Leading artists criticise Barbican’s collaboration with Israeli embassy for concert

Jerusalem Orchestra East & West's performance cynical attempt to re-brand apartheid as diversity', claims letter by over 50 artists

More than 50 artists, including the poet Benjamin Zephaniah and the Turner prize co-winner Tai Shani, have protested at the Barbican arts venue's collaboration with the Israeli embassy in London in putting on a concert.

Arguing that the Israeli government must be held to account for its policies towards the Palestinian people", the artists say the concert this weekend is a cynical attempt to re-brand apartheid as diversity and military occupation as tolerance".