Protest Concerts Are an American Tradition. The Gaza Ones Have Been Rather Quiet.

In early January, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, a concert benefit for Palestine and Sudan conjured all the fury of an acoustic night at the local coffee shop. Musicians played stripped-down songs on a stage decorated with rugs, floor lamps, and couches. Members of the audience, mostly 20-somethings and teens, leaned in and filmed intimate performances by their favorite cult artists.

But the quiet broke late in the evening when a woman with a mane of red curls walked onstage. Shrieks...