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Home Page > News > Pro-Palestine campaigners opposed to ‘Riverdance’s’ planned Israel tour

Pro-Palestine campaigners opposed to ‘Riverdance’s’ planned Israel tour

Irish artist diasvows tour, will donate his earnings to Freedom Flotilla

DARA KELLY,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Tuesday, June 21, 2011, 7:55 AM

Updated Tuesday, June 21, 2011, 7:55 AM

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23 Comments

Riverdance, the Irish dance spectacular, has been targeted by pro-Palestine campaigners in Ireland who plan to demonstrate against the dance company’s plans to tour Israel this summer.

The demonstration will be held outside the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin on the opening night of the show’s month-long run, beginning on June 28.

Organized by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the controversial protest will be held in support of the second Freedom Flotilla to Gaza, which will depart on the same day in an attempt to break the Israeli blockade of the port.

According to a report in the Irish Examiner Riverdance is scheduled to perform nine shows over two weeks in the Israeli cities of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa in September.

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The tour first created controversy when the show’s set designer, the Irish artist Robert Ballagh, announced he would boycott it by refusing to travel with the company and donating his royalties for the performances in Israel to the Freedom Flotilla fund.

Fintan Lane, the co-ordinator of the Irish ship taking part in the flotilla, said he was pleased the issue was being raised, although he had not organized the protest. Lane added that he did not believe that it would alienate the Irish public.

Lane told the Examiner: 'This has been well thought-out. It’s not just about waving placards around. The issue of a cultural boycott of Israel is based on the same principles of the campaign against apartheid.'

A spokesperson for Riverdance said he could not comment on the demonstration as he had just heard about it and he had not yet spoken to the producers of the show.

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shuvonn | Jun 22, 2011, 10:19 PM EDT

Blowhard: My point is that israel makes BILLIONS on the arms and technology which is a direct result of the aid and funds they get from billions in aid from the us. So why do they need that billions in aid yearly from the us? And that does not include the BILLIONS in aid that is sent from jewish/american citizens like moskowitz who funds illegal settlements in the WB. As for the agriculture, you DO know (or SHOULD) the billions from the agriculture is money made on the labor of PALESTINIANS ( you know the people israel DENY exist) in the OCCUPIED territories for CRAP wages? And perhaps they should have picked better neighbors, they CHOSE to pitch their tent there and did NOT treat the natives well and NOW want to complain about the hostility from them ? They want to deny Palestinians the right of return after less than 70 years and yet demand it for jews after thousands of years jews from poland, germany, russia etc ?? AND by the way the fact is Egypt gets at least ONE third less per year (2 billion) for their peace treaty with israel and they have over 80 MILLION citizens and there are only 7 million in israel so one cannot compare the two....

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bhoward | Jun 22, 2011, 10:02 PM EDT

shuvonn... So Israel makes money on arms sales. And, separately gets aid from the US. What's your point? Israel also makes a tonne of money from their high tech and agricultural and tourist industries. So? It is unfortunate they NEED to have an arms industry, but they need to have one because all their neighbours are trying to destroy their state, and then their are groups like Riverdance who want to boycott the state because they are defending themselves against the Arab hordes. And by the way, Egypt gets roughly the same level of aid from the US as Israel.

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bhoward | Jun 22, 2011, 07:38 PM EDT

malpaso2001: Unless you are ready to criticise every other arms dealing nation for what they do, it is rather disingenuous to single out Israel for selling weapons. Certainly the USA has sold weapons to some rather nasty regimes. I expect the same is true for GB, France, and many others -- what do you think the buyers of arms do with them. Don`t get me wrong, I think the arms industry is quite problematic and I am not supporting Israel for selling arms to SA. What I am doing is looking at the big picture that sees many others doing the same thing and wondering why you find special fault with Israel.

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shuvonn | Jun 22, 2011, 07:14 PM EDT

israel makes billions of dollars yearly on arms sales after taking 3 billion plus from the us yearly...

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malpaso2001 | Jun 22, 2011, 05:56 PM EDT

Interesting to note that during appartiet in South Arica, when much of the world was boycotting South Africa, Israel was the only country to sell arms to south Africa which it in turn used to murder black south Africans.

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S.Connolly | Jun 22, 2011, 12:41 PM EDT

Riverdance: Take the $$$ and run!

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shuvonn | Jun 22, 2011, 10:07 AM EDT

Starlet: there is no need to send a flotilla to Saudia Arabia, there is no illegal blockade there. And many of those countries have very far to go to give women any rights let alone equal rights. And women demanding the right to drive is only the very beginning.

