An Irish arts academy passed a motion calling for Irish artists and cultural institutions to “reflect” before cooperating with events or institutions sponsored by Israel. The motion at Aosdana on Wednesday was proposed at the behest of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, an anti-Israel group whose founder, composer Raymond Deane, belongs to Aosdana. Deane’s earlier motion, calling for “non-cooperation,” was rejected by the membership.
The Israeli Embassy issued a statement deploring the motion as “wrong, unjust, biased and based on misunderstanding and misinformation.” Ambassador Zion Evrony said, “It appears that a very small number of Aosdana members, holding extremely biased views against Israel, have misled others and imposed their views on the whole organization.”
Some Aosdana members questioned whether the organization, which is funded by the Irish government, should even be debating a political motion. The cultural boycott movement has some momentum in Ireland. Last summer, Deane’s group succeeded in pressuring both the Irish Film Institute and a Dublin culture festival to cancel Israeli sponsorship.
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