TEL AVIV: When cheers erupted at a packed Tel Aviv stadium for Boy George, it was not only a sign of the 65-year-old singer’s enduring fame. It was the sound of national delight at an international pop star willing to perform in an increasingly isolated Israel. A smattering of Israeli flags dotted the crowd as the flamboyant Culture Club frontman took the stage in a sequined jacket for Wednesday’s sold-out performance with a simple greeting of “Shalom!” The British singer is one of the few international artists to have defied calls for a cultural boycott of Israel that have intensified over its military offensive in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack. “Culturally speaking, he is the most amazing thing that has ever happened to us,” Nachum, a Boy George fan for more than 40 years, told AFP as he prepared to enter the arena. “I’d even call him a hero — especially considering the courage he showed in coming here, despite receiving a great many threats.” Boy George’s vocal support of Israel came to the fore in July, when he released a song titled “We Will Dance Again,” whose lyrics offer solidarity with October 7 victims and support for Israel’s campaign in Gaza. The reggae-infused song, which starts with the lyrics: “You say genocide, I say war,” has triggered widespread backlash which led Boy George to drop out of a West End musical. But on Wednesday in Tel Aviv, the biggest applause of the night came during that song, with huge cheers erupting as the star sang: “If you’re ever confused, I stand with the Jews.” Addressing the stadium during a musical interlude, Boy George told supporters to “show the world that hate is far less fun than love.” “He’s really brave, really brave to stand out for us,” said Merav, a fan whose friends had come to the show decked out in Boy George merchandise. “Especially nowadays when people are afraid to support Israel, when all the propaganda is against us, he’s standing for us and I think it’s something we should all really appreciate.” - ‘Old Boy George no longer exists’ - October 7, 2023 was the deadliest day in Israel’s history, when Palestinian fighters breached the Gaza border and stormed southern Israel with gunfire, rockets and grenades. The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, with militants dragging 251 hostages into Gaza. It triggered a massive Israeli military offensive that has left Gaza in ruins and killed more than 74,500 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which is under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations. Few international artists have performed in Israel since then, with support seen as increasingly taboo. Last year saw the launch of a music collective called “No Music for Genocide,” with artists including Bjork and Massive Attack seeking to block the streaming of their songs in Israel. A campaign to boycott Israel, known as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, began 20 years ago over the country’s occupation of Palestinian territory. The Israeli government accuses its supporters of being antisemitic, charges they deny. In September, BDS published a call by a pro-Palestinian group for a boycott of British pop star Ed Sheeran’s world tour after US rapper Macklemore was dropped as a supporting act over pro-Palestinian comments. During his visit to the country, Boy George acknowledged the pressures he had faced over his pro-Israel stance. “In some ways, the old Boy George no longer exists, because some people don’t see me in the way they used to, and a lot of other people see me in a new way,” he said while meeting President Isaac Herzog. The LGBTQ trailblazer, whose real name is George O’Dowd, has often spoken of feeling a kinship with the Jewish community around which he grew up in London. On Tuesday, he visited the site of the Nova music festival, where Hamas-led militants killed more than 360 revellers on October 7. Boy George said the tragedy inspired him to write his latest song. He is due to perform another Tel Aviv concert on Saturday, with 1,500 tickets donated to survivors and bereaved families.