Above: NYC-based advertising company Christy MacDougall Mitchell Bodden used a photo of a Batsheva dancer in its 2007 Israeli government tourism campaign, "You'll love Israel from the first 'Shalom'."

Above: The announcement for the Batsheva performance on the website of the U of M's Northrope Auditorium.

The Batsheva Dance Company of Tel Aviv is touring the US and Canada in January, February, and March, 2009. A recipient of public financing since the 1990s, the dance troupe is clearly an Israeli apartheid cultural institution. Writing October 26, 2008, in The Independent of London, Jenny Gilbert reports that the dance company is "funded by Israel's government, its performers include none of Arab extraction, and it is 'proud to be considered Israel's leading ambassador.'"

Ohad Naharin, the dance company's current Director, served in the Israeli army. In a 2005 interview with a Canadian newspaper, Naharin stated that "I continue to do my work, while 20 km from me people are participating in war crimes... the ability to detach oneself from the situation—that is what allows one to go on." Needless to say, the victims of Israeli "war crimes" cannot avail themselves of the luxury of detachment.

I stand before a long-limbed girl
Stretched out on Eilat beach
Her warm poster smile
And all the while my scream is lost
In the tunnel, shouting "What's the cost
In body miles?"

--"The Fire This Time", Nigel Parry, 16 May 1998

As if Israel’s position in the world in not bad enough, a new survey published in the US Wednesday says that Israel is suffering from the worst public image among all countries of the world.

The study, called the National Brands Index, conducted by government advisor Simon Anholt and powered by global market intelligence solutions provider GMI (Global Market Insite, Inc.), shows that Israel is at the bottom of the list by a considerable margin in the public’s perception of its image.

The Index surveyed 25,903 online consumers across 35 countries about their perceptions of those countries across six areas of national competence: Investment and Immigration, Exports, Culture and Heritage, People, Governance and Tourism. The NBI is the first analytical ranking of the world's nation brands.

"Israel's brand is by a considerable margin the most negative we have ever measured in the NBI, and comes at the bottom of the ranking on almost every question," states report author Simon Anholt.

An international survey of 5,215 people in 13 major countries, conducted recently on behalf of the Foreign Ministry, whose results were released at the weekend showed that 35 percent of the people polled saw Israel as aggressive, 24% saw it as arrogant and only 27% said they supported it politically. The people polled by the way, all had at least a BA degree and earned above the average salary in their country.

Above: Human Rights Watch's report on American weapons used in Gaza. Read more here

Mr Ben Johnson
Department of Concerts and Lectures
109 Northrop
84 Church Street S.E.
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455

January 29th, 2009

Dear Mr Johnson,

Please cancel the scheduled Batsheva Dance Company's performance on February 18th.

It is entirely inappropriate that you bring government-funded, dancing Israeli soldiers to town as Gazan babies are being burned alive with white phosphorus munitions by Israeli soldiers.

The Israeli government funds such touring activities precisely in order to whitewash their deserved international pariah status. The University of Minnesota needs to honor the Palestinian call for boycotts of Israeli cultural activities: http://www.pacbi.org/campaign_statement.htm

Would you have held whites-only South African performances when the Apartheid regime was massacring black children? Do Arabs not deserve the same rights as black South Africans struggled for?

In the event that you choose to hold this event, many in the Twin Cities will make sure that every patron who walks through the doors of the Northrop auditorium will be informed as to exactly what they are supporting.

Sincerely,

Nigel Parry
Minneapolis, MN

Above: Apple's Pages application served up a default poster template (L) which was customized for the Batsheva event.

Above: Standard, out-of-the-box, outside flyer template from Apple's Pages application.

Above: Customized with Batsheva's information. All of the information on the outside of the leaflet was genuine, including the dance company's blurb (L) and address (C).

Above: Standard, out-of-the-box, inside flyer template from Apple's Pages application.

