to her Jewish identity.
Reports say activists objected to Butch’s participation in a 2025 event at the residence of the French ambassador in Israel and to her support for the proposed Yadan law, legislation intended to address new forms of antisemitism. The proposal became politically controversial and was later withdrawn.
That distinction lies at the center of the dispute.
Supporters of the boycott argue that an artist’s political activities and positions regarding Israel can legitimately be challenged.
But Butch’s supporters and several French officials contend that repeated efforts to exclude a prominent Jewish artist from cultural events have crossed from political protest into discriminatory targeting.
The available evidence does not establish that every participant in the boycott campaign was motivated by antisemitism. The dispute therefore requires a distinction between documented actions, political interpretation and allegations about motive.
Crif Condemns ‘Capitulation’
Yonathan Arfi, president of the Conseil représentatif des institutions juives de France, or Crif, condemned the cancellation as a “capitulation” and urged the French state to use its authority to allow the concert to proceed.
Crif has been warning for months about campaigns targeting Israeli artists and French performers accused of supporting Israel.
In July, the organization published polling showing 71 percent of respondents believed boycotts of Israeli artists in France contribute to tensions and rising antisemitism, while 80 percent said such boycotts do not advance peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Hauts-de-France regional president Xavier Bertrand also condemned the Amiens cancellation.
“One does not choose which artists have the right to go on stage according to their opinions, their religion or the causes attributed to them,” Bertrand said.
“In France, political intimidation must not determine cultural programming.”
Second Major Disruption in Two Months
The Amiens cancellation follows a separate confrontation involving Butch in Grenoble in July.
That performance was interrupted after pro-Palestinian protesters targeted the event. Butch was removed from the stage after disturbances that included projectiles and disruption of the sound system.
Bergé said at the time that Butch had been “chased from the stage because she is Jewish,” an assessment disputed by activists who said they were protesting her political positions and support for the Yadan proposal.
Following the Grenoble incident, Butch said she intended to continue performing rather than surrender to intimidation.
The Amiens cancellation now marks another occasion in which opposition to her participation has directly affected a scheduled performance.
Venue Says Entire Evening Canceled
La Lune des Pirates did not simply replace Butch with another performer.
The entire Sept. 19 electronic music evening, which was to include three artists, was canceled.
The event was linked to the opening period for the venue’s new facilities, which received public financing from Amiens Métropole, the Somme department and the Hauts-de-France region.
Ticket holders were told they would receive refunds.
The venue framed its decision around security and logistical considerations rather than endorsing the boycott campaign’s political arguments.
AFPS, however, explicitly linked the cancellation to its campaign, declaring that the boycott had succeeded.
Antisemitism Characterization Remains Disputed
The controversy illustrates an increasingly contentious question in European cultural life: when does opposition to an artist because of Israel-related political activity remain legitimate protest, and when does repeated targeting of Jewish artists become discriminatory or antisemitic?
Criticism of Israel or of an artist’s political positions is not automatically antisemitic.
At the same time, Jewish organizations and French officials argue that the identity of those targeted, the language used in campaigns and patterns of exclusion must be considered when assessing whether anti-Israel activism is crossing into antisemitism.
In Butch’s case, French ministers and Jewish community leaders have publicly characterized the pressure against her as targeting a Jewish artist.
Boycott campaigners maintain that their objections concern her political activity related to Israel.
No court, police authority or anti-discrimination body has formally ruled on the motivation behind the Amiens campaign.
What is confirmed is that a scheduled performance by one of France’s most prominent Jewish DJs will not take place; the organization that campaigned against her has claimed the cancellation as a victory, and senior French officials are warning that intimidation must not be allowed to determine who can appear on the country’s cultural stages.
TheJ.ca receives no government money. Independent journalism depends on readers who believe these stories must be told. Consider supporting our efforts.
Stand Proud. Stand Strong. Stand Zionist.
