‘Sesame Street’ puppeteers launch campaign for E. Jerusalem theater

By Matt Surrusco July 2, 2013 | Edit

Well-known children’s show actors launch puppet-themed protests against Israel’s cancelation of a Palestinian children’s festival at the Hakawati Theater in East Jerusalem.

'Sesame Street' puppeteers launch campaign for E. Jerusalem theater

Ariel Doron, who plays Elmo on the Israeli version of Sesame Street, started a Facebook campaign to protest Israel’s cancelation of a Palestinian children’s puppet festival. (Facebook)

The creative protests over a cancelled Palestinian children’s festival continued online this week, as puppeteers from the Israeli version of “Sesame Street” opened a new Facebook page in protest.

Ariel Doron, the voice of Elmo on Israel’s version of Sesame Street, and Yousef Sweid, who voices an Arab Muppet on the show, created the “Puppets4All” Facebook page, the Associated Press reported. They asked online protestors to take a photo of themselves with a puppet and sign, calling on Israel to rescind its ban on the annual children’s puppet festival at el-Hakawati Theater in East Jerusalem.

Approximately 100 photos of Israeli and some international puppeteers, actors and artists have been posted on the page.

Doron, who also made a puppet protest video recently, told the AP, that the initiative “was private and not coordinated with Sesame Street.”

On June 20, Israel’s Public Security Ministry notified el-Hakawati’s executive director that the annual children’s festival was cancelled, claiming festival organizers received funds from the Palestinian Authority, in contradiction of the Oslo Accords.

The theater director Mohammad Halayka denies the government’s allegations.

Halayka told +972 he would be following up with the lawyer representing the theater about developments in the legal challenge against the festival cancellation.

He said he has received many letters and emails in support of the theater. He even got a letter from an Israeli theater in Tel Aviv considering cancelling their children’s festival in solidarity with el-Hakawati, Halayka said.

But Halayka said he declined the offer, not wanting other children to be denied cheer and enjoyment.

“That’s not the way to do it,” he said, but added that the gesture showed the level of solidarity against the festival’s cancellation. “That gives you an indication of how on both Israeli and Palestinian sides, both are angry about this,” he said.

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TEST TEST GAL Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war. The world is reeling from Israel’s unprecedented onslaught on Gaza, inflicting mass devastation and death upon besieged Palestinians, as well as the atrocious attack and kidnappings by Hamas in Israel on October 7. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing this violence. We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on Palestinians. The most far-right government in Israel’s history is ramping up its policing of dissent, using the cover of war to silence Palestinian citizens and left-wing Jews who object to its policies. This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 14 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, entrenched occupation and apartheid, and a normalized siege on Gaza. We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need your help to do it. This terrible period will challenge the humanity of all of those working for a better future in this land. Palestinians and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the fight of their lives. Can we count on your support? +972 Magazine is a leading media voice of this movement, a desperately needed platform where Palestinian and Israeli journalists, activists, and thinkers can report on and analyze what is happening, guided by humanism, equality, and justice. Join us.

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