Bob Dylan to perform in Israel

TEL AVIV, Israel, March 24 (UPI) -- Singer-songwriter Bob Dylan will perform at Israel's Ramat Gan Stadium in June, part of an international tour that begins in Asia, promoter Marcel Avraham said.

Dylan is scheduled to perform in Israel June 20, Israel Radio reported. It will be the singer's third performance in the country.

The 69-year old folk legend has performed twice in Israel -- in Jerusalem in 1987 and in Tel Aviv in 1993.

The singer is to arrive in Israel as part of a world tour that begins in Asia two weeks earlier and concludes in Denmark in late June, Haaretz said.

Other international performers, such as Elvis Costello, the Pixies and Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, canceled scheduled performances in Israel to protest the government's treatment of Palestinians.

American rock star Gene Simmons of the band Kiss, who is currently visiting in Israel, called performers who choose to boycott Israel because of its policies "idiots."

"As an American, there's no choice but to be supportive of Israel," he told The Jerusalem Post. "This is the Holy Land, and it's no secret that everybody in America perceives Israel as its only real friend in the Middle East -- who else are you going to rely on? So when Israelis get touchy because -- oops -- somebody criticized them, they have to remember that Americans are used to criticizing everybody."