16 nov 2018
The following statement, initiated by BDS Austria, addresses the role of the Israeli Embassy and the University of Vienna in opposing Palestinian rights and supporting Israeli apartheid. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network as well as Samidoun Goteborg are signatories of the statement, along with other international groups and academics.
Signatories and action links via original article.
Israeli Apartheid State – GET OUT OF VIENNA UNIVERSITY #ApartheidOffCampus
The Austrian Students‘ Union (ÖH – Österreichische Hochschüler_innenschaft) will host a congress, Confronting Antisemitism(1) at the University of Vienna (Universität Wien) from the 15th to the 17th of November 2018. Israel’s embassy in Austria is a co-organizer.
From an historical perspective, we are dismayed by the choice of venue – the University of Vienna – which has doggedly persisted in standing on the wrong side of history. A hundred years ago this institution measured the skulls of non-Europeans for „scientific purposes“.
Today, it supports the whitewashing and legitimization of Israel’s occupation and expulsion policies by making its facilities available to Israeli institutions and other supporters of Israeli Apartheid, while denying such privileges to the former Black Panther Dhoruba bin Wahad based on his criticism of Israeli policies and support for human rights.
Thus, while critical academics are boycotted and vilified, speakers who are known for their unconditional support of Israeli Apartheid are given the stage at the “Confronting Antisemitism” event. In addition, some of these speakers have in the past called for denying Israeli BDS activist Ofer Neiman and Holocaust survivor Hedi Epstein the possibility of speaking in publicly supported facilities. Moreover, Alexander Feuerherdt, who writes for the radical, racist, right-wing website „Liza’s World, “gets the stage for his conspiracy theories.
He claims, for example, that the repeated criticisms of the Israeli Apartheid state by the United Nations are “an expression of institutionalized anti-Semitism that is characteristic of the United Nations as a whole.” Feuerherdt also accused the Jewish-Israeli activist Jeff Halper, who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 together with the Palestinian activist Ghassan Andoni, of “acting anti-Semitically,” and of serving as the “principal witness” for the accusations Palestinian solidarity groups level against Israel.
This choice of conference speakers could be interpreted as an embarrassing mistake, or as an attempt to promote the broadest possible academic discussion, but the co-sponsorship of the event by the Israeli Embassy, and the choice of an embassy official for the opening address are simply unacceptable.
As an anti-racist movement, we advocate that genuine past and present anti-Semitic phenomena be critically evaluated and dealt with. However, the labelling of people as ‘anti-Semitic’ because of their criticism of human rights abuses by Israel, is calculated to support the normalizing and legitimizing of Israeli occupation, Apartheid and human rights abuses.
More than 40 Jewish groups from across the world recently released a statement that opposes equating anti-Semitism with criticism of Israel’s policies and its system of occupation and Apartheid.
Inviting a racist state to cooperate in an anti-racist event is not only bizarre and macabre, but also contravenes the ethics of science. After all, amongst other things, the Israel’s policies ensure that:
• Palestinian students and academics – inside and outside Israel – have their academic freedom restricted, are imprisoned or even killed.
• new weapons and surveillance systems are developed in the context of an occupation that violates international law and are then exported throughout the world. Israeli universities participate in the development of these weapons, which are “tested“ on Palestinian civil society, and then sold as “battle-proven.“
• as this is written, the Palestinian population of Khan al Ahmar is under threat of being expelled from their homes; their village is inundated with sewage, and bulldozers stand ready to demolish their schools and kindergartens.
• at the Apartheid fence in Gaza, F16 fighter jets blow demonstrators to pieces(14), snipers shoot hundreds of people and maim thousands .
• the European phenomenon of anti-Semitism, which had claimed millions of victims, is decontextualized and instrumentalized to construct a new and false anti-Semitism definition that is then used to stigmatize Palestinians and human rights activists, as well as to justify the inhumane and anti-democratic policies of the Israeli state.
