Alicia Keys and the band Depeche Mode have become the latest artists to be targeted by supporters of a cultural boycott of Israel.

The US singer is due to perform in Tel Aviv in July for the first time in her career, while the English band, who rose to fame in the 1980s, are set to entertain an Israeli audience in May.

They are being urged by boycott organisations to pull out of the shows, just as other internationally - acclaimed artists, including the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Alanis Morrisette have been targeted in the past.

"We all ask Alicia Keys to stand on the side of justice and cancel her gig in Tel Aviv," said the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.

But the Grammy award-winning star, whose latest album Girl on Fire has been a huge success, has expressed enthusiasm for the concert.

She said in a statement that she was "excited to go to new places" on the tour, Tel Aviv included, and planned to bring "a show full of emotion and inspiration".

Depeche Mode, who last toured in Israel in 2009, will open their world tour in Israel. A petition organised by anti-Israel activists calls on them to cancel because since their last concert in Tel Aviv "Israel has engaged in further brutal oppression of the Palestinian people, including land theft, home demolition, ethnic cleansing and enacting more laws enshrining the apartheid system".

The petition has so far attracted just 341 signatures.