Los Angeles, June 12 (RHC)-- Legendary Mexican-American guitarist Carlos Santana is set to play at an upcoming concert in Tel Aviv, Israel in July, despite pressure by Palestinian human rights activists urging him to cancel.

Garik Ruiz, the North America Advocacy Advisor for the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) National Committee, told reporters that they are working hard to tell him not to cross the international picket line.  He added that they have had many campaigns targeting artists, "but Santana is the most high profile."

Santana was last scheduled to play in Israel in 2010, but he cancelled his performance after pressure by the BDS movement.  Ruiz said that the strategies they use in their campaigns in order to get musicians to comply with the demands of the global social movement is "educating them and putting pressure on them to not support Israeli apartheid.

He said that many musicians might believe that Palestinians, many who live under occupation, are equal and as free to attend concerts such as Santana’s, but that’s not the case.