Artists against Israeli barbarism

In protest to Israel’s recent massacre of Palestinians, a Portuguese director has boycotted a major cultural festival held in the Israeli occupied territories.

Tiago Rodrigues announced he would drop out of the Israel Festival, saying the Zionist regime deliberately violated human rights.

A Facebook post on the artist’s page said he would also join the global boycott of the Zionist regime, along with other artists and musicians.

Rodrigues, who is a musician, as well as an actor and playwright, criticized the festival for not slamming Israel’s barbaric attack on Palestinian people, and for cooperating with the regime.

The annual festival, which hosts Israeli and international performers, said it was disappointed by Rodrigues' decision.

Last Monday, Israeli forces killed about 60 palestinians, and wounded about 2800 others, during a protest on the occasion of the Nakba or 'catastrophe' Day, commemorating the more than 700,000 Palestinians who were expelled in 1948, when the illegal Zionist regime announced independence, following occupation of the Palestinian territories.

MF/MF