Over 100 British Artists Announce Cultural Boycott of Israel
Roger Waters, of Pink Floyd fame, has thrown his name behind a cultural boycott of Israel. Image by Getty Images
More than 100 British artists announced that they have launched a cultural boycott of Israel.
“We will not engage in business-as-usual cultural relations with Israel. We will accept neither professional invitations to Israel, nor funding, from any institutions linked to its government,” the artists said in a letter to The Guardian newspaper on Saturday.
“Now we are saying, in Tel Aviv, Netanya, Ashkelon or Ariel, we won’t play music, accept awards, attend exhibitions, festivals or conferences, run master classes or workshops, until Israel respects international law and ends its colonial oppression of the Palestinians,” the artists wrote.
The 100 artists join some 600 other British artists who have already pledged to boycott Israel.
They are all part of an initiative called Artists for Palestine UK. They include musicians, writers, lighting designers, producers, architects, and filmmakers.
Prominent musicians Brian Eno and Roger Waters are among the signatories.
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
