Mike Leigh boycotts Israel

British director Mike Leigh, who was scheduled to visit Israel from November 20-27 to teach a master class in Jerusalem as part of the Sam Spiegel Film & Television School’s "Great Masters" programme, cancelled for political reasons. He last visited Palestine/Israel in 1990.

In a letter announcing his decision, Leigh, the director of Abigail’s Party, Secrets & Lies, Happy Go Lucky and the just-released Another Year, cited several of Israel’s policies, including the proposed “loyalty oath”, plus the so-called 'settlements' and the attack on the Freedom Flotilla as the reason for his change of heart. In his letter to the School he said,"I have become ever-increasingly uncomfortable about what would unquestionably appear as my implicit support for Israel were I to fulfil my promise and come."

"I have absolutely no choice. I cannot come, I do not want to come, and I am not coming,"


For an in-depth comment on this, visit Youth Against Normalisation:

While the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against apartheid Israel continues to grow, its opponents continue to resort to the same old canards in trying to defend Israel. In a Jerusalem Post article published on 17 October 2010, columnist Hannah Brown gives us a good example of some of the Israeli talking points ("British director Mike Leigh cancels Israel visit". In her concluding paragraph she writes...
http://youthanormalization.blogspot.com/2010/11/bds-debunking-pro-israeli-arguments.html

Picture: BAFTA.org

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