Photo Petr Zewlakk Vrabec / Alarm

“Just as we said during apartheid that it was inappropriate for international artists to perform in South Africa, in a society founded on discriminatory laws and racial exclusivity, it would be wrong for the Cape Town Opera to perform in Israel,” said Desmond Tutu [1] in 2010, the South African theologian and anti-apartheid activist.

The BDS movement [2], founded in 2005 by Palestinian civil society, seeks to end the Israeli occupation of 1967, eliminate institutional discrimination corresponding to the UN definition of apartheid, and recognise the right of return for Palestinian refugees expelled in 1948. One of the tools it uses is precisely cultural boycott. Its key aim is to expose the complicity of Israeli artistic institutions in the regime of oppression and the building of Israel’s “brand”. The Israeli government launched the “Brand Israel” campaign in 2006. This was meant to improve Israel’s image abroad through “downplaying religion and avoiding any discussion of the conflict with the Palestinians”. The goal was to present Israel as a “relevant and modern” country.

The overwhelming majority of Israeli men and women fulfil their military service obligation and thus participate in the violence in Gaza, either actively or silently.

Boycott is one of the non-violent tools for standing against injustice. In recent months, the cultural boycott of Israel has expanded significantly and is beginning to affect film, literature, music and international cultural and sporting events. This trend reflects growing pressure from artists, institutions and local authorities for the cultural world to distance itself from Israeli institutions accused of violating the human rights of Palestinians.

More than 5,000 people working in the film industry from around the world have signed a pledge that they will not collaborate with Israeli film institutions. Signatories include Mark Ruffalo, Javier Bardem and Aimee Lou Wood. The main Israeli film festivals, including the Jerusalem Film Festival, Haifa International Film Festival, Docaviv [3] and TLVfest [4], continue to collaborate with the Israeli government. That is, the government which for over two years has carried out what leading experts have defined as genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The call is directed at film workers to refuse to collaborate with Israeli institutions that participate in Israel’s violations of the human rights of the Palestinian people. The statement, which refers to an appeal by Palestinian filmmakers, reads:

“As workers in the film industry, we recognise the power of cinema to shape perception. In this urgent crisis situation, when many of our governments are enabling the massacre in Gaza, we must do everything in our power to address our complicity in this relentless horror,” the manifesto’s introduction states. It also references the ruling of the UN International Court of Justice, which decided that there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza. A few months later, the same court established that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank is illegal and must end.

“Inspired by Filmmakers United Against Apartheid, which refused to screen its films in apartheid South Africa, we pledge not to screen films, perform or otherwise collaborate with Israeli film institutions – including festivals, cinemas, broadcasting companies and production companies – that are implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people,” the manifesto concludes.

On the music scene, an international initiative called “No Music for Genocide” has emerged, joined by hundreds of musicians and record labels. Artists within this campaign are demanding that their music not be available in Israel through streaming platforms. The aim is to symbolically and economically express opposition to the continuing occupation.

Some cities have also taken the initiative into their own hands. For example, Barcelona recently voted to suspend institutional relations with the Israeli government and freeze its friendship agreement with the city of Tel Aviv.

Hypocrisy on the Eurovision stage

Russia was excluded from Eurovision following the escalation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, because this contest supposedly “supports the fundamental values of democracy”. Director Martin Österdahl said that Eurovision has long reflected trends and moods in Europe – it is not only a music competition, but also a cultural moment that unites more than it divides. According to him, the contest also honours solidarity, among other things.

However, the most-watched entertainment show in Europe has not yet banned Israel’s participation despite numerous calls for a boycott. Whether Israel will participate in the contest for the third year after being accused of committing genocide will be decided in a vote in early November. The organisation took this step after, in recent weeks, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Iceland and Spain announced they would consider withdrawing from Eurovision if Israel continues to participate. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) confirmed it would invite 68 member countries to express their views at the general assembly. Chancellor Friedrich Merz declared that if Israel is excluded from Eurovision 2026, Germany will not participate in the contest.

