Dance troupe protests removal of 'Israel'
Melbourne-based Machol Israeli Dancing Club refuses to take part in Victorian festival after event organizers drop any reference to Jewish state in their introduction
The troupe – The Machol Israeli Dancing Club - was slated to participate in the Multicultural Folk Dance Festival of High Country in the Victorian town of Mansfield.
The festival, organized by the Victorian Multicultural Commission, received approval by the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission (VEOHRC) for the Machol Group to perform.
Unfortunately, when the participants’ names were released, Esther Blumenthal-Skop of Machol was shocked and disappointed to learn that the full name of the troupe had been shortened to The Machol Group, with all references to Israel removed, and the troupe was described as “a Jewish dance group."
None of the other participating dance troupes – which included Chinese, Hungarian, Armenian and Ukrainian participants – had their names edited in any way.
Blumenthal-Skop immediately asked organizers for an explanation for the name-change and was told only that “the organizer would not be held responsible for consequences if the words 'Israel' or 'Israeli' were used to describe the group.”
“The matter is now in the hands of the Victorian Multicultural Commission and we await their findings,” Chairman of VEOHRC John Searle told J-Wire.
Reprinted with permission from Shalom Life
