we will not engage in business-as-usual cultural relations with Israel. We will accept neither professional invitations to Israel, nor funding, from any institutions linked to its government. Since the summer war on Gaza, Palestinians have enjoyed no respite from Israel's unrelenting attack on their land, their livelihood, their right to political existence. "2014," says the Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem, was "one of the cruellest and deadliest in the history of the occupation." The Palestinian catastrophe goes on.
In the US, being Zionist and anti-BDS just isn't enough to placate Israel's self-styled defenders.
This story illustrates the extent to which Zionist pressure and interference in the arts poses a significant threat to freedom of expression. The tactics employed by pressure groups conform to a pattern that is familiar to artists and arts organisations in the UK. These tactics include: threats and campaigns to defund, writing to sponsors; internal pressure from within organisations by pro-Israel advocates; and reputational damage, following smears.