Paraphrasing Bertolt Brecht, we would like to point out that there are various ways to kill people.
To list only a few, flood their village with sewage, have fighter jets blow them up, or lock them up in an open-air prison and cut the supply of vital necessities. Unfortunately, this hardly outrages anyone today.
That is why we call on academics and concerned people throughout the world to question the prevailing narrative, to manifest their outrage about the immoral and inhumane situation in Israel and Palestine, and to join the Palestinian call to boycott events with Israeli government sponsorship and/or official participation.
Signatories and action links via original article.
Israeli Apartheid State – GET OUT OF VIENNA UNIVERSITY #ApartheidOffCampus
The Austrian Students‘ Union (ÖH – Österreichische Hochschüler_innenschaft) will host a congress, Confronting Antisemitism(1) at the University of Vienna (Universität Wien) from the 15th to the 17th of November 2018. Israel’s embassy in Austria is a co-organizer.
From an historical perspective, we are dismayed by the choice of venue – the University of Vienna – which has doggedly persisted in standing on the wrong side of history. A hundred years ago this institution measured the skulls of non-Europeans for „scientific purposes“.
Today, it supports the whitewashing and legitimization of Israel’s occupation and expulsion policies by making its facilities available to Israeli institutions and other supporters of Israeli Apartheid, while denying such privileges to the former Black Panther Dhoruba bin Wahad based on his criticism of Israeli policies and support for human rights.
Thus, while critical academics are boycotted and vilified, speakers who are known for their unconditional support of Israeli Apartheid are given the stage at the “Confronting Antisemitism” event. In addition, some of these speakers have in the past called for denying Israeli BDS activist Ofer Neiman and Holocaust survivor Hedi Epstein the possibility of speaking in publicly supported facilities. Moreover, Alexander Feuerherdt, who writes for the radical, racist, right-wing website „Liza’s World, “gets the stage for his conspiracy theories.
He claims, for example, that the repeated criticisms of the Israeli Apartheid state by the United Nations are “an expression of institutionalized anti-Semitism that is characteristic of the United Nations as a whole.” Feuerherdt also accused the Jewish-Israeli activist Jeff Halper, who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 together with the Palestinian activist Ghassan Andoni, of “acting anti-Semitically,” and of serving as the “principal witness” for the accusations Palestinian solidarity groups level against Israel.
This choice of conference speakers could be interpreted as an embarrassing mistake, or as an attempt to promote the broadest possible academic discussion, but the co-sponsorship of the event by the Israeli Embassy, and the choice of an embassy official for the opening address are simply unacceptable.
As an anti-racist movement, we advocate that genuine past and present anti-Semitic phenomena be critically evaluated and dealt with. However, the labelling of people as ‘anti-Semitic’ because of their criticism of human rights abuses by Israel, is calculated to support the normalizing and legitimizing of Israeli occupation, Apartheid and human rights abuses.
More than 40 Jewish groups from across the world recently released a statement that opposes equating anti-Semitism with criticism of Israel’s policies and its system of occupation and Apartheid.
Inviting a racist state to cooperate in an anti-racist event is not only bizarre and macabre, but also contravenes the ethics of science. After all, amongst other things, the Israel’s policies ensure that:
• Palestinian students and academics – inside and outside Israel – have their academic freedom restricted, are imprisoned or even killed.
• new weapons and surveillance systems are developed in the context of an occupation that violates international law and are then exported throughout the world. Israeli universities participate in the development of these weapons, which are “tested“ on Palestinian civil society, and then sold as “battle-proven.“
• as this is written, the Palestinian population of Khan al Ahmar is under threat of being expelled from their homes; their village is inundated with sewage, and bulldozers stand ready to demolish their schools and kindergartens.
• at the Apartheid fence in Gaza, F16 fighter jets blow demonstrators to pieces(14), snipers shoot hundreds of people and maim thousands .
