Music fest used as BDS platform

SUPPORTERS of boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel have used a publicly funded arts festival in Adelaide to spread their message of hatred against the Jewish State.

The BDS activists at WOMADelaide – an annual world music and dance festival, part of the WOMAD festivals series – drew a sharp rebuke from the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC).

ADC chair Dvir Abramovich strongly criticised the organisers of the South Australian government supported festival for allowing the event “to be used as a forum to peddle an unabashed anti-Israel agenda”.

During the festival, the group Peace for Palestine was allocated a stall from which they handed out flyers promoting the BDS movement in Australia, naming specific Israeli and multinational companies, and calling on Australians to “boycott Israeli products, cultural and academic events, divest from Israeli companies and companies that support Israel’s trade with Australia”, Abramovich said.

One flyer stating “Buying Israeli goods is funding apartheid”, featured an image of a person divided into two halves. One half was pushing a shopping trolley, the other half was a soldier holding a gun.

The flyer also referred to Israel’s national code number on product barcodes, urging people to avoid -purchasing such goods. It went on to note, “However, Israeli products can still be assigned different barcodes outside of Israel. For example, a UK company selling Israeli products may assign UK barcodes to them. Always look for the words ‘Made in Israel’.”

The leaflet also asked, “Have you checked your investment shares lately? Do you invest in companies that support the Occupation?”

Abramovich said, “Who would have thought that WOMADelaide would become the place where an open season on Israel would be openly declared and that anti-Semitism would rear its ugly head?”

“It is deplorable that this music and dance festival had been hijacked by anti-Israel propagandists who turned it into a hate-fest that demonised, degraded and delegitimised the Jewish State.

“It is also troubling that the organisers felt it appropriate to not only turn a blind eye to such incendiary and inflammatory flyers, but provided Peace for Palestine with a convenient platform to widely promote the vehemently anti-Semitic BDS movement and to defame Israel as an apartheid state,” he said.

Contacted by The AJN, an SA government spokesperson said SA “provides funding to WOMAD, but is not involved in the planning or programming of the event”.

PETER KOHN