The Sept 8-11 TVL in London Festival celebrating Tel Aviv culture was met with protests over the weekend. Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions activists gathered at the Roundhouse venue in Camden where most of the events were based and verbally clashed with pro-Israel individuals.
Festival director Marc Worth is a British philanthropist and also one of the sponsors along with Israel’s Strategic Affairs Ministry. He had been asked to run this free festival of food, music and art by the Israeli Embassy in London, who in turn sought to expand on an idea first proposed by Boris Johnson. The mayor had sought a cultural exchange between Israel and England’s cultural centres.
The events included an art exhibition curated by Ori Gersht, a full-on Tel Aviv beach party, dance troupe Mayumanaan ran drumming workshops, psychedelic trance duo Infected Mushroom and DJ, producer and label owner Guy Gerber had sets on the main stage while Israeli chef Shaul Ben-Adert not only ran a food festival but gave the BDS protestors a peace offering of chocolate mousse.