• the European phenomenon of anti-Semitism, which had claimed millions of victims, is decontextualized and instrumentalized to construct a new and false anti-Semitism definition that is then used to stigmatize Palestinians and human rights activists, as well as to justify the inhumane and anti-democratic policies of the Israeli state.
Paraphrasing Bertolt Brecht, we would like to point out that there are various ways to kill people.
To list only a few, flood their village with sewage, have fighter jets blow them up, or lock them up in an open-air prison and cut the supply of vital necessities. Unfortunately, this hardly outrages anyone today.
That is why we call on academics and concerned people throughout the world to question the prevailing narrative, to manifest their outrage about the immoral and inhumane situation in Israel and Palestine, and to join the Palestinian call to boycott events with Israeli government sponsorship and/or official participation.
12 nov 2018
|
Four famous Bollywood actors are due to perform in apartheid Israel. The event has been postponed once already. This is our chance to get it cancelled altogether.
Last year, on a propaganda trip to Mumbai, Michael Oren, as a senior representative of the far-right Israeli government, urged Bollywood producers to invest in Israel. He admitted, according to Al Jazeera, that the aim of his visit was to “fight BDS”. Earlier this year, while in Mumbai himself, Israeli prime minister Netanyahu said, “We want Bollywood in Israel”. Bollywood’s multi-billion-dollar film industry is the largest in the world. |
Israel’s overtures are aimed at exploiting Bollywood’s enormous fanbase and its stars’ media profiles to distract from and art-wash Israel’s war crimes and violations of Palestinian human rights. This is happening at the same time as Israeli arms sales to India have reached new heights.
This year alone, Hollywood figures like Mark Ruffalo, Viggo Mortensen, Danny Glover and John Cusack have stood up for artists who respected the Palestinian call for the cultural boycott of Israel, against the bullying tactics of Israel and complicit institutions.
Original article, with action links, at BNC official.
This year alone, Hollywood figures like Mark Ruffalo, Viggo Mortensen, Danny Glover and John Cusack have stood up for artists who respected the Palestinian call for the cultural boycott of Israel, against the bullying tactics of Israel and complicit institutions.
Original article, with action links, at BNC official.
8 nov 2018
Chef Gabrielle Hamilton and her team withdrew from Israel’s Round Tables Festival, scheduled to start this Sunday, November 11 in Tel Aviv.
90 chefs and culinary figures appealed to Hamilton and other chefs to withdraw from Round Tables, heeding the call from leading Palestinian women, farmer, and worker organizations.
Round Tables is part of the Israeli government’s “gastro-diplomacy” efforts, aimed at distracting attention from Israel’s theft of Palestinian land and food resources.
Hamilton is owner of PRUNE in New York. She received the James Beard award for best chef in NYC in 2011 and for outstanding chef in 2018.
Hamilton is the third chef to withdraw from Round Tables 2018 – Female Edition. Ana Roš, chef at Hiša Franko in Slovenia, cancelled her participation and events for Isa Mazzocchi, chef at Ristorante La Palta in Italy, are no longer listed on the Round Tables website.
Round Tables is partnered with the far-right Israeli government, and with companies involved in Israel’s illegal settlements built on stolen land.
But Israel’s “gastro-diplomacy” mask is wearing thin as the state entrenches its extremely violent policies and racist laws. The number of participating chefs in Round Tables has steadily decreased, from 16 in 2016, to only eight in 2018. Each edition saw prominent chefs withdraw following appeals from human rights organizations and culinary figures.
It seems Israel has over-cooked its gastro-propaganda festival.
It is not too late for the remaining chefs to stand on the right side of history and cancel their participation in Round Tables.
We appeal to chefs Judy Joo, Maca De Castro, Elena Reygadas, Leo Espinosa and Tanja Grandits to do the right thing.
Don’t partner with apartheid.
–The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)
90 chefs and culinary figures appealed to Hamilton and other chefs to withdraw from Round Tables, heeding the call from leading Palestinian women, farmer, and worker organizations.
