Demonstrations outside the Israeli pavilion came after Italy’s government opposed efforts by Biennale organizers and jurors to exclude the Jewish state.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday decried protests at the Israeli pavilion of the Venice Biennale art show, whose opening last week caused the jury to resign.
The protests weren’t activism but “intimidation,” the ministry said on X, adding: “Attempts to silence, isolate or harass Israeli artists and cultural representatives have no place in a democratic society or in the world of art. Culture should build bridges, not fuel hatred and exclusion.”
Hundreds of people were seen protesting outside the Israeli pavilion, which the event’s managers had tried to ban along with Russia’s, but which opened to the public after Italy’s culture minister expressed opposition to the boycott.