According to the Israeli news site Ynet, the EBU “unofficially” informed Israeli representatives that they must temporarily withdraw from the competition. However, if Israel wishes to remain in the contest, it must perform under a neutral flag – similar to what happened with Russian athletes at the recent Olympic Games.

Tears of Israeli liberals

Israeli Minister of Culture and Sport Miki Zohar responded to the filmmakers’ call with these words: “The attempt to boycott Israeli filmmakers and institutions is cynical and unjustified. (...) Instead of culture being used as a bridge for dialogue, it is being turned into a political tool for incitement and boycott. Israeli cinema will continue to flourish, touch hearts and achieve successes around the world, despite all attempts at boycott and damage,” the minister added.

The Yehoshua Rabinowitz Foundation, which is the largest Israeli film fund, added that cultural boycotts do not contribute to resolving the conflict or to political change. It claims that “they primarily harm creators, students and young cultural professionals who advocate for equality, human rights and dialogue. Breaking off cultural cooperation will not bring positive political change, but will deepen alienation and division. The right path to peace and justice is strengthening cross-border cultural dialogue, not imposing boycotts that thwart communication and silence voices calling for change.”

Israeli liberals from the field of culture and arts express surprise that they are targets of boycott abroad, and compare their situation to Russian or Iranian dissidents. Hanín Majadli [5], author of an opinion column in Haaretz magazine, considers this comparison false and hypocritical. Although the Israeli cultural scene is regarded as rather left-wing and even creates works criticising Jewish supremacy as a building block of the state, artists in practice participate in supporting genocide – especially through participation in the army.

The overwhelming majority of Israeli men and women fulfil their military service obligation and thus participate in the violence in Gaza, either actively or silently. Whilst dissidents in authoritarian regimes risk life and freedom, Israeli opponents of the government can protest and refuse military service without existential consequences. So-called refuseniks, who refuse compulsory military service, are imprisoned for a maximum of a few months. They also face social condemnation, but unlike the aforementioned Iranian and Russian dissidents, they are not in direct danger for their lives.

The genocide in the Gaza Strip is not being carried out by a dictatorship, but by a state that calls itself democratic and whose Jewish citizens have the freedom to stand against it. Crimes are not committed under totalitarian pressure, but on the basis of collective decision, with the active or silent cooperation of the majority of Israelis. Several surveys, including one conducted by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in early June 2025, brought chilling statistics: the overwhelming majority of Jewish Israelis agree with the statement that “there are no innocents in Gaza”. Most of the opposition in Israel is not fighting against the system itself, but only against Netanyahu’s person and his government, whilst accepting the structures that enable occupation and violence. According to Majadli, therefore, most oppositionists are not fighting for real change – they are not attacking the basic principle of Jewish supremacy that forms the core of the discriminatory regime.

More than 50 prominent Israeli documentary filmmakers signed an open letter expressing “deep shame” and “powerlessness” over Israel’s actions in Gaza and declaring their support for the boycott of Israeli cultural institutions by the international film community.

Israeli documentary filmmaker Barak Heymann writes in his column As an Israeli filmmaker, I thank everyone who boycotts my work that “there is no doubt that the cultural boycott of Israel will harm not only fascists, but also good and brave people. So what? It’s a small price to pay for ending genocide.”

“The State of Israel – through its army, in which our children, nephews and nieces, neighbours, students and grandchildren serve, and with the help of tax money that we all pay – is currently murdering another nation. It is destroying it and condemning all who have not yet been killed to life in eternal refugeehood, with no intention of stopping. On the contrary. The more Israel kills, the more it desires further killing. What is more natural than boycotting any public institution supported by the murderous bloody government of the State of Israel?” Heymann continues.

“As a documentary filmmaker who has applied (and continues to apply) for support from local film funds to finance my work. Although I disagree with the worldview of many people who run them, I myself am financed by the Israeli government along with them. I welcome all who therefore do not want to screen my films, and I thank them for it.”

