'Israel has the right to express its art and a duty to bear witness'
The Italy's minister of culture rejected a demand to exclude Israel from the prestigious art exhibition in Venice
Italian Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano announced last week that Israel will be allowed to participate in the prestigious Biennale art exhibition held for its 60th year in the city of Venice, which will take place from April 20 to Nov. 24.
Sangiuliano issued the statement after more than 14,500 artists, curators and cultural figures signed an open letter demanding that the Biennale exclude the Israeli pavilion this year.
"The diktat of those who think they are the holders of the truth and, with arrogance and hatred, think they can threaten the freedom of thought and of creative expression in a democratic, free nation like Italy is unacceptable and shameful," wrote Sangiuliano in his statement.
"Israel not only has the right to express its art, but it has the duty to bear witness of its people precisely at a time like this when it has been attacked in cold blood by merciless terrorists,” wrote Italy's minister of culture.
"My deepest solidarity and closeness goes to the State of Israel, its artists, and all its citizens," he concluded.
The group, "The Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA)," which published the letter demanding Israel's removal from the Biennale, responded with its own statement, claiming that "the Biennale cannot be a ‘space of freedom, meeting, and dialogue’ when providing a platform for Israel as its apartheid state commits genocide against Palestinians in Gaza."
The artists' demand to exclude Israel alleged "double standards" in relation to the approval of Israel's participation in the Biennale, and cited a similar exclusion of South Africa from the Biennale between 1968 and 1993, during the apartheid. Russia, which has been excluded from the Biennale since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, was also mentioned.
Dov Gil-Har is a corespondent for KAN 11.
