In Tel Aviv, Alicia Keys Performs Concert That Had Drawn Protests

Richard Perry/The New York Times Alicia Keys performing at Barclays Center in Brooklyn in April.

After a performance of her song “Karma” with a shout to the audience of “Ma koreh, Tel Aviv?” (Hebrew for “What’s happening, Tel Aviv?”), Alicia Keys opened her July 4 concert at the Nokia Arena there, The Jerusalem Post reported. The show had drawn protests while in its planning stages but went ahead without incident â€" other than a cameo appearance from Ms. Keys’s 2-year-old son, Egypt.

Ms. Keys, the Grammy Award-winning R&B and pop singer, had drawn pointed reactions from organizations and individuals that have called for a cultural boycott of Israel to protest its treatment of Palestinians. In open letters, the rock musician Roger Waters had implored Ms. Keys “to join the rising tide of resistance,” and the author Alice Walker had warned her she was putting herself “in danger (soul danger)” by performing there.

Although artists like Elvis Costello, Gil Scott-Heron and the Pixies have withdrawn under pressure from planned concerts in Israel, Ms. Keys said in May that she was looking forward to her first visit there, adding: “Music is a universal language that is meant to unify audiences in peace and love, and that is the spirit of our show.”

At her Tel Aviv performance Ms. Keys was joined by the Israeli singer-songwriter Idan Raichel, who played his song “Mima’amakim” (“From the Depths”) and accompanied Ms. Keys on her song “Falllin’.”

Ms. Keys’s son popped up on his mother’s piano bench before she sang her song “No One.”

“What should we do now?” Ms. Keys asked him, according to The Jerusalem Post.

“Let’s sing!” he answered.