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Cultural Antisemitism: Jewish Comedians Dropped From UK Arts Festival Due to Israel Support
Performers at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2024. Photo: Andrew Wilson/EEm/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Two Jewish comedians had their shows cancelled from a major arts and culture festival in the city of Edinburgh in Scotland because of their pro-Israel views along with “safety concerns” expressed by staff members at the venues.
Philip Simon was set to perform his solo show “Shall I Compere Thee in a Funny Way?” at the venue Banshee Labyrinth as part of the annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which runs from Aug. 1-25. But on Saturday, he was told that the venue has cancelled his show due to the fact that his “views concerning the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Palestine … are in significant conflict with our venue’s stance against the current Israeli government’s policy and actions,” according to Simon.
“We feel it is inappropriate for us to provide a platform for performers whose views and actions align with the rhetoric and symbology of groups associated with humanitarian violations,” the venue further explained in a statement to the comedy website Chortle. They expressed concerns with Simon’s pro-Israel statements and opinions on X, formerly known as Twitter. They cited specific tweets, which include a recap of a pro-Israel rally that Simon attended and support for the hostages abducted by Hamas terrorists from Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Simon said in a statement on social media that he has “never expressed support for anything other than freeing the hostages and finding a way for peace.”
“It is sad to think that these views could conflict with anyone who wants to see a lasting peace in Gaza and Israel,” he added.
Late last week, Simon’s comedy variety show “Jew-O-Rama,” which features Jewish and non-Jewish comedians, was also cancelled from the Edinburgh Festival by Whistle Binkies, the venue scheduled to host the show. Jewish comedian, writer and director Rachel Creeger was set to perform her solo show “Ultimate Jewish Mother” at the same venue as part of the festival, but her show was also cancelled.
Neither of the shows are about Israel or politics. Simon has been doing his show for nine years and five times at Whistle Binkies. This year would have marked Creeger’s third year performing “Ultimate Jewish Mother” at Whistle Binkies. She is the only practicing orthodox Jewish woman on the comedy circuit in the United Kingdom, according to her bio on Instagram. She wrote in an op-ed for Jewish News that Whistle Binkies has been supportive in the past and even told her last year: “We’ll look after you, no one messes with OUR Jews.”
Creeger and Simon both claimed that their Edinburgh Festival shows were cancelled because staff at the venue complained about security concerns and not feeling safe if the venue hosted the two acts. Managers at Whistle Binkies “have cited bar staff discomfort at hosting Jewish shows,” according to an explanation shared on the Facebook page for the podcast “Jew Talkin’ To Me?” which Simon and Creeger co-host.
“When it comes to safety, they said they felt that the extra safety precautions that many Jewish performers are subject to at the moment, due to rising antisemitism, made them feel, ironically, more unsafe,” Creeger told Times Radio on Sunday. “They also cited that they had increased graffiti in the venue since having us, which they found threatening, we’re not sure why – we certainly weren’t the people creating the graffiti.”
“I am still processing the concept that in 2025 I can be cancelled just for being Jewish,” Simon said on Sunday in response to two of his shows being cancelled by the Edinburgh Festival. He hopes to find alternative venues for both of his cancelled shows and asked supporters to not boycott the venues because “they are hosting some incredible acts who I wouldn’t want to suffer negatively because of this.”
Outage from fellow comedians, politicians and pro-Israel groups has been escalating since the cancellation of the comedy shows.
“That is a shocking state of affairs,” Shadow Scotland Secretary Andrew Bowie told Times Radio. “Everybody should be welcome to this country, regardless of their faith, regardless of where they’ve come from, to perform at the Edinburgh festival or anywhere else for that matter.”
The organization UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) said on Sunday it has written to the Whistle Binkies, informing them that its decision to cancel Simon and Creeger’s shows are in breach of the Equality Act 2010 if they are being discriminated against based on the protected characteristics of race, religion and belief. “This is classic antisemitism, even if it is dressed up as safety fears,” said a UKLFI spokesperson.
Simon’s children’s show at the Edinburgh Festival – “School’s Out Comedy Club” – is still scheduled to move forward as planned.
The post Cultural Antisemitism: Jewish Comedians Dropped From UK Arts Festival Due to Israel Support first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Security Warning to Israelis Vacationing Abroad Ahead of holidays
A passenger arrives to a terminal at Ben Gurion international airport before Israel bans international flights, January 25, 2021. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Ahead of the Jewish High Holidays, Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) published the latest threat assessment to Israelis abroad from terrorist groups to the public on Sunday, in order to increase the Israeli public’s awareness of the existing terrorist threats around the world and encourage individuals to take preventive action accordingly.
The NSC specified that the warning is an up-to-date reflection of the main trends in the activities of terrorist groups around the world and their impact on the level of threat posed to Israelis abroad during these times, but the travel warnings and restrictions themselves are not new.
“As the Gaza war continues and in parallel with the increasing threat of terrorism, the National Security Headquarters stated it has recognized a trend of worsening and increasing violent antisemitic incidents and escalating steps by anti-Israel groups, to the point of physically harming Israelis and Jews abroad. This is in light of, among other things, the anti-Israel narrative and the negative media campaign by pro-Palestinian elements — a trend that may encourage and motivate extremist elements to carry out terrorist activities against Israelis or Jews abroad,” the statement read.
