When art and culture become “weaponized”…

When Ballet BC is invited and welcomed to go to Israel, to help show that the state of Israel is open and embraces art and culture…

But Palestinian-American writer Susan Abulhawa on her way to a literary festival in Palestine is detained by Israeli authorities and after appealing, deported from Israel, for no credible reason except being Palestinian and holding the wrong kind of political views…

And furthermore, Ms. Abulhawa went through the Tel Aviv airport because Palestine has no airport and Israel has complete and arbitrary control over not only who goes into Israel but also who gets to go to the Palestinian territories….

Then when Ballet BC publicly says "We are honoured to be a part of this festival (in Israel)", we tell them once more there is no honour in normalizing such an oppressive situation. When cultural exchanges become a tool of selective silencing of certain voices, there is no honour.

 "So long as Palestinian authors cannot even enter their homeland to participate in a literary festival, the urgency of boycott is clear. We urge artists and cultural workers to join the boycott of Israel – and, like Susan, to work to support Palestinian cultural expression and resistance." https://usacbi.org/2018/11/usacbi-susan-abulhawa-must-be-released-now/