Round Tables is part of the Israeli government’s “gastro-diplomacy” efforts, aimed at distracting attention from Israel’s theft of Palestinian land and food resources.
Hamilton is owner of PRUNE in New York. She received the James Beard award for best chef in NYC in 2011 and for outstanding chef in 2018.
Hamilton is the third chef to withdraw from Round Tables 2018 – Female Edition. Ana Roš, chef at Hiša Franko in Slovenia, cancelled her participation and events for Isa Mazzocchi, chef at Ristorante La Palta in Italy, are no longer listed on the Round Tables website.
Round Tables is partnered with the far-right Israeli government, and with companies involved in Israel’s illegal settlements built on stolen land.
But Israel’s “gastro-diplomacy” mask is wearing thin as the state entrenches its extremely violent policies and racist laws. The number of participating chefs in Round Tables has steadily decreased, from 16 in 2016, to only eight in 2018. Each edition saw prominent chefs withdraw following appeals from human rights organizations and culinary figures.
It seems Israel has over-cooked its gastro-propaganda festival.
It is not too late for the remaining chefs to stand on the right side of history and cancel their participation in Round Tables.
We appeal to chefs Judy Joo, Maca De Castro, Elena Reygadas, Leo Espinosa and Tanja Grandits to do the right thing.
Don’t partner with apartheid.
–The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)
7 nov 2018
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) activists succeeded, on Monday, in persuading the Catalonian city of Molins de Rei not to host a scheduled women’s waterpolo match between Spain and Israel.
The match was scheduled to take place on Tuesday afternoon, as part of a European championship that serves as a preliminary to the world water-polo league tournament.
The president of the Israeli Waterpolo Association, Revital Cohen Gluska, said she was informed of the decision on Monday morning, according to Days of Palestine.
The match was scheduled to take place on Tuesday afternoon, as part of a European championship that serves as a preliminary to the world water-polo league tournament.
The president of the Israeli Waterpolo Association, Revital Cohen Gluska, said she was informed of the decision on Monday morning, according to Days of Palestine.
4 nov 2018
The Court of First Instance in Tunisia issued a verdict on Friday prohibiting the entry of an Israeli delegation to into the Tunisian territories to participate in a conference on religions.
The Appeals Chamber of the Court of First Instance in Tunis on Friday prevented the entry or accommodation of the Israeli delegation to participate in the World Forum for Interfaith Dialogue.
The case was filed against the Tunisian Scout organization by the National Commission for Supporting Arab Resistance, Anti-Normalization and Zionism, the Republican Party, and the People's Movement.
These bodies demanded that the organization be prevented from receiving, hosting or allowing the participation of representatives of the International Forum of Jewish Scouts and all those who hold Israeli citizenship at the World Forum for Interreligious Dialogue, to be held between 4 and 8 November.
For its part, the Tunisian Scouts Organization denied it had any intention to host Israelis as part of the projected forum, stressing the group’s unyielding pro-Palestine position and support for Palestinians’ right to establish an independent state with Jerusalem as its eternal and undivided capital.
Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas hailed the court ruling, dubbing it a sign of Tunisians’ genuine sympathy with the Palestinians throughout their anti-occupation struggle.
The Appeals Chamber of the Court of First Instance in Tunis on Friday prevented the entry or accommodation of the Israeli delegation to participate in the World Forum for Interfaith Dialogue.
The case was filed against the Tunisian Scout organization by the National Commission for Supporting Arab Resistance, Anti-Normalization and Zionism, the Republican Party, and the People's Movement.
These bodies demanded that the organization be prevented from receiving, hosting or allowing the participation of representatives of the International Forum of Jewish Scouts and all those who hold Israeli citizenship at the World Forum for Interreligious Dialogue, to be held between 4 and 8 November.
For its part, the Tunisian Scouts Organization denied it had any intention to host Israelis as part of the projected forum, stressing the group’s unyielding pro-Palestine position and support for Palestinians’ right to establish an independent state with Jerusalem as its eternal and undivided capital.
Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas hailed the court ruling, dubbing it a sign of Tunisians’ genuine sympathy with the Palestinians throughout their anti-occupation struggle.
31 oct 2018
Please click here for a statement from the letter’s organizers on current context.
To the chefs participating in Israel’s Round Tables food festival;
We are all people who work in the food industry in the United States. We are chefs, restaurateurs, food writers, managers, farmers, and more. We strive for a more sustainable and more equitable food system and support each other in finding concrete ways to better align our business practices with our values.
We have learned of your upcoming participation in Israel’s Round Tables culinary festival and ask you to please cancel. We are adding our voices to those of the Palestinian women, farmer, and worker organizations who have called for this and their Israeli allies.
We ask you to do so because as professionals committed to food sovereignty and food access for ALL, we know that none of us can lend our names or our cooking skills to an Israeli government-sponsored culinary event such as this one. Our values around good food must include everyone, including the Palestinian people.
For decades, Palestinians have been fighting against policies similar to ones many of us are protesting now in the U.S. The Trump administration is attempting to take away the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe reservation land and has attacked the lives and freedom of thousands of immigrants. We stand in solidarity with those under attack here in the US and with the Palestinians who are protesting the same administration’s ongoing support of Israel’s discriminatory policies, including Trump’s decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.
Events such as Round Tables are part of a larger “Brand Israel” campaign to help the Israeli government normalize its ongoing denial of Palestinian rights. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has poured resources into this campaign with the explicit intention to improve Israel’s image abroad and silence outrage over its massacres and war crimes.
While Israel hosts international chefs in Tel Aviv for Round Tables, the Israeli military will be counting the calories allowed into Gaza only 40 miles away, keeping the entire population on a state-sanctioned starvation diet. Palestinians’ farmlands will continue to be expropriated for illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank; their homes and olive orchards demolished; and traditional Palestinian foods, including falafel, hummus, tahini, and zaatar, will continue to be claimed and marketed as Israeli. This continues on while Palestinian residents within Israel are treated as second-class citizens, a status reaffirmed legally by the recently passed Nation State Law.
Round Tables describes itself as “a cultural project, an honorary member of the gastro-diplomacy movement which advocates cultural, economic and political dialogue through gastronomy, maintaining that the easiest way to win hearts and minds is through the stomach.” This year the festival is focusing on “female chefs” in a “special edition” of the festival.
The struggle for equality and safety for women in the food industry and society as a whole should not be manipulated to serve the agendas of oppressive governments, in the U.S, Israel, or anywhere. We believe that no dignified chef wants to be used to win people’s hearts and minds over to the cause of apartheid and military occupation.
We have drawn inspiration for this letter from the stance NFL player Michael Bennett took when he cancelled a similarly sponsored trip to Israel, refusing to be used by the U.S. or Israeli governments as an “influencer” in support of their right-wing, racist agendas. We were educated and encouraged by the open letter asking NFL players to cancel their participation, signed by Alice Walker, Harry Belafonte, Angela Davis and many other important leaders within the U.S.
In the past two years, Michelin-starred Irish chef JP McMahon, top chef Mitsuharu Tsumura and Danish-Bolivian chef Kamilla Seidler cancelled their participation in the festival after appeals from human rights defenders.
We ask you to take a stand against the erasure of an indigenous people and cancel your participation at the Round Tables festival in Israel. We recognize that this may be difficult given whatever contracts you may have already signed. But to be principled means sometimes taking losses so that we can all win in the end.
Bennett quoted 1968 Olympian John Carlos as guidance for his decision: “There is no partial commitment to justice. You are either in or you’re out.” We hope you are in.