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shuvonn | Jun 22, 2011, 09:42 AM EDT

bhoward: You want to talk what is taught in schools? Is it democratic to attempt to delegitimize the people who lived in Palestine prior to the foundation of the state of israel?*Israeli school textbooks as well as children's storybooks, according to recent academic studies and surveys, portray Palestinians and Arabs as "murderers," "rioters," "suspicious," and generally backward and unproductive. Direct delegitimization and negative stereotyping of Palestinians and Arabs are the rule rather than the exception in Israeli schoolbooks.Professor Daniel Bar-Tal of Tel Aviv University studied 124 elementary, middle- and high school textbooks on grammar and Hebrew literature, history, geography and citizenship. Bar-Tal concluded that Israeli textbooks present the view that Jews are involved in a justified, even humanitarian, war against an Arab enemy that refuses to accept and acknowledge the existence and rights of Jews in Israel."The early textbooks tended to describe acts of Arabs as hostile, deviant, cruel, immoral, unfair, with the intention to hurt Jews and to annihilate the State of Israel. Within this frame of reference, Arabs were delegitimized by the use of such labels as 'robbers,' 'bloodthirsty,' and 'killers,'" said Professor Bar-Tal, adding that there has been little positive revision in the curriculum over the years.* A boycott is a perfectly LEGAL, NON violent way to show your disagreement with a government or an organization and that word is an IRISH word and I am ALL for it in this case. And if you want to make allegations about misdirected funds, back them up with facts or proof, if you can :-)

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shuvonn | Jun 22, 2011, 09:37 AM EDT

bhoward: Considering that YOU brought up the Syrian/WB border issue, YOU are the one who went OFF topic, I merely responded. Now WE can argue about the legality of the OCCUPATION and we WILL disagree it. *The United Nations Security Council, the United Nations General Assembly, the United States, the EU, the International Court of Justice, and the International Committee of the Red Cross refer to it as Palestinian territory occupied by Israel. General Assembly resolution 58/292 (17 May 2004) affirmed that the Palestinian people have the right to sovereignty over the area. If you really want to argue with those facts, go ahead but you are WRONG! Perhaps if israel did not attempt to portray itself as the only democracy they might not be held to such a high standard. A democracy is based upon many things not just violation of un resolutions. A democracy does not elect a russian racist who wants to throw all arab/palestinian israelis out of israel like Lierberman. It should not build illegal settlements against international laws. It should not impose an illegal blockade. This boycott is a personal choice of performers and if they are going to perform in israel, that is their choice as it is the choice of some not to perform. A democracy gives them that right, one you hypocritically think should not be permitted.

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Collette2 | Jun 22, 2011, 06:31 AM EDT

What a shame, I always thought the arts were beyond all borders. I hope the demonstraters aren't Catholics, if they are they're not getting the message from the pulpits.

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TiocfaidhArmani | Jun 22, 2011, 03:59 AM EDT

Israel is not the only democracy in the Middle East. Palestine and Lebanon both hold democratic elections. While they're not perfect, neither are Israel's. Palestinians who marry Israeli's do not have the right to full citizenship. What sort of racist crap is that? Israel should be boycotted, the same way South Africa was.

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Starlet | Jun 22, 2011, 03:57 AM EDT

Is Riverdance joining Oprah Winfrey who by the way, happens to have a huge following in Saudi Arabia and is supporting the rights of Saudi Arabian women to drive? Perhaps Riverdance can take a closer look at this so-called "democratic" neighbor of Israel's treatment of women. Bet they wouldn't dare bring a flotilla to Saudi Arabia. LOL

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samsams | Jun 21, 2011, 06:34 PM EDT

If anyone here supports current Israeli policy towards Palestinians, yet condemns British policy towards the Irish - then I'd love to hear how you explain such double standards. Genuinely.

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bhoward | Jun 21, 2011, 06:28 PM EDT

Hi Shuvonn... We digress from the topic of Riverdance, don't we? I could argue for hours that the lands captured in 1967 are not technically Occupied Territories, and because the UN spends such a disproportionate amount of time condemning Israel for things that most countries get away with without even stern words, that the UN lost any credibility years ago. Even if you don't agree with me, do you really believe that a country that violates a UN resolution somehow ceases to become a democracy? In any event, getting back to Riverdance, do you think that boycotting Israel will somehow get Hamas to stop sending daily missile into Israeli population centres, or change the Hamas & PA charters that call for the destruction of Israel, or somehow change Palestinian school text books that don't even show Israel, or re-direct some of the gazillions of euros that the world sends to Gaza but ends up in the Swiss bank accounts of the Hamas leaders?

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sirpeter | Jun 21, 2011, 05:37 PM EDT

I have to admit I'm not proud of Riverdance going there.

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