Call for Action: Israel’s leading dance company, Batsheva, is touring the US and Canada starting January 28th through March of 2009. As cultural ambassadors and representatives of their country, Batsheva was asked to denounce the racist and brutal policies and crimes of their government against the Palestinian people, and refused.
Activists across the country have been planning and organizing a boycott of Batsheva Dance Company for several months. The most recent Israeli atrocities in Gaza have added another sense of urgency and another layer of public anger towards Israel. In 2005, hundreds of Palestinian civil society organization called on activists and institutions around the world to organize and join the movement of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel. The calls for boycott include commercial, academic, and cultural aspects, and have been echoed by numerous Israeli and international artists, academics, and thinkers.
Join this effort and protest the Batsheva performance in your town:
(schedule and other resources below)
1) Contac the sponsors and hosts of the event, and demand they cancel and/or end their sponsorship of the event.
2) Contact the media in your town and inform them of your intention to boycott and protest the performance
3) Write op-ed and letters to the editor to explain your reasons for the boycott call.
4) Turn out at the event, protest and picket, and call for people to boycott the performance, bring your signs and photos from the attack on Gaza.
And don’t forget to forward this call to your contacts in cities on the tour.
Reasons for Boycott and Talking Points:
- Boycotts were instrumental to ending South African apartheid. Such international pressure is needed to bring an end to the Israeli occupation.
- Israel’s military occupation of the Palestinians violates international laws and their inalienable rights to self-determination and sovereignty.
- Artists and academics who speak up against Israel’s military occupation of the Palestinians are not a target for boycott
- Boycott is not meant to punish or isolate artists; it is a conditional measure that is intended to push the Israeli government to make peace by ending the occupation.
- Artists are cultural ambassadors of a country, and often employed by their government to promote the country.
- Boycott sends a message to the Israeli public and the government, strengthening the hand of those working for peace among them.
- Over 540 Israeli professors and public intellectuals signed a letter calling for a boycott of Israel.
- Cultural and Academic boycotts have been called for by Palestinian civil society, and solidarity groups around the world, including South Africa
- Since Israel is a democracy, it should actually respond to international opprobrium.
- Batsheva explicitly refused to distance itself from Israel’s military occupation and racist policies.
- Batsheva is a Jewish-only dance company, despite the fact that 1 in 5 Israelis are not Jewish.
- Batsheva’s choreographer and artistic director, Ohad Naharin, served in the Israeli military, the same forces that just killed nearly 1000 civilians in Gaza.
- Several dancers in the company are in the army reserves; reserve units conducted this month’s invasion of Gaza.
- No Batsheva dancer has challenged or objected to military duty, despite the growing movement of conscientious objectors in Israel.
Schedule (http://www.h-artmanagement.com/calendar.html):
January 28 – Houston, TX
January 30-31 – Purchase, NY
February 2 – Princeton, NJ
February 3 -, Philadelphia, PA
February 5 – Pittsburgh, PA
February 7,8- Chicago, IL
February 10 – Columbus, OH
February 12 – Ottawa, ON
February 14 – Ann Arbor, MI
February 15 – Ann Arbor, M
February 18 – Minneapolis, MN
February 20,21- Vancouver, BC
February 24 – Santa Barbara, CA
February 26 – La Jolla, CA
February 28 – Los Angeles, CA
March – Brooklyn, NY
Letter Sent to Batsheva from Pittsburgh Groups:
To: Naomi Fortis- General Manager
Cc: Dance Company Members,
Batsheva Dance Company,
6 Yechieli Street, Tel Aviv 65149
Re: Your Scheduled Performance in Pittsburgh, PA
It is in somber spirits that we, residents of Pittsburgh, receive news of your planned visit to our city. Your government has just commenced a brutal, three-week attack on the besieged, starved populations of Gaza, during which more that 1300 Palestinians were murdered, including at least 419 children and 108 women. In addition, 5300 Palestinians have been injured, 4,000 homes, schools, hospitals, and shelters have been destroyed and more than 20,000 others were severely damaged.
Artists are often the conscience of their communities. We submit to you, as artists conscious of the suffering caused in besieged Gaza and the occupied West Bank, to voice your unequivocal opposition and denunciation of the Israeli government’s policies toward Palestinians, from brutal occupation, to Apartheid-like policies against non-Jewish citizens; policies that have inflicted more than sixty years of suffering, dispossession, and discrimination on the Palestinian population and resulted in deaths and casualties among Israeli civilians as well.
It is our hope that we receive your prompt response that makes clear a position you take against the policies of your government, at which point you will be most welcome in our city. However, it is our intention to call upon our community to boycott and protest your presence, should you remain silent and complacent of your government’s policies, and continue to whitewash and provide cover for your government’s crimes by serving as cultural ambassadors.
