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The actor Yan Balistoy raises allegations of anti-Semitism against the Theater Neumarkt. The trigger for this is a Lebanese law, which the theater management was presumably guided by. What we know so far.
In times of open letters, a new one, a half-open one, has now been added. In it, actor Yan Balistoy asks the Jewish community for support. He feels discriminated against at his workplace, the Theater Neumarkt in Zurich. “Since August 2021, I have only been cast in half of all plays because I am Israeli,” the letter says.
The reason for this is the veto of a Lebanese colleague who fears for her safety if the collaboration with an Israeli becomes public. “We have consistently been staffed separately for over two years.” There are no conclusions about the nationalities of the ensemble members on the homepage because the biographies have been rewritten.
Balistoy’s letter was followed by a response from in-house dramaturg Eneas Nikolai Prawdzic, which is available to the editorial team: “As a Jew and an employee of this institution, I do not want to let these allegations go uncommented.” Prawdzic emphasizes that the national and religious origins of the artists are not a reason not to include them in the program. On the contrary: “In Yan’s situation, the leadership made diversity possible despite difficulties.”
A law leads to dilemma
The challenge is a boycott law in Lebanon that prohibits Lebanese citizens from working with Israeli nationals. When Balistoy was supposed to join the seven-member ensemble almost two and a half years ago, the theater management was confronted with this law.
“On the one hand, they didn’t want to follow Lebanon’s law and thereby support a boycott of Israel. On the other hand, they did not want to release the Lebanese actress for security reasons. That was a dilemma,” says Prawdzic.
The compromise was that the two ensemble members did not perform together. Balistoy claims in his letter that “clarifying discussions and a search for alternative solutions” never took place. He accuses the management of “incorporating Hezbollah’s anti-Israel boycott into the theater’s work structures.”
The question remains to what extent international politics and the associated ideologies and conflicts should guide cultural fortunes in Switzerland.
Tricky law
When asked by SRF’s Middle East correspondents, they say that such a law exists and is not insignificant. Public figures put themselves in danger through possible collaborations and even risk prison sentences in Lebanon. Just recently a Search warrant issued against Lebanese journalist Layal Alekhtiarbecause she had previously interviewed an Israeli official.
If you listen to the Swiss theater scene, some people advocate putting less political connections and more emphasis on art. Others, however, explicitly label their work as collaborative projects that promote peace.
Shortly after the letter was published, Yan Balistoy posted just one word on Instagram: “Justice.” At the same time, employees at the Neumarkt Theater have made it clear that his contract will not be extended.
The word justice offers a lot of room for interpretation here.