Jewish artists claim they have been ‘frozen out of British cultural life’ after refusing to describe Israel’s actions in Gaza as ‘genocide’

By Robert Harris

This GB News article, based on reporting from the London Times, adds to the reportage over the last year in addressing the troubling anti-Israel sentiment that has saturated the British arts/culture/media industries, which clearly crosses into outright anti-Semitism and obvious censorship, where senior talent agency boss Jonathan Shalit was told that he would be blocked from a certain important role because he is “Jewish and support Israel and speak on behalf of Judaism”.

Jewish artists have claimed that they are being “frozen out of British cultural life” after refusing to label Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocide”.

A series of allegations gathered by The Times have revealed how Britain’s cultural world has turned its back on Jewish creatives.

Many chose to remain anonymous, due to the “chilling” cultural climate in the country, however others have decided to speak out.

Jonathan Shalit, the head of one of the UK’s largest talent agencies told The Times that he had been warned that his support for Israel would hinder attempts to choose him as the chairman of a “major organisation within the arts industry”.

He claimed he was told by the organisation’s chief executive that trustees “might have a problem with you as chair because of your Wikipedia page and the fact you’re Jewish and support Israel and speak on behalf of Judaism”.

The head of the UK Jewish Film Festival Michael Etherton said cinemas have made it “impossible” to make bookings. He said cinema venue staff were told to say an email went to junk, if pushed.

He explained: “Say we’re incredibly busy as a venue, leave it so late so that it’s actually impossible. Suggest dates that you know are outside the festival dates so it becomes impossible to do anything on that date.”

Film producer Leo Pearlman, of the company Fulwell 73, who has been behind productions such as Gavin and Stacy branded the industry as “institutionally antisemitic”.

He spoke about the difficulties he encountered while trying to promote his documentary We Will Dance Again about the Nova massacre on October 7. He said the film, which had garnered good reviews after being shown on BBC, had been “shut down at every turn by the international documentary association, by people we try and take advertising with, by the festivals that we try and get it into ever since it was released … at every single turn that film has absolutely no chance whatsoever of competing on an equal footing”.

He added that only certain Jews are “welcome in the arts”.

The article reflects what I have also been personally told about the intolerance in the Irish culture-arts industry if creatives (of any faith or none) speak up for Israel, or (Heaven forfend!) should produce content that addresses the topic of Israel in a balanced impartial manner – they will effectively have to move abroad if they wish to obtain funding/projects.

Anyone might be tempted to think the various arts industries are almost singularly populated by people of a certain political outlook and are only keen on “diversity” that stands rather strictly in accord with their rather left-of-centre political perspectives!