Italian artists for Palestine

Artists in many European countries have long mobilized in support of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice and equality. In the UK, for instance, thousands of artists (including Ken Loach, Brian Eno and Roger Waters) have publicly expressed their support to the Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel until it respects human rights and international laws, in response to the 2005 call of the Palestinian civil society.

We, Italian artists, workers and practitioners in the world of culture and entertainment, wish to follow today their example and the example of artists like Moni Ovadia who have long shown us the way: we pledge not to accept either professional invitations to Israel or funding from institutions linked to its government, until it respects international law and universal principles of human rights.

We adopt a tool of nonviolent pressure that does not target identity, but complicity between private and public bodies that support the policies of the State of Israel. We are open to collaborations with individual Israeli artists who wish to join us in recognizing the rights of the Palestinian people.

We would like to emphasize that BDS is a nonviolent movement that draws inspiration from the civil rights movements of the United States and the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. As per the definition provided by the United Nations, the movement rejects all forms of racial, political, religious and gender discrimination, including Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. Thousands of Jews around the world support the campaign. Among those, we would like to mention Boycott from Within and Jewish Voice for Peace which organized massive demonstrations in the USA.

We believe that the impunity of any country that violates human rights principles and international law is a defeat for humanity as a whole, and as artists we are deeply affected by this tragedy.