Signed,
Amanny Ahmad, artist, chef, forager, Palestinian
Gabriela Álvarez, founder and chef, Liberation Cuisine
Mary Ellen Amato, chef/owner, Rita
Reem Assil, chef/owner, Reem’s California
George Azar, chef/owner, Flowers of Vietnam
M. Karlos Baca, I-Collective, founder of Taste of Native Cuisine
Maxwell Bernstein, operations manager and bread baker, She Wolf Bakery
Alexandre Borghetti, co-founder/president, RADUNO
Warda Bouguettaya, owner + pastry chef, Warda Pâtisserie, Detroit
Cole Carothers, member-owner, Khao’na Kitchen
Jess V. Castillo
Kimberly Chou Tsun An, co-director, Food Book Fair
Aaron Crowder, chef/partner, Cervo’s
Alex Dang, bar manager, Ida B’s Table
Devita Davison, executive director, FoodLab Detroit
Sabrina De Sousa, Dimes
Lee Desrosiers, chef at large
Angela Dimayuga, chef, Creative Director of Food & Culture, Standard Hotels
Marisa Dobson, consultant and organizer
Neftalí Duran, I Collective
Rebecca Eichenbaum, pastry chef, Wythe Hotel
Christina Ermilio, bread baker
Devonn Francis, owner, Yardy NYC
Ethan Frisch, co-founder/co-owner, Burlap & Barrel
Gerardo Gonzalez, chef, formerly El Rey and Lalito
Jon Gray, co-founder, Ghetto Gastro
Lena Greenberg
Ben Hall, chef/owner, Russell Street Deli — Eastern Market
Sara Elise Hardman, owner + creative director, Harvest & Revel
Michaela Hayes-Hodge, co-founder + farmer, Rise & Root Farm
Stephanie Hsu, organizer, Charm City Night Market
Hidden Acres Farm, Inc. of Tolland, Connecticut
I-Collective
Ben Jackson, chef, Drifters Wife
Sana Javeri Kadri, founder & CEO, Diaspora Co.
Sara Kramer, chef/owner, Kismet
Oriana Koren, photographer-writer, Authority Collective
Agatha Kulaga, founder, Ovenly
Zaid Kurdieh, Norwich Meadows Farm
Maritza Abreu, owner, Puerto Viejo Dominican Bistro and Pisqueya
Megan Larmer, program director and researcher
Christina Lecki, executive chef, Reynard
Joy Liu-Trujillo, chef/owner Mudita Ramen
Munira Lokhandwala, FERMENT co-coordinator + Dream Cafe
Katy McNulty, founder + special events director, The Pixie and The Scout
Ben Miller & Cristina Martinez, South Philly Barbacoa
Klancy Miller, cookbook author
Preeti Mistry, chef, writer
Elizabeth Murray, director of HR + communications, The Marlow Collective & co-founder, Women in Hospitality United
Shilpa Nandwani, member-owner, Khao’na Kitchen
Danny Newberg, Joint Venture
Jessie Nicely, chef, Burmese, Please!
Alicia Parter, chef
Daniel Patterson, Alta Group
Laurie Ellen Pellicano, culinary consultant and recipe developer
People’s Kitchen Collective
Anya Peters, chef, Kit an’ Kin
Tu David Phu, chef
Jocelyn Ramirez, chef and founder, Todo Verde
Tara Rodríguez Besosa, founder/creative director, El Departamento de la Comida
David Santos, chef/owner, Um Segredo Supper Club
Stephen Satterfield, Whetstone Magazine
Pierre Serrao, chef/partner, Ghetto Gastro
Brant Shapiro, Norwich Meadows Farm
Yong Shin, Insa
Shakirah Simley, community organizer
Kristina Stanley, I-collective, founder of Abaaso Foods
Gabriella S. Stern, manager
Max Sussman, Samesa (NYC)
Julia Turshen, cookbook author
Desiree Tuttle, chef, Achilles Heel
Chinchakriya Un, Kreung Cambodia
Mary Vaughan, bartender, assistant sommelier
Diana A. Voicu, student, cook, food activist
Rose Weiss, chef and worker organizer
Tunde Wey, chef, writer
Ora Wise, culinary director, Dream Cafe
Amanda Yee, chef, The Blues Woman
Pamela Yung, itinerant cook
Sohail Zandi, chef/owner, Brushland Eating House
To the chefs participating in Israel’s Round Tables food festival;
We are all people who work in the food industry in the United States. We are chefs, restaurateurs, food writers, managers, farmers, and more. We strive for a more sustainable and more equitable food system and support each other in finding concrete ways to better align our business practices with our values.
