(JTA) — South African Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu has called on his country’s opera company not to perform as scheduled in Israel.
The Cape Town Opera Company is scheduled to perform "Porgy and Bess" next month at the Tel Aviv Opera House.
"To perform Porgy and Bess, with its universal message of non-discrimination, in the present State of Israel, is unconscionable," Tutu, the former archbishop of South Africa, said in a statement.
“Just as we said during apartheid that it was inappropriate for international artists to perform in South Africa in a society founded on discriminatory laws and racial exclusivity, so it would be wrong for Cape Town Opera to perform in Israel," Tutu said. “Cape Town Opera should postpone its proposed tour next month until both Israeli and Palestinian opera lovers of the region have equal opportunity and unfettered access to attend performances."
Tutu also said in the statement that only "the thickest-skinned South Africans would be comfortable performing before an audience that excluded residents living, for example, in an occupied West Bank village 30 minutes from Tel Aviv, who would not be allowed to travel to Tel Aviv, while including his Jewish neighbors from an illegal settlement on occupied Palestinian territory."
Last month Tutu, who retired recently from public life to spend more time with his family, joined other South African political and educational leaders in calling for an academic boycott of Israel.
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