Dear Hannibal,

The Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) calls on you to cancel your show in Tel Aviv scheduled for June 30th, 2016. We are a group of Palestinian youth living in the US as a result of the occupation of our homeland which has displaced us and our allies who support the end to the occupation of Palestine and the right for all Palestinian refugees to return. We ask you to respect our picket line and join hundreds of artists from around the world, such as Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Roger Waters, Snoop Dogg, Bono, and Lauryn Hill, who have refused to perform in Israel as long as it continues to deny human rights to Palestinians in defiance of international law.

In 2005, Palestinian civil society issued a call for a campaign of Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international law and Palestinian rights. The BDS call has been endorsed by over 170 Palestinian political parties, organizations, trade unions and movements. Palestinian society has called on international artists to support the cultural boycott of Israel, like they refused to entertain apartheid in South Africa in solidarity with the struggle of the oppressed for freedom, justice and equality. [1] With Israel’s growing isolation around the world, fewer artists are willing to associate themselves with its regime of occupation, colonialism and apartheid. [2]

Comedy is something that both has the power to heal trauma and wounds of the human spirit but also to offer political critique against unjust systems, policies and discourses. When comedy is used to wash away the violence of the state, it in fact becomes constitutive of the violence and not a remedy to heal people from those wounds or a platform to reform the policies of inequality and oppression. A few months ago you were interviewed by The Jerusalem Post about your show in Tel Aviv and when they explained the Boycott movement, you responded “It’s a political race between a bunch of old people.” [3] This is not just about “old people”, PYM, for example,  is a youth led movement making major strides not just in the U.S., but around the globe for the Palestinian people.

Israel uses performances by international artists as a stamp of approval for its crimes and to distract the world’s attention from the plight of Palestinians. [4] Irrespective of your intentions, your performance in Tel Aviv would be used by Israel’s propaganda machine to cover up its crimes against the Palestinian people in general and children in particular, including the denial of their basic rights to unimpeded access to education, proper healthcare, freedom of movement and, often, the right to life itself.

Your scheduled appearance on June 29th, 2016 at the Performance Arts Center in Tel Aviv violates the global call to cultural workers with a human rights and social justice consciousness to boycott Israel for its violations of international law, the fourth Geneva convention and human rights.  

Israel is a constant violator of international laws and has failed to acknowledge fundamental human rights for the Palestinians. This includes not allowing Palestinians to see performances by world renowned artists and comedians as one consequence of the broader regime that has erased Palestinians from their land turning them into the world’s largest and longest lasting refugee population. In addition the continued military occupation of the West Bank and siege of Gaza strip has denied the Palestinians not only to their right to sovereignty and self-determination but to basic human needs such as food, water and medicine in the Gaza Strip. Palestinians from the occupied territories are barred from entering Israel unless they obtain hard-to-get permits. They are subjected to humiliation and searches on a daily basis by Israeli forces under military occupation and often kept away from their loved ones, hospitals, schools, and agricultural harvests. This denial of mobility has made life unbearable under the occupation. In addition, Palestinians who live within the Israeli state are treated as second class citizens and discriminated against based on a racial caste system that continues the ongoing legacy of Jim Crow laws in the US. This system of oppression has created a structurally segregated bureaucracy based on race and religion, according to Human Rights Watch. [5] 

We ask that you cancel your performance which is being used as an effort to normalize a society that has been built off of and continues to erase Palestinian existence and history.Until Israel ends its occupation and oppression of the people of Palestine we ask you, as an educated and knowledgeable person to not perform in Israel. To perform in Israel means a complete disregard for the Palestinian people and what they stand for. By complying with this performance you are playing into a system of apartheid, theft, mass killings, unjust incarcerations and much more. Hannibal Buress, join us, and many globally conscious artists in cancelling your performance in Israel.

Sincerely,

Palestinian Youth Movement

13 June 2016

[1]  https://bdsmovement.net/activecamps/cultural-boycott

[2]  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/01/opinion/sunday/why-the-boycott-movement-scares-israel.html

[3] http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Culture/Comic-Hannibal-Buress-to-tickle-TAs-fancy-455999

[4]  https://electronicintifada.net/content/behind-brand-israel-israels-recent-propaganda-efforts/8694

[5] https://www.hrw.org/news/2010/12/19/israel/west-bank-separate-and-unequal