Pro-Israel lobby wants Spotify to censor British hip-hop icon Lowkey over pro-Palestine songs

A pro-Israel lobby group has urged Spotify to remove pro-Palestine hip hop icon Lowkey from its music streaming service, alleging his songs were "inciting hatred, violence, and disinformation against Jews and Israelis".

The UK organisation We Believe in Israel (WBII) started a petition the last week to censor the British-Iraqi rapper, whose real name is Kareem Dennis. 

The petition has received only 324 signatures in over a week.

In response, the rapper, whose songs include a track titled 'Long Live Palestine', has received a surge of solidarity from campaigners, journalists and other artists internationally.

"The apartheid regime’s counter-measures are increasingly desperate. They know the game is up. Long live @Lowkey0nline," tweeted Matt Kennard, investigator at Declassified UK.

"@Lowkey0nline is one of the very few who exposes their colonial settler project in occupied #Palestine. His work is essential & invaluable," campaigner Abier Khatib tweeted.

"British Israel lobby is pressuring Spotify to remove the music of rapper @Lowkey0nline, because they don't like the lyrics of 'Long Live Palestine'. There's no limit to Zionist zeal to bully, punish and censor," tweeted journalist Ali Abunimah.

"Solidarity with @Lowkey0nline - an immensely gifted lyricist who uses his art and profile to highlight and fight injustice - it’s because he makes a difference that they want to silence him," UK-based academic Paul O'Connell tweeted.

Previous campaigns by the pro-Israel lobby groups have called on Go Fund Me to remove Palestine Action from their fundraising page, and condemned Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International for using the term "Israeli apartheid".

WBII is believed to have worked closely with the Israeli government. In 2019, the Act.IL online troll army – run by the Israeli government – listed WBII as one of its partners, according to Electronici Intifada.