Israel’s Council for the Supervision of Films, Plays and Performances has ruled that a mock bullfight can go on as long as there is no actual bullfight. The Council which is Israel’s censorship board, approved by a slim majority Monday night a “Spanish fiesta” being staged by local impresario Aharon Berman, later this month.
Berman promised that while there will be bulls, matadors and toreadors, there will be no swords or spears used and the bulls will not be harmed. The Council ruled that the word “bullfight” must be removed from all of the fiesta’s advertisements and that an inspector from the Council will be at all performances and will stop it immediately if any actual bullfighting takes place. There had been widespread demands in Israel and abroad for the cancellation of the event.
(In London, Anglo-Jewish leaders protested against plans to hold the bullfight. Eric Moonman, MP, chairman of the Zionist Federation, said he telephoned his protest to Israeli Interior Minister Yosef Burg. He also wrote to Burg describing the planned bullfight as “degrading” and “inappropriate to the traditions of Israel and the Jewish people.” Sidney Shipton, the Federation’s general secretary, has also protested in a letter to the Israeli Ambassador.)
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