Last week a group of well-known writers including Sally Rooney Arundati Roy and Rachel Kushner started something big: they signed a letter asking for no-one to work with Israeli art places
In response Simon Sebag Montefiore Howard Jacobson Lee Child and even Ozzy Osbourne (plus many others) wrote their own letter saying this idea is wrong and anti-art. The first group says Israeli art groups help hide bad things; which is a super-weird way to look at normal cultural stuff
The boycott targets everything from book-writers to dance shows and DJʼs - basically anyone connected to Israelʼs art world. Its like saying these people cant do normal art stuff just because of where theyʼre from (which is definitely not-ok according to UK law)
- Literary events
- Publishing houses
- Art festivals
- Cultural programs
- Artist agencies
Around my neighborhood which used to be quite Jewish people now walk around with pro-Palestine stuff. Last week some angry folks showed up at JW3 (Londons biggest Jewish center) just because Jewish people were meeting there - even though it was a peace-focused group
Whatʼs extra-sad is that some Israeli artists signed this too. Its kinda like theyʼre saying “save us from ourselves“ which doesnt make the whole thing any better. UK Lawyers for Israel say this boycott breaks equality laws: they might be our best hope to fix this mess
The scariest part is how normal this is becoming – its not just about art anymore Its getting close to where people might face problems just because they have family in Israel or work with Israeli groups. This whole thing reminds some people of past times when targeting Jewish stuff was seen as ok