Over 400 Bay Area Artists Sign Letter Calling for Boycott of Israeli Institutions

Over 400 Bay Area artists and cultural workers have signed a letter pledging solidarity with the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), an activism effort that has been part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement since 2004.

“We recognize the genocide the Palestinian people are currently facing, and the ongoing violence they have experienced over the last century under the Zionist colonial project and establishment of Israel on Palestinian land,” the letter reads.

Spearheaded by poet Justin Ebrahemi and others, the letter says it comes as a response to Bay Area arts institutions’ lack of solidarity statements with Palestine. (Full disclosure: Ebrahemi served as KQED Arts & Culture’s engagement manager between 2021 and 2022.)

The Palestinian health ministry has reported at least 12,700 people have been killed by Israeli air and ground assaults since Oct. 7, when Hamas killed over 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped around 240. In the midst of the Israeli offensive, it has become increasingly difficult, the Associated Press reports, for Palestinian health officials to accurately count the dead. Today, amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Israel and Hamas agreed to a four-day ceasefire.

The artists’ letter specifies that PACBI is not a boycott of individuals based on their national, ethnic or religious origin, but rather a call to refuse collaborations with Israeli institutions and universities.

Among the signatures are prominent names like Unity Skateboarding’s Jeff Cheung, experimental musician and filmmaker Sofía Córdova, artist and Stanford lecturer Leila Weefur, and musician La Doña. San Francisco arts space CounterPulse issued its own solidarity statement, as did the queer performing arts collective Rupture.

These artists signed the letter even as prominent creatives across the country face backlash for pro-Palestinian speech. Academy Award-winning actor Susan Sarandon was dropped by her talent agency for her comments at a recent rally, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen was uninvited from a literary event last month after signing a letter criticizing Israel.

“We acknowledge a public boycott of Israel may jeopardize foundation and donor relationships, artist opportunities, and staff positions,” the letter concludes. “Regardless of this risk, we implore the Bay Area arts community to stand up for Palestinian life and liberation, and help reverse the course of oppression and genocide as part of the global Free Palestinian movement.”

This story has been updated.