Right-Wing Group Ripped for Ads Targeting Israeli Artists as Traitors
JERUSALEM — Israeli officials from across the political spectrum have denounced the right-wing group Im Tirtzu for an ad campaign that attacks Israeli performers and artists affiliated with left-wing groups as traitors.
The campaign comes on the heels of an Im Tirtzu campaign introduced last month that singled out four Israeli human rights activists and called them “moles” who act against the State of Israel and Israeli soldiers.
The new campaign, called “Moles in Culture,” accuses the artists of supporting left-wing groups that receive some funding from foreign governments. Among the well-known Israelis in the arts mentioned in the campaign are writers Amos Oz, David Grossman and A.B. Yehoshua, actress Gila Almagor, and singers Rona Keinan and Chava Alberstein.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was among the right-wing lawmakers to denounce the latest ad.
“[I] oppose the use of the word ‘traitor’ to describe those who disagree with me,” Netanyahu, of the Likud party, said in a statement in response to the campaign. “We are a democracy and there is a multitude of opinions.”
Culture Minister Miri Regev, who has been under fire recently for proposing a bill to withdraw arts funding for those deemed “not loyal” to Israel, also criticized the campaign.
“Alongside the public’s right to know, one should avoid statements that may lead to incitement and violence,” she said. “Damage to any person in respect of his political views is wrong.”
Education Minister Naftali Bennett, chairman of the right-wing Jewish Home party, called the campaign “embarrassing, pointless and degrading.”
Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog, head of the center-left Zionist Union, compared the Im Tirtzu campaign to 1950s McCarthyism in the United States in a Facebook post.
Im Tirtzu has long targeted harsh criticism at liberal Israeli activists, and specifically the New Israel Fund, which funds various activist groups.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO