IRISH PAINTER ROBERT BALLAGH SHAMES HIMSELF FOR ALL TIME BY JOINING THE BOYCOTT OF THE JEWISH HOMELAND ISRAEL

ROBERT BALLAGH SHAMES HIMSELF FOREVER

 

I once nearly bought a picture by Robert Ballagh which I saw in a studio near the Club Bar in Belfast … and thank goodness I did not

 

What makes this really fine painter turn into such a monster?

 

Israel, the beloved land of the Jewish people.

 

Ballagh why on earth would you call for a boycott of the Jewish Homeland, the Jewish Homeland that Jews never forgot throughout 2000 plus years of wandering the world

 

And oppressed far more than the Irish have ever been by Britain.

 

How can a person so lose all sense of common sense and how can a person act in such ignorance of history? That is the real mystery.

Riverdance should not go to Israel: Two Open Letters from the IPSC and set designer Robert Ballagh

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Riverdance in Irsael: Robert Ballagh’s Open Letter

26th April 2011

As the designer of Riverdance I am personally disappointed to learn of the decision to perform the show in Israel at this time.

Many years ago I was honoured to meet Nelson Mandela when he was in Ireland. I took the opportunity to ask his opinion on the cultural and sporting boycott of South Africa. He replied by saying that the boycott was an essential weapon in the struggle against apartheid. His forceful words came back to me last year when I, along with many other Irish creative and performing artists, signed a cultural boycott pledge not to visit Israel (www.ipsc.ie/pledge). This was a positive response to the call by Palestinian film-makers, artists and cultural organisations for a cultural boycott of Israel. I believe that this non-violent cultural boycott will contribute to the struggle for justice for the Palestinian people.

Because I have signed up to support the cultural boycott I will not be travelling to Israel with Riverdance, and also I have decided to donate any royalties due to me for performances in Israel to the fund for the Irish boat which will be taking part in the international flotilla which is hoping to break the illegal and inhuman blockade of the citizens of Gaza.

Robert Ballagh
Artist and Riverdance Set Designer