World

Star Boycott

Artists fight over Israel: The sequel.

Mandy Patinkin

Theodore Bikel

Ami Eden
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

New York

B

ig-time Hollywood Jews sent a
strong message last year to artists
protesting Israel: Don't mess with

Tel Aviv.
What's the buzz these days following the
release of a sequel of sorts aimed at the
West Bank Israeli settlement of Ariel?
It's complicated.
The fight in September 2009 was over
the decision of the Toronto International
Film Festival to spotlight Tel Aviv. More
than 1,000 prominent filmmakers, actors
and academics — including Jane Fonda,
Danny Glover, Harry Belafonte, Julie
Christie and Alice Walker — signed on to
statement asserting that by showcasing
movies from Tel Aviv, the festival, "wheth-
er intentionally or not, has become com-
plicit in the Israeli propaganda machine"
In response, the UJA Federation of
Greater Toronto and the Jewish Federation
of Greater Los Angeles put together a
counter statement criticizing the protest
and defending the film festival's focus
on Tel Aviv. The pro-Israel statement was
signed by a smaller but more prominent
list of celebrities, including Jerry Seinfeld,
Natalie Portman, Sacha Baron Cohen,
Lisa Kudrow, Jason Alexander and Lenny
Kravitz.
This year's brouhaha centers on the
opening of a new cultural center in Ariel,
built with more than $10 million of pub-
lic funds. More than 50 Israeli theater
professionals signed a petition in late
August saying that they will not perform
in the new cultural center, which opens in
November. The boycott also has attracted
the support of at least 150 Israeli academ-

Ed Asner

ics and authors.
But several major Israeli theaters are
scheduled to stage productions there, and
top Israeli governmental leaders have
slammed the boycott.
Jewish celebrities again are jumping
into the fight — but on the side of the art-
ists taking aim at Israeli policy.
More than 150 American television and
film artists have signed a letter in support
of the Israeli artists' boycott. Signatories
include actor Ed Asner of "Lou Grant"
and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and
Cynthia Nixon, who played Miranda on
"Sex and the City:' as well as playwright
Tony Kushner and actors Mandy Patinkin
and Theodore Bikel.
They praised the "brave decision" by
Israeli theater professionals who "have
refused to allow their work to be used to
normalize a cruel occupation which they
know to be wrong."
"Most of us are involved in daily com-
promises with wrongful acts:' the letter
said. "When a group of people suddenly
have the clarity of mind to see that the
next compromise looming up before
them is an unbearable one — and when
they somehow find the strength to refuse
to cross that line — we can't help but be
overjoyed and inspired and grateful."
To be sure, when it comes to attract-
ing Hollywood A-listers, the recent letter
does not match last year's statement in
support of the Toronto Film Festival. But
many of the big names who weighed in
last year on Israel's side are absent from
the debate this time.
Observers on both sides of the issue
said the different reactions to the two
fights do not represent a weakening of
support for the Jewish state, but simply
reflect the deep divide among American
Jews over the issue of Israeli settlements.

Cynthia Nixon

Patinkin, star of the television drama
"Chicago Hope" and the one-man ode to
Yiddish "Mamaloshen," supports Israel in
a variety of ways, but says the settlements
"ignite the situation" between Israelis and
Palestinians.
"The settlements are in direct violation
of the Green Line and of international
law," Patinkin told JTA."It is now the art-
ists who are standing up and saying, 'We
refuse to play in a new theater that you
have built in an illegal settlement, and
we are asking the world to pay attention.
American artists who signed this two-
paragraph piece are saying, 'We are with
you.'
Jay Sanderson, president of the Jewish
Federation of Greater Los Angeles, draws
a distinction between this campaign,
which is directed against a settlement
beyond the Green Line, and artistic boy-
cotts directed against Israel in general.
"This is not about delegitimization, it's
about an issue that Israeli and American
Jews are divided on:' he said. "A number
of the artists who signed [the current let-
ter] are supporters of Israel:'
But, he added, "most are not."
Sanderson tried to downplay the
significance of the letter, saying it was
spearheaded by "fringe artists" who "are
not major Hollywood performers or com-
munity leaders."
The more well-known actors who
signed on are "expressing their personal
opinions. They are not representative of
Hollywood:' Sanderson said. "Many more
celebrities in Hollywood want to have their
voices heard in a constructive way, in sup-
port of Israel."
Jacob Dayan, Israel's consul general in
Los Angeles and liaison to the film indus-
try, sounded a similar note in an interview
with the Forward, saying that the letter

Tony Kushner

did not signal a shift against Israel in
Hollywood.
"I think our standing is really, really
good:' the Israeli diplomat told the news-
paper.
Sanderson said the federation is not
planning any counter activity.
The recent petition was organized by
Jewish Voice for Peace, a national left-
wing Jewish group that refrains from
defining itself as Zionist (jvp.orgicam-
paigns/making-history-support-israeli-
artists-who-say-no-normalizing-settle-
ments-4). The organization's executive
director, Rebecca Vilkomerson, told the
Forward that the "first to sign on were
the older ones, like Theodore Bikel and
[Broadway producer] Hal Prince, because
they remember the McCarthy times and
the civil rights struggle."
Bikel, who more than 60 years ago co-
founded Tel Aviv's Cameri Theater, said
in an interview with the Forward that
"there's an umbilical cord that ties me to
Israel, but I have to act according to my
conscience."
The boycott has been condemned by
members of the Israeli Cabinet, including
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"The last thing we need at this time
is to be under such an attack — I
mean this attempt at a boycott — from
within,"Netanyahu said at the beginning
of a recent Cabinet meeting.
Limor Livnat, minister of culture and
sport, also slammed the boycott, warning
that the government could respond by cut-
ting support for theater groups that refuse
to perform at the new Ariel center.
Livnat, as well as Ariel's mayor, also
criticized a right-wing Knesset member
and activist who protested the boycott by
storming the stage during a Sept. 6 per-
formance at the Cameri Theater. 111

October 14 • 2010

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