We have learned of your upcoming participation in Israel’s Round Tables culinary festival and ask you to please cancel. We are adding our voices to those of the Palestinian women, farmer, and worker organizations who have called for this and their Israeli allies.
We ask you to do so because as professionals committed to food sovereignty and food access for ALL, we know that none of us can lend our names or our cooking skills to an Israeli government-sponsored culinary event such as this one. Our values around good food must include everyone, including the Palestinian people.
For decades, Palestinians have been fighting against policies similar to ones many of us are protesting now in the U.S. The Trump administration is attempting to take away the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe reservation land and has attacked the lives and freedom of thousands of immigrants. We stand in solidarity with those under attack here in the US and with the Palestinians who are protesting the same administration’s ongoing support of Israel’s discriminatory policies, including Trump’s decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.
Events such as Round Tables are part of a larger “Brand Israel” campaign to help the Israeli government normalize its ongoing denial of Palestinian rights. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has poured resources into this campaign with the explicit intention to improve Israel’s image abroad and silence outrage over its massacres and war crimes.
While Israel hosts international chefs in Tel Aviv for Round Tables, the Israeli military will be counting the calories allowed into Gaza only 40 miles away, keeping the entire population on a state-sanctioned starvation diet. Palestinians’ farmlands will continue to be expropriated for illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank; their homes and olive orchards demolished; and traditional Palestinian foods, including falafel, hummus, tahini, and zaatar, will continue to be claimed and marketed as Israeli. This continues on while Palestinian residents within Israel are treated as second-class citizens, a status reaffirmed legally by the recently passed Nation State Law.
Round Tables describes itself as “a cultural project, an honorary member of the gastro-diplomacy movement which advocates cultural, economic and political dialogue through gastronomy, maintaining that the easiest way to win hearts and minds is through the stomach.” This year the festival is focusing on “female chefs” in a “special edition” of the festival.
The struggle for equality and safety for women in the food industry and society as a whole should not be manipulated to serve the agendas of oppressive governments, in the U.S, Israel, or anywhere. We believe that no dignified chef wants to be used to win people’s hearts and minds over to the cause of apartheid and military occupation.
We have drawn inspiration for this letter from the stance NFL player Michael Bennett took when he cancelled a similarly sponsored trip to Israel, refusing to be used by the U.S. or Israeli governments as an “influencer” in support of their right-wing, racist agendas. We were educated and encouraged by the open letter asking NFL players to cancel their participation, signed by Alice Walker, Harry Belafonte, Angela Davis and many other important leaders within the U.S.
In the past two years, Michelin-starred Irish chef JP McMahon, top chef Mitsuharu Tsumura and Danish-Bolivian chef Kamilla Seidler cancelled their participation in the festival after appeals from human rights defenders.
We ask you to take a stand against the erasure of an indigenous people and cancel your participation at the Round Tables festival in Israel. We recognize that this may be difficult given whatever contracts you may have already signed. But to be principled means sometimes taking losses so that we can all win in the end.
Bennett quoted 1968 Olympian John Carlos as guidance for his decision: “There is no partial commitment to justice. You are either in or you’re out.” We hope you are in.