The South African moment

Critics of the boycott often claim that it threatens freedom of expression, but initiators emphasise that there is never a call to ostracise individual Israeli artists or academics, but rather to boycott all Israeli institutions involved in the regime of oppression and works financed by these institutions.

Experts consider the comparison of Israel to the Republic of South Africa in the apartheid era justified – some South African activists who themselves fought against apartheid even claim that the Israeli system is even more sophisticated and brutal. And that is why they now advocate for the freedom of Palestinians. Indeed, the week before last, Nkosi Zwelivelile “Mandla” Mandela, Nelson Mandela’s grandson, was also arrested by the Israeli army along with other participants in the non-violent Global Sumud Flotilla [6].

“We need to build global momentum of parallel campaigns boycotting Israeli cultural institutions and sporting events, which will eventually create sufficient pressure on governments, and they will then finally move to practical steps,” says Andrew Feinstein, another prominent opponent of apartheid. Only economic sanctions, a worldwide arms embargo and diplomatic isolation will finally force Israel to stop the brutal genocide in Gaza, and above all the structural oppression of Palestinians. Just as was the case at the end of apartheid in South Africa in 1994. Italy recently experienced a wave of nationwide strikes and protests with record participation. The Italian government responded by sending one of its naval vessels to escort the Global Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. (Presumably under pressure, however, it recalled it at the critical moment.) As the UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese [7], has regularly reminded us since autumn 2023: “The Genocide Convention imposes a dual obligation on member states, namely to prevent genocide from occurring at all. As soon as intent manifests itself, including genocidal intent, the obligation to intervene already arises, because this is a criminal offence.”

Kino Pilotů and Israeli films

Whilst Israel has committed genocide in Gaza for over two years, the Prague Kino Pilotů [8] will host an Israeli film festival in mid-October for the umpteenth time. The event takes place under the patronage of the Ambassador of the State of Israel to the Czech Republic, Anna Azari. The selection of films does not even hint at criticism of Israel’s brutal genocide in Gaza or apartheid rule. On the contrary, it builds “Brand Israel” and apart from two films that deal with the 7 October massacre, according to the selection of films, it might appear that nothing so exceptional has happened in Israel in the last two years. Themes about interpersonal relationships or people on the socio-economic margins predominate. Two films thematise historical events – the heroic feats of Israeli soldiers in the Yom Kippur War [9] and the political career of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, “who among other things devised a plan for the liquidation of Yasser Arafat [10].” It resembles a video from Tel Aviv, where the Israeli population enjoys normal life, whilst a few kilometres away from them around two million people are dying of hunger, under bombs or due to lack of health care. Israeli podcasters can thus entertain themselves in their programmes with the idea that during concerts they would even like to watch live footage of the suffering population in Gaza.

In mid-September, a coalition of nearly 400 prominent Ghanaian residents launched an unprecedented campaign by local standards demanding the immediate cancellation of an Israeli film festival scheduled to take place in Accra, with Ghana thus entering the global cultural boycott movement over the genocide in Gaza. The broad civil society coalition labelled the festival a “Zionist propaganda event” aimed at diverting attention from genocide and apartheid during further escalation of violence in Gaza. The festival eventually took place with very low attendance and accompanied by protest actions. But Prague will apparently welcome Zionist propaganda in Prague with open arms. Czechia thus continues to remain “the voice of Israel in Europe” – as the then Prime Minister Petr Fiala proudly proclaimed before a full Old Town Square, which rewarded him with applause.

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This text was written before the ceasefire was concluded and the genocide suspended. Israel has violated ceasefire agreements in the past, both in Gaza and in Lebanon.

Tereza Langrová is editor of the anthologies Jestli mám zemřít, ať je to příběh (If I Must Die, Let It Be a Story) and Na této zemi je pro co žít (There Is Something Worth Living for on This Earth).