As citizens of the United States, the members of our coalition denounce similarly devastating military actions perpetrated by our government, and we simply ask you to do the same.
In commitment to bringing lasting peace and decency to all peoples,
(Signed, multiple Pittsburgh groups)
PRESS RELEASE: Groups Launch Campaign To Boycott Israeli Dance Troupe Performing in Pittsburgh
Several Pittsburgh organizations have launched a campaign to boycott the February 5th performance of the leading Israeli dance company, Batsheva.
The organizations, including Pittsburgh Palestine Solidarity Committee, Students for Justice in Palestine, Code Pink, Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, Anti-War Coalition, among others, contacted the host, Benedum Center, and event sponsors asking they cancel the event and end their sponsorship.
The local coalition, which had earlier approached Batsheva with a letter demanding that the dance company denounce the policies of the Israeli government, has received no response and plans to protest and picket the event should it proceed as scheduled.
A movement of divestment and boycott (economic, academic, and cultural) against Israel modeled after the movement against apartheid South Africa has been building in the US and Europe for over eight years. In July 2005, dozens of Palestinian civil society organizations issued a call in support of a wider Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement (http://www.pacbi.org/boycott_news_more.php?id=66_0_1_10_M11), until Israel ends its racist and brutal policies of discrimination a
nd military subjugation against the Palestinian people.
Calls for divestment and boycott have intensified in recent weeks in the wake of Israel’s attack on Gaza, with prominent journalists and scholars publishing articles calling for BDS. In a letter published in the Daily Star on January 12th, more than 900 academics, mainly US-based, called for the apartheid remedy to be applied to Israel (http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ;_id=2&article;_id=98940). This call followed a similar one signed by more than 300 UK-based academics, artists, and cultural icons (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/16/gaza-israel-petitions).
Israel’s attack on Gaza, during which it shut out journalists from entering the strip, left more than 1300 people dead, a third of whom are children, nearly 5600 injured, and more than 20,000 homes destroyed or severely damaged. So far Israel has prevented relief and aid workers from entering Gaza, severely restricting the entry of food and medicine.
Batsheva’s artistic director, Ohad Naharin, is a veteran of the Israeli military, and several members of the dance company are members of the army reserve. Reserve units conducted this month’s invasion of the Gaza strip.
Related posts:
- A Cultural Boycott of Israel
- Boycott Indigo and Chapters Bookstores in Canada
- Company Constructing Israel Light Rail Loses Swedish Contract
- Snoop Cancels Show in Israel
- Union in Canada Backs Israel Boycott
“despite the growing movement of conscientious objectors in Israel”
Nice try. What was Israeli Jewish public’s support for war? 95%? 98%? Keep dreaming, habibi. Every lion in my unit was ready to fight. But when the time came your “fighters” were too scared. They send children at us. 16 years boys with Kalashnikov screaming Alahu this and Alahu that. This is your fighters. Haniye is a woman
Posted by Anonymous | January 24, 2009, 8:10 pmAnonymous,
Just so that you’ll know, even though I served through the last Lebanon war, next time I’m called for IDF reserve duty in the Palestinian territories I’m going to refuse. I’ll go to jail if I have to. Thank god, I wasn’t called to serve in this un-needed “war” (tanks and jets against 16-year-olds… very heroic, Mr. lion), but seeing what we did through the news made me sick enough. Hearing blood-thirsty Israelis like you around me didn’t help to much either. 1,200 people are dead, for what? What good did this evil do?!
Posted by Yoav | January 24, 2009, 11:44 pmdear Yoav ,
god bless you. You are truly a noble soul.
Posted by persian | July 31, 2011, 12:53 pmWhat good did this evil do?!
Assuming you’re even Israeli, what were you doing to stop the rockets, Yoav? All Israel is tired of your peacenik nonsense. People like you started Oslo and what did it get us? Before they were throwing rocks. Now they are throwing rockets. Go be a human shield in Sderot instead of whining in your Tel Aviv kafe.
Posted by Anonymous | January 25, 2009, 12:29 amIn the right light, Livni is kinda sexy.
Posted by Anonymous | January 25, 2009, 1:07 am95% / 98%. Haaretz had it at around 55%.
Oslo (or was it Annapolis? one of them anyway. Even then Oslo didn’t really give the Palestinians much – if you haven’t figured by now, they want East Jerusalem) got Fatah to recognise Israel and renounce violence. What did the West Bank get is the question you should be asking (apart from ever-expanding settlements and a continuation of the settlements).
Posted by Shafiq | January 25, 2009, 4:56 amTo anon 12:29,
if we have more peoples like you, there will be no peace in this world at all. what did these childrens do to you that you have to kill them???!! They are innocent and Israeil owe these kids their future!
Yoav, thank you for your comments. Nice to know that people like you still around..
Posted by Anonymous | January 25, 2009, 6:01 amAck! I am so tired of anonymous crap. No offense. It’s a little bit, like, annoying.
