Queen’s Festival should not bow to pro-Israel pressure from Culture Minister McCausland
[25th March] The revelation by the BBC that the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Culture Minister, Nelson McCausland, has demanded that the Belfast Festival at Queen’s ensure “a view sympathetic to Israel in any relevant talk or debate” is disappointing. The respected Queen’s festival should not be subject to political pressure, especially that which would have it provide a platform for a state with abject disregard for International Law and International Humanitarian Law.Commenting on the revelations, National Chairperson of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Freda Hughes, said: “In effect what the Minister is asking for is that the festival be forced to give a platform to apologists for a state that routinely engages in breaches of International Law and International Humanitarian Law, and stands accused by the UN Goldstone Commission of war crimes against the people of Palestine.”