Cultural boycott: Ballet Ireland cancels show featuring work of Israeli choreographer

The Ballet Ireland dance company, one of the most famous companies in the country, announced last week that it was taking off a piece by the Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin its repertoire, against the backdrop of the war in Gaza.

The announcement was made on Sunday during the program "Culture As Well" with Goel Pinto, on KAN Culture.

In response, Naharin said that he would have supported the move if he thought that it was helping the Palestinians.

The Irish dance company planned to perform a show based on Naharin's work this month in Dublin, "Minus 16."

According to a report in the "Irish Times," the artistic director of Ballet Ireland, Anne Maher, issued a statement: "Although we believe that art should not be dragged into politics, we feel that this is not the time to perform with this piece."

Ballet Ireland's decision comes after a protest by the Apartheid Free Dance, an organization related to the dance world in Ireland, whose goal is "solidarity with the Palestinian people, a call for a ceasefire in Gaza, and the end of the Israeli occupation and apartheid."

In an interview with Pinto's "Culture as Well" program, Naharin responded by saying that he was disappointed with the decision.

"I received the news neither with great excitement nor with great disappointment – but it is disappointing. Creative work is the opposite of destruction, it builds something. And I think that all of us in the world should safeguard creativity as a balancing act against forces that are evil. There is also some kind of trendiness here: Ireland is known as extreme in its reaction to our operation in Gaza. The agenda of the organization that works against me is similar to my agenda, I just don't think the boycott will help the Palestinians. If it did, I would recommend it, but it doesn't."

On the program, the choreographer criticized Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip. "War crime is a legal term, so I will not use it, but it's clear that terrible things are happening there and they will cause us harm as well. Since Oct. 9, Israel has not been under an existential threat; everything could have been different."

In response to the question of whether he understands the claim that because of his views, he may be perceived as an Israel hater, he replied: "Our government is an Israel-hater, the people who elected these people are Israel haters."

It was recently announced on the program, "What's involved," with Maya Sela and Yuval Avivi on KAN Culture, that the poet Lior Sternberg, who is working on the translation of a collection of Irish poetry, had already received several letters from publishers in Ireland by Oct. 10 stating they refusing to cooperate with him.