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The Tricycle Theatre should be applauded for refusing "Brand Israel" cash

August 8, 2014 at 9:28 am

As Palestinian bodies are still being dug out of the rubble, it is too soon to tell the final death toll of Israel’s brutal assault on the Gaza Strip over the last month.

But as of 5pm yesterday, Gaza’s Ministry of Health had tallied 1,886 dead. Exactly 432 of these dead were children. The injured are 9,806.

UN figures up to 8am yesterday state that “at least” 73 percent of the dead are civilians.

Israel constantly boasts about its advanced, high-tech weaponry that hits in “precision strikes”. Seven UN schools (used as emergency shelters for civilians ordered out of their homes by Israel) were bombed. Hospitals, homes and other civilian objects were hit.

The necessary conclusion of all these facts is obvious, for anyone willing to look past Israeli propaganda — far too often parroted by apologetic politicians like David Cameron and Tony Blair.

Israel is deliberately targeting the Palestinian civilian population for death and destruction. This is a common dictionary definition of “terrorism”.

European governments are complicit in these war crimes. Their arms sales, cultural and economic ties, and diplomatic cover are a vital form of support. Israeli could not get away with as much as it does without this backing. When governments in Syria and Russia are accused of crimes in Syria and Ukraine, the EU and US were quick to impose sanction after sanction. But in the case of Israeli crimes, there is not only no sanction, but active help and support to commit similar or worse crimes.

It is up to us to act, then.

With our governments actually supporting Israeli terrorism, it is no surprise to find citizens of conscience doing it for themselves. More and more people around the world are joining the Palestinian movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel.

The Tricycle Theatre is to be congratulated for its brave stance this week, in refusing to be associated with Israeli embassy funding for a film festival it had been due to host.

“We do not believe that the festival should accept funding from any party to the current conflict,” a spokesperson said in a statement on the theatre’s website.

With more and more people around the world disgusted at its crimes against the Palestinian people, the Israeli government has in recent years sought cover using a strategy dubbed “Brand Israel“.

Through various PR initiatives, Israel seeks to disassociate itself from images of war, oppression and death. Israel wants to give itself a make over by being seen as a high-tech wonderland, a cultural beacon or a gay-friendly tourist destination.

But far too many people are now seeing through these cheap tricks. And so, as pressure grows on the government to impose an arms embargo on Israel, more and more artists and reputable cultural establishments like the Tricycle will refuse ties with this government of war-criminals.

It seems that, for the organisers of the UK Jewish Film Festival, it was more important to have the Israeli government as a sponsor than for the festival to go ahead.

The Tricycle has made it crystal clear that it wants to host the festival. They even offered to make up for the shortfall from the Israeli money out of their own pocket.

It is no surprise to find apologists for Israeli war crimes such as Jewish Chronicle editor, and right-wing columnist Stephen Pollard and actress Maureen Lipman are now cynically trying to pretend the theatre was motivated by anti-Semitism.

This is a smear-tactic as old as Zionism itself. But thankfully, like “Brand Israel” few people are buying it any more. Do not be intimidated: boycott Israel.

Asa Winstanley is a journalist and associate editor with The Electronic Intifada.

 

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.