Despite growing protests from activists, Alicia Keys announced that she will perform at a July 4 concert in Tel Aviv. This news comes after musicians like Roger Waters and author Alice Walker have publicly asked the singer to cancel her concert.

The R&B star, who is currently on her Set the World on Fire tour, is scheduled to perform in Tel Aviv for the performance trek. This would mark her first trip to Israel. However, international activists have launched a cultural boycott against Israel for its policies against Palestinians.

Ms. Walker wrote an open letter to Keys urging her to understand the plight against Palestine and not go forward with her show. The missive partly reads:

"It would grieve me to know you are putting yourself in danger (soul danger) by performing in an apartheid country that is being boycotted by many global conscious artists. Please, if you can manage it, go to visit the children in Gaza, and sing to them of our mutual love of all children, and of their right not to be harmed simply because they exist."

In a statement to the New York Times, Keys announced that she will perform her concert in Israel as scheduled but on a musical agenda of spreading peace and love.

"I look forward to my first visit to Israel. Music is a universal language that is meant to unify audiences in peace and love, and that is the spirit of our show,” she said.

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