Boycott the Batsheva Dance Company's U.S. Tour!
Picket outside the Chicago Performance

When: Sunday, February 8 - 12:30-2:00 PM
Where: Auditorium Theatre - 50 E. Congress, Chicago

Israel's latest brutal attacks on Gaza killed over 1300 people and injured over 5000; including 400 children killed and another 1500 injured. These numbers are expected to rise as more bodies are discovered beneath the ruins in the coming days. 100,000 people are now homeless as Israel's siege of Gaza continues, despite the latest ceasefire.

Meanwhile, the Batsheva Dance Company of Tel Aviv is touring the US and Canada starting January 28th through March of 2009. Israeli consular officials, — desperate to project a positive public image in the wake of international outrage against Israeli war crimes in Gaza — are working overtime to promote Batsheva's latest US tour.

Writing October 26, 2008, in The Independent of London, Jenny Gilbert reports that the dance company is "funded by Israel's government, its performers include none of Arab extraction, and it is "proud to be considered Israel's leading ambassador.'"

The most recent Israeli atrocities in Gaza have added a heightened sense of urgency to the 2005 appeal from hundreds of Palestinian civil society organizations calling for a global movement to boycott, divest and bring sanctions against the Israei apartheid state. The calls for boycott include commercial, academic, and cultural aspects, and have been echoed by numerous Israeli and international artists, academics, and thinkers.

Related Links: Organize to stop apartheid dance troupe's North America tour | Boycott Divest, Sanction

Endorsing organizations: (list in formation} International Solidarity Movement-Chicago chapter, Palestine Solidarity Group-Chicago, Chicagoans Against Apartheid in Palestine, Students for Justice in Palestine (UIC), Gay Liberation Network, Americans Muslims for Palestine, International Socialist Organization, Neighbors for Peace (Evanston), Rachel Corrie Brigade, Irving Park Neighbors for Peace and Justice, La Voz de los de Abajo - Chicago, Jewish Voice for Peace – Chicago, Workers World Party, Fight Imperialism Stand Together (FIST), Freedom Road Socialist Organization

To endorse, please contact: ISMinChicago@aol.com