Activists from the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign are urging a group of international chefs to cancel their participation in an Israeli culinary show they say is a “whitewash exercise”.
BDS campaigners will be conducting a twitterstorm today, calling on chefs to pull out of the event using the hashtag #ApartheidRoundTables.
Next month, head chefs of 13 famous restaurants from cities around the world “will spend a week cooking in Tel Aviv as part of a PR initiative to bring international prestige to Israel’s culinary scene.”
ACT: Tell these chefs to drop out of Israel's #ApartheidRoundTables https://t.co/926HaZi8tz #Palestine @MusketRoom pic.twitter.com/NO5fO0ze61
— Stolen Beauty (@BoycottAhava) October 26, 2016
According to campaigners, “The Round Tables culinary show is sponsored by Israeli government ministries, the Tel Aviv Municipality and businesses operating in illegal Israeli settlements.”
So far, appeals to the chefs by civil society groups in the respective countries to withdraw from the event have fallen on deaf ears.
A new generation of Palestinian chefs poised to conquer the world – Middle East News https://t.co/cMyWuijT1t pic.twitter.com/Rb2Y5idD8h
— Israel Trending News (@Israelolizer) October 25, 2016
The BDS campaign describes the initiative as “even more tasteless as Israeli settlers ramp up attacks against Palestinian families gathering for the annual olive harvest and the Israeli army continues to impose a cruel siege on Gaza, pushing unemployment to 47 percent – the highest rate in the world.”
(MEMO, PC)
