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Jennifer Lipman

ByJennifer Lipman, Jennifer Lipman

Opinion

A standing ovation is still a hollow victory for Israel

September 13, 2012 19:36
3 min read

"One could argue that their inclusion was asking for trouble," ran the one-star review in the Edinburgh Guide. "This performance never had a hope of running smoothly." Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the talent, is it? Other critics gave Hora, by Israel's Batsheva Dance Company, the coveted five stars, but almost everywhere the story was not about world-class Israeli artists performing at the Edinburgh International Festival, but about those who thought they shouldn't have been able to.

Batsheva's EIF show last week - greeted by hoards of anti-Israel activists who took pleasure in burning tickets as audience-members made their way into the venue and then pride in interrupting the display with catcalls about Palestinian blood - came a year to the day after the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra's appearance at the Proms. Last summer musicians were the target, as the BBC was forced to suspend coverage for the first time ever because of the disruptions. This summer it was dancers, and let's not forget Habima, attacked for speaking Hebrew on stage in perhaps theatre's most famous musing on antisemitism. Or the campaigns that attack artists from Madonna to the Red Hot Chili Peppers for having the temerity to sing to Israeli fans.

From one Rosh Hashanah to the next, and the same sorry cycle of attack and response. An invitation, then a petition or a letter to a newspaper. The internet abuzz with the musing of armchair pundits. The same justifications about free speech, the same jibes wheeled out by those who want us to say no to brand Israel, because when an artist is Israeli, their art is always, necessarily propaganda. The protesters, disseminating leaflets about Israeli apartheid, buying tickets purely to wreak havoc inside, or secreting banners in their clothing to bypass security guards who should have no place at a theatre. The counter-demonstrators, wrapped in Israeli flags at events they would likely have entirely overlooked were it not for the threat from the cultural boycotters.

Who wins, when the curtain falls and the stage lights are dimmed? The aim of the boycott campaign is, so far as I can tell, twofold; highlight Israel's supposed wickedness toward the Palestinian people and single the state out for the world's opprobrium. What it is not about, however, is changing the future.