Signed,
Amanny Ahmad, artist, chef, forager, Palestinian
Gabriela Álvarez, founder and chef, Liberation Cuisine
Mary Ellen Amato, chef/owner, Rita
Reem Assil, chef/owner, Reem’s California
George Azar, chef/owner, Flowers of Vietnam
M. Karlos Baca, I-Collective, founder of Taste of Native Cuisine
Maxwell Bernstein, operations manager and bread baker, She Wolf Bakery
Alexandre Borghetti, co-founder/president, RADUNO
Warda Bouguettaya, owner + pastry chef, Warda Pâtisserie, Detroit
Cole Carothers, member-owner, Khao’na Kitchen
Jess V. Castillo
Kimberly Chou Tsun An, co-director, Food Book Fair
Aaron Crowder, chef/partner, Cervo’s
Alex Dang, bar manager, Ida B’s Table
Devita Davison, executive director, FoodLab Detroit
Sabrina De Sousa, Dimes
Lee Desrosiers, chef at large
Angela Dimayuga, chef, Creative Director of Food & Culture, Standard Hotels
Marisa Dobson, consultant and organizer
Neftalí Duran, I Collective
Rebecca Eichenbaum, pastry chef, Wythe Hotel
Christina Ermilio, bread baker
Devonn Francis, owner, Yardy NYC
Ethan Frisch, co-founder/co-owner, Burlap & Barrel
Gerardo Gonzalez, chef, formerly El Rey and Lalito
Jon Gray, co-founder, Ghetto Gastro
Lena Greenberg
Ben Hall, chef/owner, Russell Street Deli — Eastern Market
Sara Elise Hardman, owner + creative director, Harvest & Revel
Michaela Hayes-Hodge, co-founder + farmer, Rise & Root Farm
Stephanie Hsu, organizer, Charm City Night Market
Hidden Acres Farm, Inc. of Tolland, Connecticut
I-Collective
Ben Jackson, chef, Drifters Wife
Sana Javeri Kadri, founder & CEO, Diaspora Co.
Sara Kramer, chef/owner, Kismet
Oriana Koren, photographer-writer, Authority Collective
Agatha Kulaga, founder, Ovenly
Zaid Kurdieh, Norwich Meadows Farm
Maritza Abreu, owner, Puerto Viejo Dominican Bistro and Pisqueya
Megan Larmer, program director and researcher
Christina Lecki, executive chef, Reynard
Joy Liu-Trujillo, chef/owner Mudita Ramen
Munira Lokhandwala, FERMENT co-coordinator + Dream Cafe
Katy McNulty, founder + special events director, The Pixie and The Scout
Ben Miller & Cristina Martinez, South Philly Barbacoa
Klancy Miller, cookbook author
Preeti Mistry, chef, writer
Elizabeth Murray, director of HR + communications, The Marlow Collective & co-founder, Women in Hospitality United
Shilpa Nandwani, member-owner, Khao’na Kitchen
Danny Newberg, Joint Venture
Jessie Nicely, chef, Burmese, Please!
Alicia Parter, chef
Daniel Patterson, Alta Group
Laurie Ellen Pellicano, culinary consultant and recipe developer
People’s Kitchen Collective
Anya Peters, chef, Kit an’ Kin
Tu David Phu, chef
Jocelyn Ramirez, chef and founder, Todo Verde
Tara Rodríguez Besosa, founder/creative director, El Departamento de la Comida
David Santos, chef/owner, Um Segredo Supper Club
Stephen Satterfield, Whetstone Magazine
Pierre Serrao, chef/partner, Ghetto Gastro
Brant Shapiro, Norwich Meadows Farm
Yong Shin, Insa
Shakirah Simley, community organizer
Kristina Stanley, I-collective, founder of Abaaso Foods
Gabriella S. Stern, manager
Max Sussman, Samesa (NYC)
Julia Turshen, cookbook author
Desiree Tuttle, chef, Achilles Heel
Chinchakriya Un, Kreung Cambodia
Mary Vaughan, bartender, assistant sommelier
Diana A. Voicu, student, cook, food activist
Rose Weiss, chef and worker organizer
Tunde Wey, chef, writer
Ora Wise, culinary director, Dream Cafe
Amanda Yee, chef, The Blues Woman
Pamela Yung, itinerant cook
Sohail Zandi, chef/owner, Brushland Eating House