What is your view?
I also did a search and came up with bipkas.
there is a god. and he's an antisemite.
That was my first thought when I saw the ynet article. I thought Phil Collins was a big PLO supporter (per rumors I remember from my childhood), why is he coming to Israel?
Hm, next thing you are going to tell me is that Mikey really didn't die from exploding rock candy in his mouth.
How can I just let you walk away, just let you leave without a trace
When I stand here taking every breath with you, ooh
You're the only one who really knew me at all
mobius is right... g-d's punishing us.
well, come november, I'll be nowhere near that concert, you can count on that.
There have been several peformers who have been saddled with the charge of having told an audience that anyone who is a [insert offended group] can leave now and get their money back... I don't want to perform for you (or some variation on this).
The fact is that nobody has been able to come up with any evidence of Phil Collins or anyone else having done this. Additionally, it would seem fairly stupid to perform in Israel if he were, in fact, a supporter of the PLO.
I happen to hate most of PC's music... but I hate the way the eager circulation of these baseless rumors makes us look like a senseless mob, more.
'memeber Spandau Ballet?
I don't much care for Mr. Collins' solo work either, but I do remember getting into a debate with a friend once about his alleged anti-Semitism. I pressed her for any kind of evidence showing anti-Jewish or pro-PLO behavior, but the best she could do was to claim it had to be true because "everybody knew about it."
It should be pointed out, however, that the Hebrew-language press announces celebrity visits all the time but 90% of the time it's either rumor or the celebrity cancels at the last minute.
It should also be pointed out that some local radio stations are going to town over this Scorpions visit and are dragging out all sorts of songs by the band that you normally don't hear.
Why, just the other day I heard the Scorpions' bitchin' unplugged version of Kansas' "Dust in the Wind". Worth seeking out on Kazaa if you ask me.
If I recall correctly the rumor was that he gave money to the PLO and was highly criticized for doing so. Then, in a concert, he said that if Jews don't like what he said, they can leave with the dogs.
I think that there are a myriad of reasons to hate the music of Phil Collins, but Jew hatred does not seem to be one of them.
And Shai, I think I'll pass on the Scorpion's cover of "Dust in the Wind." I can barely stand the original. 
I was hoping that this concert would put to rest the absurd rumors like the one where Phil Collins gets up and tells all the Jews to leave (heard this one about Spandau Ballet as well).
Interestingly enough, I could not find even one report of this urban myth on the Internet.
Shlomo
Harry, Enough already! (whine) "This has-been group is coming to Israel." "This has-been group is coming to Israel." (end whine)
What I really want to read is "The View From Here's Dream Tour." Is that too much to ask? 
FWIW-I actually like Phil Collins, so I guess we'll agree to disagree on this point.
I've heard this rumor from numerous people, including several who calimed that they were once Phil Collins fans and that they would never buy his recordings again after he told the Jews to leave his concert, or that he sent money to the PLO. Truth is, as you'll see below, the real reason not to buy anymore of Phil's music is that its become shlock over the past 10 years, not because he's anti-semitic, he's not.
As the producer of Cleveland Ohio's longest running Jewish radio program, I had been deluged with versions of the rumor over the years (including one friend who heard that Phil had made the disparaging remarks in a concert in Cleveland). As the rumor grew and grew, I sought answers over a dozen years ago, and posted to the old "Prodigy Network"'s Genesis-Fan bulletin board asking for information that could confirm the rumor once and for all. Not surprisingly, nobody could offer proof that Collins had ever said anything negative about Jews or Israel, or had any ties to the PLO. In fact, one irate fan dragged out a press release from Genesis' "We Can't Dance" tour procaliming that Genesis was proudly using El-Al jets to carry their set and gear around Europe.
Since my friends and others were not content with that, I took the next step and called Atlantic Records (Collins' label in the US) and spoke to his agent (can't remember the name now, but it was either Schwartz or Goldberg or Katz, she was obviously Jewish), and asked if she'd heard of the rumor. She claimed that she hadn't (that may or may not have been true), but offered to get me firsthand knowledge, it seemed that she and Phil would be having dinner together the next night, and she promised to raise the question to him and call back with his response. Phil was flabbergasted by the rumor, and denied any knowledge of the events mentioned. He promised he had never given money to the PLO or any other such group, and that he would never ask anyone to leave his concerts because of their race, religion or color. Furthermore he pointed out that some of his best friends are Jewish.
So, how DID the rumor start? Apparently, some people over the years confused Phil's support of "Amnesty International" with support for the PLO and/or against Jews. While it is true that AI has made some very dubious moves vis-a-vis Israel, supporting them does not equate to Anti-Semitism or Anti-Zionism. Its also possible that people mistook Phil's appearances at the Nelson Mandela concerts as endorsing Mandela's anti-Zionist views, or that they confused Collins and former bandmate Peter Gabriel, who has been an outspoken supporter of human rights organizations which have occasionaly been harsh with regard to Israel's conduct in Judea and Samaria (and no, Gabriel is not anti-Semitic or anti-Zionist either).
SO, in conclusion, the only crimes that Phil Collins is truly guilty of, are turning a once-great band into a sad self-parody, foresaking his prog-rock roots
Random tangent of the day: I think his manager has Israeli citizenship.
That is quite random!
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