Oh, Emma: Thompson Calls for Israel Theater Ban
Emma Thompson is one of three dozen English actors, directors, and writers who are urging a ban of Israel's national theater company in an upcoming Shakespeare festival.
High drama, indeed.
Thompson and her cohorts say Israel's Habima theater company hasn't done enough to distance itself from Israel's settlement policy in the West Bank.
“Habima [sic] has a shameful record of involvement with illegal Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory,” says a letter published March 29 in England’s Guardian newspaper.
What really miffs the actors is that Habima did not participate in a boycott of a cultural center that opened in Ariel, a West Bank settlement. Therefore, say the artists
“by inviting Habima, Shakespeare’s Globe is undermining the conscientious Israeli actors and playwrights who have refused to break international law.
"We ask the Globe to withdraw the invitation so that the festival is not complicit with human rights violations and the illegal colonisation of occupied land."
more...
http://www.worldjewishdaily.com/emma-thompson-habima-theater-ban.php
