We, the undersigned, are calling our community of conscience to boycott Batsheva Dance Company on February 25, until the company cancels and renounces its relationship to Israeli artwashing. We are artists, and cultural and social justice organizations and allies that support human rights. We reject the use of art to normalize the atrocities Israel is perpetrating in Gaza — violence that has caused deep grief in our communities and that experts, scholars, and human rights NGOs recognize as constituting genocide.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs describes Batsheva as “the best known global ambassador of Israeli culture.” The Israeli government is proud of using the arts to launder its image and disguise its longstanding practices of apartheid, occupation, and dispossession of Palestinians from their homes and lands.
Many supporters of dance and culture ask, “Doesn’t art transcend politics?” We can answer this question by educating the public about Brand Israel. Brand Israel is an explicit, publicly stated campaign by the Israeli government to improve their image abroad. Batsheva is funded by the Israeli state and carries contractual obligations to represent Israel and its policies in a positive way. Batsheva’s performances serve as a polished cover for Israel’s ongoing crimes against Palestinians, helping to sanitize its international image. So, the answer is that genocide is deeply implicated in Batsheva’s legal obligations.
Many ask, “Isn’t the lead choreographer, Ohad Naharin, opposed to the Israeli genocide?” And the response is, taking a principled stand against state-sponsored violence involves not taking money to support the dance company. This is exactly how dictatorships blackmail individuals and organizations into complying with their demands. Without state funding, Batsheva would not have an international presence and reputation. We are not against individual dancers. We are against state-sponsored genocide.
Compromising our principles for the sake of art has in the past several years been revealed to cover up the murderous intentions of pharmaceutical companies like Purdue Pharma owned by the Sackler family. The Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum, and Yale and Harvard universities, among many other institutions worldwide, have all removed the Sackler name from scholarships and buildings. And the $7.4 billion in the bankruptcy settlement of the Sackler family can hardly be compared to the long-term financial support by the Israeli government of the Israel Brand to wash away the genocidal intentions to annihilate the Palestinian people.
Calling attention to Israel’s indiscriminate destruction of Gaza infrastructure, including hospitals and universities, has made it impossible to accurately count the dead, many of whom remain under the rubble. Palestinians who survive Israel’s aerial attacks are subjected to what Amnesty International has described as a “slow, calculated death” produced by Israeli-imposed starvation and disease.
Palestinian civil society, inspired by the historic global movement to boycott apartheid South Africa, has called on all people of conscience to use Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) as a tool to end Israel’s impunity and pressure it to respect international law and Palestinian rights. Specifically, this includes the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).
Multiple times, Batsheva Dance Company has been asked to publicly disavow its role as Israel’s cultural ambassador and publicly affirm a commitment to the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people as enshrined in international law. Multiple times, too, it has been asked to refuse to participate in the Israeli government’s artwashing efforts and to refuse the sponsorship of Israeli state institutions, including embassies, consulate generals, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for its international shows. Such appeals have been met only with silence or dismissal.
Accordingly, we respectfully request that Santa Barbara’s community of conscience boycott the Batsheva Dance Company performance on February 25.
