We demand Outset and its directors close its Israeli chapter, end their financial and ideological support for militarised settler-colonialist operations in Palestine such as the IDF and JNF, and withdraw the social, infrastructural and media assistance they give to Netanyahu and the Israeli apartheid regime. They must clearly condemn and oppose apartheid and genocide, turning their cultural capital to new ends. Unless they can do this, they should not be enabled to continue, and individuals and institutions globally must boycott them, full-stop.

Until Outset director Candida Gertler and Outset internationally stop using art to normalise a genocidal regime, lending Israel de facto personal and institutional legitimation, they are not fit partners for artists, artworkers, or institutions. As such we call on all members of the international artistic and cultural community to:

STRIKE OUTSET - MAKE ART, NOT WAR!

In January, the world’s highest court, the International Court of Justice, affirmed the plausibility that Israel is committing genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza. In the weeks since, despite the ICJ’s interim ruling, Israel has continued to escalate its violence with apparent impunity, killing thousands as Western states continue to support Israel militarily, financially, and ideologically. Under these intolerable conditions, it is essential that we escalate our efforts across our workplaces and civil society to stand up for global freedoms and human rights.

As the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) states, ‘cultural institutions are part of the ideological and institutional scaffolding of Israel’s regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid against the Palestinian people.’ To meet the urgency of the current moment and respond appropriately to the ICJ ruling, it is vital that artists and artworkers apply collective pressure to break cultural links complicit with Israel’s regime of apartheid and emerging genocide.