“Therefore, the National Security Bureau is reinforcing its recommendation to the Israeli public to act with responsibility during this time when traveling abroad, to check the status of the National Security Bureau’s travel warnings (before purchasing tickets to the destination,) and to act in accordance with the travel warning recommendations and the level of risk in the country they are visiting,” it listed, adding that, as illustrated in the past year, these warnings are well-founded and reflect a tangible and valid threat potential.
The statement also emphasized the risk of sharing content on social media networks indicating current or past service in the Israeli security forces, as these posts increase the risk of being marked by various parties as a target. “Therefore, the National Security Council recommends that you do not upload to social networks, in any way, content that indicates service in the security forces, operational activity, or similar content, as well as real-time locations.”
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Israel Intensifies Gaza City Bombing as Rubio Arrives
Displaced Palestinians, fleeing northern Gaza due to an Israeli military operation, move southward after Israeli forces ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate to the south, in the central Gaza Strip September 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Israeli forces destroyed at least 30 residential buildings in Gaza City and forced thousands of people from their homes, Palestinian officials said, as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived on Sunday to discuss the future of the conflict.
Israel has said it plans to seize the city, where about a million Palestinians have been sheltering, as part of its declared aim of eliminating the terrorist group Hamas, and has intensified attacks on what it has called Hamas’ last bastion.
The group’s political leadership, which has engaged in on-and-off negotiations on a possible ceasefire and hostage release deal, was targeted by Israel in an airstrike in Doha on Tuesday in an attack that drew widespread condemnation.
Qatar will host an emergency Arab-Islamic summit on Monday to discuss the next moves. Rubio said Washington wanted to talk about how to free the 48 hostages – of whom 20 are believed to be still alive – still held by Hamas in Gaza and rebuild the coastal strip.
“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them (the Israeli leadership). We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” Rubio said before heading to Israel where he will stay until Tuesday.
ABRAHAM ACCORDS AT RISK
He was expected to visit the Western Wall Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem on Sunday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hold talks with him during the visit.
US officials described Tuesday’s strike on the territory of a close US ally as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests. Rubio and US President Donald Trump both met Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Friday.
Netanyahu signed an agreement on Thursday to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state – a move the United Arab Emirates warned would undermine the US-brokered Abraham accords that normalized UAE relations with Israel.
Israel, which blocked all food from entering Gaza for 11 weeks earlier this year, has been allowing more aid into the enclave since late July to prevent further food shortages, though the United Nations says far more is needed.
It says it wants civilians to leave Gaza City before it sends more ground forces in. Tens of thousands of people are estimated to have left but hundreds of thousands remain in the area. Hamas has called on people not to leave.
Israeli army forces have been operating inside at least four eastern suburbs for weeks, turning most of at least three of them into wastelands. It is closing in on the center and the western areas of the territory, where most of the displaced people are taking shelter.
Many are reluctant to leave, saying there is not enough space or safety in the south, where Israel has told them to go to what it has designated as a humanitarian zone.
Some say they cannot afford to leave while others say they were hoping the Arab leaders meeting on Monday in Qatar would pressure Israel to scrap its planned offensive.
“The bombardment intensified everywhere and we took down the tents, more than twenty families, we do not know where to go,” said Musbah Al-Kafarna, displaced in Gaza City.
Israel said it had completed five waves of air strikes on Gaza City over the past week, targeting more than 500 sites, including Hamas reconnaissance and sniper sites, buildings containing tunnel openings and weapons depots.
Local officials, who do not distinguish between militant and civilian casualties, say at least 40 people were killed by Israeli fire across the enclave, a least 28 in Gaza City alone.
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Turkey Warns of Escalation as Israel Expands Strikes Beyond Gaza
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not seen) at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, May 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
i24 News – An Israeli strike targeting Hamas officials in Qatar has sparked unease among several Middle Eastern countries that host leaders of the group, with Turkey among the most alarmed.
Officials in Ankara are increasingly worried about how far Israel might go in pursuing those it holds responsible for the October 7 attacks.
Israel’s prime minister effectively acknowledged that the Qatar operation failed to eliminate the Hamas leadership, while stressing the broader point the strike was meant to make: “They enjoy no immunity,” the government said.
On X, Prime Minister Netanyahu went further, writing that “the elimination of Hamas leaders would put an end to the war.”
A senior Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, summed up Ankara’s reaction: “The attack in Qatar showed that the Israeli government is ready to do anything.”
Legally and diplomatically, Turkey occupies a delicate position. As a NATO member, any military operation or targeted killing on its soil could inflame tensions within the alliance and challenge mutual security commitments.
Analysts caution, however, that Israel could opt for covert measures, operations carried out without public acknowledgement, a prospect that has increased anxiety in governments across the region.
Israeli officials remain defiant. In an interview with Ynet, Minister Ze’ev Elkin said: “As long as we have not stopped them, we will pursue them everywhere in the world and settle our accounts with them.” The episode underscores growing fears that efforts to hunt Hamas figures beyond Gaza could widen regional friction and complicate diplomatic relationships.