Norwegian theater boycott call prompts Nazi comparisons from Israel

The State of Israel is "demanding the Norwegian National Theater clearly renounce the video and remove it from all sites immediately."

By ASHER WEBER
Updated: SEPTEMBER 24, 2016 19:39
The National Theatre of Norway´s official apology for the cooperation with Habima
A video published online, purportedly on the behalf of the Norwegian National Theater, issued an apology for the theater's cultural cooperation with Habima, Israel's National Theater, on a project called 'Terrorisms' between 2013-2015. The Palestinian theater Shiber Hur Company also participated in the project.
The nearly seven minute video went on to publicly endorse the BDS movement on behalf of Norway's National Theater and declare Israel a "colonialist" entity "based on occupation, ethnic cleansing, racism and apartheid."
The video, as well as its full transcript, was published in the Norwegian weekly newspaper Morgenbladet Friday.
In contacting the Norwegian National Theater for comment about the video, an employee told The Jerusalem Post that the clip was part of an "art installation," produced independently without the "theater's knowledge."
The Israeli Foreign Ministry released a statement saying that the video was produced "under the guise of freedom of speech and was officially funded."
The statement added that "the film is reminiscent of the morbid Third Reich propaganda of Joseph Goebbels and the Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl."
The State of Israel is "demanding the Norwegian National Theater clearly renounce the video and remove it from all sites immediately."
The National Theater of Norway issued a response stating that "the unsigned article is part of the art project Monsters of Reality, which is part of the International Ibsen Festival 2016. The article is not written by The National Theatre of Norway – and does not represent The National Theatre of Norway's attitude – but is an expression of artistic freedom."
The statement added that "the National Theatre of Norway still has greater faith in collaboration with artists across national borders and from regimes we are critical to, than boycotts and silence."