Thanks for something to do.
We had a protest in freaking UTAH and we had people yelling and honking their horns to show their support for us the WHOLE time. It was awesome. We had a fire truck, a buses, and several private citizens. It restored my faith in humanity.
Posted by American Muslim Girl | January 25, 2009, 6:32 amThere’s a student protest movement slowly building up here in the UK
Posted by Shafiq | January 25, 2009, 7:14 amI feel that things are happening. It’s too slow for many, but we still have years of possible killings ahead of us to look out for.
It’s sometimes hard to get the Muslims to protest. They can be annoying. We get more women in hijab then men in beards here. Lol.
Posted by American Muslim Girl | January 25, 2009, 7:31 amlisting tour dates, giving a synopsis on the group this post sounds more like free publicity. While boycotting is an effective form of resistance providing a description and listing tour dates seems to be a little self-defeating
Posted by Anonymous | January 25, 2009, 9:24 amIs the Star of David the new Swastika?
This post has a bit Hebrew in it, but the pictures speak for themselves:
http://eyalniv.wordpress.com/2009/01/25/swastika/
Posted by Avi from Rehovot | January 25, 2009, 9:45 amI really hate dance, but just bought three tickets to see this dance shindig. Am Yisrael Chai, you Islamofascist Bitches!
Posted by Anonymous | January 25, 2009, 10:06 amI shared this note all over places, On facebook, but I dont see dates for Canada, i guess ill just google it and pass it around.
keep Writing KABOBFEST!!!
Posted by Anonymous | January 25, 2009, 10:23 amgood. then maybe you warmongering,bloodthursty,sadistic savages can be civilized through art?
Posted by rabin | July 31, 2011, 1:00 pmThanks for circulating it:
CANADA Dates:
February 12 – Ottawa, ON
February 20,21- Vancouver, BC
Posted by Fayyad | January 25, 2009, 3:47 pmYeah, thanks for heads up
I’ll spread the word so that lots of people get to see the Ottawa perfomance.
Posted by shlemazl | January 25, 2009, 4:05 pmI think this is a great tactic to get a lot of right-wing ignoramuses to sit through a dance performance! This is a win-win boycott!
Posted by Anonymous | January 25, 2009, 5:02 pmNot all the dancers are Jewish, and not all the Israeli dancers in the company have served in the military.
Posted by courtney | January 25, 2009, 2:09 pmCourtney, what are you trying to do? Inject some complexity into this situation? Please. Every jew on the dance company is a Nazi. Any non-Jews (Druze, Palestinians, Bedouins) in this Israeli dance company are collaborators.
Posted by Anonymous | January 25, 2009, 6:18 pmand the Bedouins participate in the Israeli army as trackers you dumb ass. They are not crazy f-ers like the Muslims.
Posted by twoblueeyes | June 13, 2009, 11:18 pmAh sarcasm in the evening. What a way to ruin everything.
Cant you just give us dances? I mean come on. It’s so silly. You guys get to murder little children everyday. What the hell is your problem?
Anon 5:02 looool
Posted by American Muslim Girl | January 25, 2009, 6:48 pmYoav,I am writing only to you. Unfortunately I can't help but write it publicly. I am also in reserves, and I have been activated for several operations in the last several years due to special unit and training. I don't need to tell you that we reservists have a special duty inside IDF to be a mature component of the army that does not act with mindset of 18 year olds.I respect your decision not to serve in the territories. Maybe one day you'll learn that letting Hamas or Hezbollah dictate what land our families can grow up in is not a useful activity that will lead to peace. But this is not why I wanted to talk to you.If you feel you can't perform your obligations as a reserve soldier, it is your duty to the State of Israel and to the soldier at your right and the soldier at your left to refuse activation and surrender to the court. There is a Yoav in my unit, and so I am telling you like my own brother, with pain, do not go out with us if your head is not in the operation. No one in the field will hold this against you. We live in the only Jewish nation on earth and you do what you have to do, we will love you the same.Good luck to you. I hope you find the peace you looking for.Elad
Posted by Anonymous | January 25, 2009, 3:48 pmreading this reply made me think of the hitler youth. the same brainwashed arguments. wake up israel, the world does NOT hate you.
it seems rather that you hate the world and try to keep an "enemy" to justify your crimes against humanity. this is the core of every fascist,nationalistic ideology. they create an outside " enemy " to unite the people inside.
i wish you well.
love and peace
Posted by anonymous | July 31, 2011, 1:10 pmThis site is like a casslorom, except I don’t hate it. lol
Posted by Andie | August 7, 2011, 3:48 pmI agree with anon 9:24, anyone that knew about these people has probably already made up their mind about going or not. We should focus on raising awareness about more ubiquitous products and divestment from companies invested in the settlements than giving publicity for cultural projects.
