The singer was removed from the line-up for Rototom Sunsplash near Valencia after he declined to confirm or deny his position on the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

He claims the festival bosses were pressured to drop him by officials at the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel (BDS) organisation.

In a statement on their website, the festival promoters confirmed they cancelled Matisyahu's set because of his unwillingness to "clearly declare himself regarding the war and in particular the right of the Palestinian people to have their own state".

Breaking his silence after various Jewish groups condemned the festival cancellation, the reggae star took to his website on Monday (17Aug15) and wrote: "Honestly it was appalling and offensive that as the one publicly Jewish-American artist scheduled for the festival they were trying to coerce me into political statements.

"Were any of the other artists scheduled to perform asked to make political statements in order to perform? No artist deserves to be put in such a situation simply to perform his or her art. Regardless of race, creed, country, cultural background, etc, my goal is to play music for all people."