Tutu has supported terrorism for 50 years.
B Published: 10/28/10, 1:43 PM / Last Update: 10/28/10, 7:52 PM South African Cleric Urges Opera Troupe Boycott of Israel by Chana Ya'ar <http://www.examiner.com/world-news-in-national/resized-tutcover-jpg-photo> http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/hash/e0/b7/e0b74 2ab1d27d8126af8631a42d3ffdc.jpg U.S. President Barack Obama (R) presents the Medal of Freedom to Bishop Desmond Tutu during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House August 12, 2009 in Washington, DC. Obama presented the medal, the highest civilian honor in the United States, to 16 recipients during the ceremony. (August 11, 2009 - Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America) Photo: Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America) Retired South African cleric Desmond Tutu appealed to the Cape Town Opera troupe this week not to perform in Israel. The 79-year-old Anglican archbishop said Tuesday in a statement that it would be "unconscionable" for the opera troupe to perform in Tel Aviv. Last month he called on South African academics to boycott the Jewish State as well. The cleric received the Nobel Prize in 1984 for his peaceful opposition to apartheid in South Africa, but is known for his anti Israel views. The opera troupe is scheduled to appear next month at the Tel Aviv Opera House in a production of what Gershwin considered his best piece, the opera "Porgy and Bess." Tutu praised the work as having a "universal message of nondiscrimination." However, the cleric charged that the piece, presented in a performance by international artists, "advances Israel's fallacious claim to being a 'civilized democracy.'" He had no criticism for Hamas rockets aimed at civilians or the lack of free speech, women's rights or other freedoms in Arab areas, including the PA. The performance will go on, the troupe said. Managing director for the company, Michael Williams, said in a statement that despite its respect for the cleric, the troupe is "first and foremost an arts company that believes in promoting universally held human values through the medium of opera." As such, he said, the opera was "reluctant to adopt the essentially political position of disengagement from cultural ties with Israel or with Palestine." The performance, which comes during the company's first visit to Israel, is scheduled from November 12 to 27. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [email protected]. -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [email protected] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [email protected] Unsubscribe: [email protected] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtmlYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