Above: The customized version of the leaflet interior. On the left, information about what had just happened in Gaza. Top, Israel's Apartheid credentials and Batsheva's willing involvement. At the bottom, an extended look at how Israel uses cultural "fig leaves"—usually images of women—to redirect people's attention away from its nonstop human rights violations and war crimes.

Above: Team of poster ninjas. If you're postering a university, make sure the group includes typically college age people, so as to be under the radar as possible. Turning up with 10 Grannies For Peace probably won't work as well.

Above: Sticking a few posters up where they won't be welcomed is always a good idea because it will provoke a reaction. A pro-Palestinian group at the University of Minnesota, who found some of the posters on campus, had a debate about whether they were pro- or anti-Palestinian, which amused me to no end.

Above: Posters were inserted into the university newspaper, the MN Daily, in racks outside the library and in the student union. Finding one in the MN Daily, it seemed likely that there was a good chance that someone would complain to the newspaper, possibly getting coverage for the campaign.

Above: The posters on the Northrop Mall on the University of Minnesota campus, in front of the performance hall.

Above: Batsheva protesters in Minneapolis. The demonstration itself was very successful. Well-dressed protesters not wearing any pro-Palestinian messaging or scarves located themselves near the door smiled and handed the leaflets to arriving patrons.

Above: The weather was around 10°F/-12°C. Regardless, 60 people turned up.

Above: Israel's holiday slaughter in Gaza was the big motivator in this story.

Above: One of the "Blood on your hands" flyers hung in the toilet of Northrop Auditorium during Batsheva's performance.

Above: A Batsheva protester in Michigan.

Above: Batsheva protesters in California.

REPORT BACK FROM CALIFORNIA

Everyone with whom I've spoken agrees that our boycott/protest/vigil was extremely successful, even though no one turned around and left, to our knowledge. However, I did get an email forward from a poet who decided not to go after reading about our call to boycott and carefully considering the issue.

There were 50-60 people there, about what we expected. We had the clothes line and people with various posters and signs spread out in front of the portico of Royce Hall, where the theater goers had to wait until the doors opened at 7:45. If they approached from that direction, they were greeted by our two "ushers" on the steps, who handed them the incredible tri-fold leaflet that Nigel Parry had prepared for the Minnesota event.

People in that area all agreed that the impact on the theater goers was obvious - their mood seemed to be rather sober/somber.

There was another cluster in the back that people had to pass who were streaming in the back entrance to the building. Xxxx, her son and I were greeting those folks with "enjoy the show" remarks as we handed them the tri-fold.

Between our visuals - both the posters and banners that Xxxx and her students made, the dramatic b&w signs that Xxxx Xxxxxxxxx of Cafe Intifada (another of the endorsing groups) made, and Nigel's flier, we had a definite impact on the theater goers.

There not more than 10 or so hostile reactions, and instead, we seemed to force people to reflect a bit. That's the power of images.

Above: The New York Times blog that led with the story about the fake leaflet.

From the article:

The protest outside the Brooklyn Academy of Music last night, where the Batsheva Dance Company was performing, drew about 30 demonstrators, but it included an interesting twist: Audience members were slipped a seemingly official program that opened to reveal a flier heavily criticizing Israel’s actions in the 22-day war in Gaza last year.

The programs, which were adorned with images of the Israeli dance troupe, were the work of Adalah New York, an activist group that is calling for “boycotts, divestments and sanctions” of cultural and academic programs that, like the Batsheva Dance Company, receive funds from the Israeli government.

They drew both the attention and the disapproval of audience members at the Batsheva performance.

“I work in marketing and actually thought that it was kind of smart,” said Max Gelrud, who attended the performance. But he said he disapproved of being “purposely deceived into grabbing a pamphlet” which turned out to be fake.

The protesters said they were pleased with the reaction to the Playbills. “It caused an uproar,” said Andrew El-Khadi, who distributed the faux programs at the protest called “freedom dabke vs. Batsheva Dance Company.” Dabke refers to a traditional Middle-Eastern folk dance.