Israeli theatre group has performances cancelled at Edinburgh Fringe

[oberliner]

An Israeli theatre group that had its shows cancelled at the Edinburgh Fringe vowed on Friday to find another venue and in the mean time said they would sing in the streets "for peace".

The Underbelly venue cancelled performances of Incubator Theatre's production The City – a hip hop crime fable – on Wednesday after a demonstration of around 100 outside.

There had also been a letter signed by Scottish artists and writers, including the playwright David Greig and Scotland's national poet Liz Lockhead, calling for Incubator not to be allowed to perform given what is happening in Gaza: Incubator receives funding from the Israeli government.

But the company's artistic director, Arik Eshet, said that his government was not funding art for political reasons. "They fund art for art," he said. "It can be against the government, we are not censored. Every group that comes to the Fringe from other countries is unable to come without government help."

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/aug/01/israeli-theatre-group-performances-cancelled-edinburgh-fringe-gaza

[FarPoint]

1. I hope that this form of activism becomes infectious.

The Israeli citizens have the power to evoke change as does the world view as a whole. This is a good thing. Placing pressure on business as usual will hopefully migrate upwards, forcing the leaders to act with compassion and negotiate peace.

[malaise]

4. We did the same to South Africa

Banned all cultural and sporting events - excellent.

[oberliner]

27. Would you support a boycott of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra?

Genuinely curious to know your thoughts on that.

For those unfamiliar:

The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra is a youth orchestra based in Seville, Spain, consisting of musicians from countries in the Middle East, of Egyptian, Iranian, Israeli, Jordanian, Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian and Spanish background. The Argentine-Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim and the late Palestinian-American academic Edward Said founded the orchestra in 1999, and named the ensemble after an anthology of poems by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West-Eastern_Divan_Orchestra

[sufrommich]

2. Sickening. nt

[oberliner]

3. An Israeli dance troupe is being targeted as well

Fringe Israeli dance show is second targeted by boycott

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/fringe-israeli-dance-show-is-second-targeted-by-boycott.24865159

[malaise]

5. Good

Boycott all Israeli goods as well.

[oberliner]

7. Until what happens?

Is it just until the attack on Gaza stops?

[malaise]

12. Ask South Africa n/t

[oberliner]

16. So it's not just in relation to the attack on Gaza?

Even if the attack stopped immediately, these actions would continue?

[Spider Jerusalem]

20. Until Israel withdraws from the settlements and complies with its obligatons under international law

as it's bound to do as a signatory to the UN charter (which explicitly denies territorial gain by right of conquest).

[oberliner]

21. What about discrimination within Israel?

Even if Israel does what you said, there is still the problem of unequal treatment for the Palestinian citizens of Israel, isn't there?

[Spider Jerusalem]

24. There's the problem of discrimination, which is a social thing

Israeli Arab citizens may experience some discrimination socially, but not legally; Arab citizens of Israel have equal rights under law, there are Arab members of the Knesset, and so on. All of the accusations of "apartheid" directed at Israel relate pretty specifically to Israel's treatment of Palestinians under occupation in the West Bank and Gaza.

[oberliner]

25. Not sure if the organizers of this action agree with that

Their website seems to indicate that these actions would continue as long as the Palestinian citizens of Israel are experiencing discrimination in Israel.

[Spider Jerusalem]

29. Explicitly ethnic-nationalist state discriminates against minority shocker

this is the sort of thing that explicit ethnic nationalism and privileging members of a particular group under law leads to. "Jewish and democratic state" is an oxymoron. (I'm not sure why Israel gets a pass on ethno-religious nationalism that most would find odious in the US or Europe; imagine if a member of Congress were to introduce a bill requiring immigrants to affirm the white, Christian character of the United States, for instance.)

[FarPoint]

15. What are the Israeli goods we get here in the US?

I'm having brain apnea at the moment. Tourism to Israel is obviously down due to the bombing... I'm not sure what their export items are off the top of my head.

[Spider Jerusalem]

22. Intel has a chip fab plant in Israel.

[sufrommich]

8. Are Americans banned for Iraqi deaths? How about Syrians?

Russians for Ukrainian deaths? Ukrainians for Russian deaths? Libyans for Libyan deaths? No?Hmmm.

[oberliner]

9. "The thing that strikes me most..."

The thing that strikes me most, though, is that I've never seen this kind of demonstration before. This is my sixth year performing at the Edinburgh Fringe and my tenth performing at international arts festivals and I've never seen a performance by an American artist being picketed over the war in Iraq and I wonder why my own show is not being picketed over Australia's current refugee policy and treatment of asylum seekers.

I have also received government funding in the form of art and cultural grants. My comedy group is also "state funded" by our government just like Incubator is by theirs. Should we be a target for protest as well?

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/axis-of-awesome/edinburgh-protesters-shut-down-israel-hiphopera_b_5643699.html

[randome]

13. The sad thing is, most of the world supported -even helped- America invade Iraq.

In this case, most of the world is against what Israel has done and is continuing to do.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[randome]

10. Sanctions are in place, yes.

Iraq isn't going to ban Americans since it still needs us to help it recover from the fiasco we caused.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[FarPoint]

11. That thought is for another thread...

A bit off topic...good discussing issue ...hope to see a thread on the issue.

[muriel_volestrangler]

28. Have you been sickened by 1,766 deaths in Gaza? By the Israelis targeting children on the beach?

By the cold-blooded murder of 2 Palestinian teenagers on May 15th?

http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Report-Autopsy-finds-live-fire-killed-Palestinian-teen-during-Nakba-Day-clashes-356036

[Katashi_itto]

14. +1000 ...it's Blowback gosh who would have thunk it?

[oberliner]

17. My view: Protest - but don't cancel

I think people ought to be allowed to protest if they feel motivated to do so, but I don't think the show should be canceled.

[mwrguy]

18. Israel should be treated like North Korea

Ostracized by all civilized nations.

[oberliner]

19. North Korea maintains diplomatic relations with 165 states

That's actually more states than Israel has diplomatic relations with.

[Nye Bevan]

23. Belgian doctor refuses treatment to Jewish patient

ANTWERP, Belgium – A Belgian physician who refused to treat a Jewish woman with a fractured rib suggested she visit Gaza to get rid of the pain.

The physician made the remark on Wednesday while manning a medical hotline in Flanders, Belgium’s Flemish region, whose capital, Antwerp, has a sizeable Orthodox Jewish population, the local Jewish monthly Joods Actueel reported Thursday.

The woman, Bertha Klein, had her son, who is American, call the hotline at 11 p.m.

“I’m not coming,” the doctor reportedly told the son and hung up. When the son called again, the doctor said: “Send her to Gaza for a few hours, then she’ll get rid of the pain.” According to Joods Actueel, the doctor confirmed the exchange, saying he had an “emotional reaction.”

http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-Features/Belgian-doctor-refuses-treatment-to-Jewish-patient-369591

Seeing more and more of this kind of thing.

[oberliner]

26. I wouldn't group these two incidents together

They are both troubling, I think, but for different reasons (and to different degrees).