The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been urged to abandon a planned gig in Israel, after it emerged that they performed at a pro-Palestinian gig that raised over $500,000.

The wildly popular band, who has won seven Grammy Awards and sold over 65 million albums worldwide, is due to perform in Tel Aviv on September 10, days after gigs in Beirut and Istanbul.

Activists are urging them to cancel the show in the Jewish state, pointing out that the group has previously claimed to support the Palestinian cause.

In November last year the band performed at a variety show for the Hoping Foundation in London, raising $630,000. The Foundation supports projects for the children of Palestinian refugees who were displaced when Israel was violently created in 1948.

In an open letter to the band, the Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel (CBSI) in Lebanon urged the band to cancel the concert.

“Your decision to support Palestinian refugees must have come from an understanding that for 64 years Palestinians have been denied the right to return to their land and to be compensated for loss incurred by the Zionist colonization of their land…As a result, we find it strange that less than a month after your benefit concert you announced your decision to play in Israel,” the letter says.

Supporters of Palestinian human rights have long urged international musicians to boycott Israel, which they accuse of being an apartheid state for its harsh occupation of the West Bank and belligerent policies towards native Palestinians. Among those who have declared that they will not play in the country until abuses of Palestinians end are U2, Roger Waters and Gorillaz.

“(If they canceled) it would be a huge event,” said CBSI spokesman Asad Ghsoub. “If artists saw that the Red Hot Chili Peppers did not go it could encourage others not to go.”

— Al-Akhbar, TAAN