Actress Vanessa Redgrave is proposing a resolution before the Council of Actors Equity in London which seeks to ban British members of the Equity from performing in Israel. The Council is expected to vote on the resolution, submitted by 20 Equity members and signed by 36 others, at its annual meeting in London Sunday.
The proposed resolution states: “We demand the Council (of Equity) issue standing instruction to all Equity members not to perform in Israel (occupied Palestine) and that it obtain agreements from the BBC and ITV banning the sale of all recorded material involving Equity members for broadcast and exhibition in the State of Israel”. ITV is Britain’s independent television network.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, wrote to Patty Duke, president of the Screen Actor’s Guild, urging that the Guild make a public statement on the Redgrave proposal. According to SAG officials, Duke was unavailable for comment since she was on location involved with a film production.
Mark Locher, a spokesperson for SAG in Los Angeles, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency Thursday that the board of SAG has not taken any action on the proposal before the London Council, and that to the best of his knowledge it did not appear SAG would make any public comment on the proposal before the scheduled vote on Sunday.
SAG has a membership of 60,000 persons representing actors and actresses involved in film, prime-time television and commercials. It does not have any formal relationship with the London Council.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