Posted by nadia | January 26, 2009, 12:09 amWhoa, whoa, get out the way with that good ifnomriaton.
Posted by Indian | August 6, 2011, 10:40 pmFor Yoav,
Judging from Elad’s note to you; he is a blood thirsty murderer in disguise! He wants for you to approach him (hopefully you’re not from the same unit as him) so he can stab your back even though he states that you’re “like his own brother.”
Furthermore Elad mentions an interesting point which could be an indication of his conscience of the wrongdoing by the Israeli gov’t. His statement that “maybe one day you’ll learn. . .” genuinely implies that he has “learned” (or for better words “is keenly aware”) that the Israeli gov’t “dictate what land” the Palestinians “can grow up in is not a useful activity that will lead to peace.” It’s clearly obvious they do not want peace. Hamas and Hizbollah did not exist 60 years ago!
Elad needs to educate himself and basically “become a mature component” of the human race if he really wants to be taken seriously by you (or anyone else). Yoav, you are to be commended for your courage against the evil-minded. I believe it is ridiculous to “surrender to court” if you (or any IDFs) make decisions based on what God expects from all humankind. Elad and the Israeli gov’t should be proud and grateful for individuals like you who choose to follow God’s sacred commandments.
To Elad: Leave Yoav (and other IDFs like him) alone and make peace with your own evil mindedness. The world certainly does not need more evil people like you. Shalom.
Posted by Livni | January 26, 2009, 10:27 pmBarack Obama will be in Ottawa meeting with Stephen Harper on February 19, 2009.
We need to use this to protest the US government’s financial aid to Israel’s imperialist war machine.
Without US funding and US weapons Israel can not continue to expand their racist apartheid regime.
Posted by Ali | January 28, 2009, 5:43 pmDespite a given person’s opinion regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict, performance of art is so often a venue for people to come together, regardless of religion, ethnicity, politics, etc, and share a common experience. Regarding your talking points… “Batsheva explicitly refused to distance itself from Israel’s military occupation and racist policies”–They have neither expressed approval of military policies! Truly, they are quite apolitical. “Batsheva is a Jewish-only dance company.”–Where did you get this information? About 2/5 of the company is not even Israeli, said their company manager Eldad Mannheim, so it’s quite possible that they are not Jewish. On their website, they recently posted a notice about an upcoming audition. It does not show any such disclaimer. Regarding Naharin’s and the dancer’s military and reserve service–A draft requires all citizens to serve in the IDF. However, many, if not a majority, of dancers, were able to get out of their service by claiming to be mentally unfit or are religious and thus serve community service instead. All in all, the company has not renounced Israeli’s actions, but are not making a political statement in their dancing (which is absolutely incredibly athletic, impressive, artistic, expressive, and beautiful, I might add). I find this action of boycott to be inappropriate and also counterproductive to the peace process. While Batsheva is an Israeli company that is proud of their people and culture, they are not representative of every political opinion (of which there are many!). It upset me so deeply that artists would be targeted. It is the artists–the dancers, musicians, actors, painters, and poets–that are the people who bring people together for shared experiences of compassion. If we cannot share art with each other, how can we share peace?
Posted by Anonymous | March 23, 2009, 9:50 pmFirst of all, there is no Palestine and there never was. Israel belongs to the Jews. Islam was created in recent history and currently there are 56 Muslim majority countries. There are 1.5 billion Muslims in the world and there are plenty of places for the Muslims to live; they do not need to live in Israel. They want control of Israel so they can show the world that they have taken over another small country with a strong military. The Muslims are a highly inbred ethnic group with many social, physical, and psychological defects caused by inbreeding. Gaza is a giant mental institution. Gaza is the home of tunnel permits being sold by Hamas for $10,000. each. Gazans pay a percentage of everything transported through the tunnels to the Egyptian "guards" and to Hamas. The Iranians are manufacturing missiles in four parts and packaging them in four boxes to be reassembled inside Gaza when they are smuggled through. The Gazans were given the hydroponics greenhouses purchased by the American government from the Israeli government. The Gazans did not pay for this technology, they were given the technology in order to have a legal income. The crazy Gazans demolished the greenhouses as soon as the Israelis left Gaza. They don't belong on our land; they can go to the surrounding Arab countries and leave us alone.
Posted by twoblueeyes | June 13, 2009, 11:15 pmI just like kabobs. I'm confused about what's going on on this site. Can I please have some Kabobs?
Harlan Turner
Http://www.pinnaclehousepainters.com
Posted by Harlan | September 5, 2009, 6:45 pmboycott form the USA??? UK?
how are you better then Israel?
we are all as bad as each other !
stop hating and bring solutions
Palestine and Israel do not need more hate they need peace and hope
Boycotting is adding petrol to a fire that has been going for long enough
Posted by ella | January 21, 2011, 6:59 am