Pro-Palestine Activists Call for Cancellation of Jewish Actress’s Performance
Pro-Palestine activists have sparked outrage among antisemitism campaigners after calling for the cancellation of a performance by Jewish actress Dame Maureen Lipman. The controversy arose from a poster that depicted her with red devil horns and a black trident, drawing accusations of using an enduring anti-Jewish trope.
Dame Maureen is set to star in Allegra, a play written by Olivier and Tony Award-nominated playwright Peter Quilter, at His Majesty’s Theatre in Aberdeen from May 26 to May 30. However, the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) Aberdeen shared an Instagram post featuring the controversial image, urging organisers to cancel her appearance.
The caption on the post stated: ‘Aberdeen Performing Arts publicly promotes values of equality, inclusion and community cohesion — values we believe are incompatible with platforming anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia.’ It further claimed: ‘We’re calling on APA to reconsider hosting Maureen Lipman in Allegra this May in light of her long record of harmful statements about Muslims, Palestinians and Palestinian rights.’
The SPSC Aberdeen added: ‘No racists welcome here!!!’
Antisemitism Campaigners Condemn the Poster
Antisemitism campaigners condemned the poster, highlighting its use of a long-standing anti-Jewish stereotype that associates Jews with Satan. A spokesperson for the Campaign Against Antisemitism said: ‘Beyond the likely copyright infringement and defamation here, portraying a Jew with devil’s horns is a longstanding antisemitic trope.’
‘This is shameful, but these sorts of Jew-baiting agitators are far past feeling shame at their actions. Discrimination against Jewish people has become normalised in the arts: it’s now simply part of doing business as a Jewish creative in modern Britain. The only consolation is that Maureen Lipman knows that she enjoys the support of the Jewish community and is beloved across the country, regardless of what vocal Jew-baiting activists might say.’
Context of Rising Antisemitism in the UK
The call to cancel the performance comes amid growing concerns over rising antisemitism in the UK. Dame Maureen recently described modern-day Britain as ‘like 1933’ following a series of antisemitic attacks, including a double-stabbing in Golders Green and an assault on the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Manchester last October.
Essa Suleiman, 45, appeared in court on Friday accused of attacking Shloime Rand, 34, and Moshe Shine, 76, two days prior. In response to the attacks, Dame Maureen told LBC Radio: ‘This is 1933.’ She called for a ban on pro-Palestine marches, claiming they have enabled a ‘benign hatred’ against the capital’s Jewish population.
‘It is time to stop this benign hatred in the form of political dissent on our streets every Saturday. There is a Race Relations Bill and it is being violated every week.’
Disputes Over Dame Maureen’s Comments
Antisemitism campaigners have described the pressure to cancel Dame Maureen’s performance as a ‘campaign of intimidation’ aimed at cancelling the show through ‘organised pressure.’ However, the SPSC Aberdeen accused the actress of being ‘an open supporter of the settler-colonial, apartheid state of Israel’ and claimed she has ‘voiced extremist Islamophobic anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab views’ in the past.
In July 2006, during a debate on the BBC2 programme, Lipman made controversial remarks: ‘Human life is not cheap to the Israelis, and human life on the other side is quite cheap actually, because they strap bombs to people and send them to blow themselves up.’ The SPSC Aberdeen also pointed to her rejection of Palestinian refugees’ right to return to their homeland and her 2016 comment about UN resolutions passed against Israel.
‘This is all voted against by people who don’t allow women to drive and make them cover their heads with black bags,’ she said.
The Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) Aberdeen has been contacted for further comment.
