Israeli performers have raised concerns about "growing anti-Semitism in the UK" as they returned to the Edinburgh Festival following an absence sparked by targeted protests.
Organisers say Israeli arts companies were deterred from visiting Edinburgh last year "following targeted protests and demonstrations in 2012, and threats of disruption in 2014 to Israeli performers".
They say the event has received no funding from the State of Israel, and the festival has received cross-party political support in Scotland.
Shalom Festival organiser Nigel Goodrich said: "This event has received absolutely no funding from the State of Israel, it is not financed by the Israeli embassy and we have not asked for a single shekel from them or any agency of the state of Israel itself.
"To be criticised as 'Israeli State-sponsored' is absurd and completely inaccurate.
"The Festival is about peace, and peace means dialogue, not violence."
Performer Hadar Galron said: "We see and hear on Israeli media coverage about growing anti-Semitism in the UK so an event aimed at building cultural bridges left me feeling overwhelmed and touched.
"There's an old Jewish proverb: 'It takes a little light to banish darkness- but a little darkness cannot turn out the light'."
Read more: Agenda: Keeping politics out of Edinburgh's festivals
SNP MSP John Mason said: "For too long people have jumped to support either Palestine or Israel with little concern for the other side. We need more events like this so we all have a better understanding of all sides in that region."
Conservative MSP Jackson Carlaw said: "The Edinburgh Festival is an opportunity for all to show their talents. It should not be a place for discrimination of one type of performer, Israeli.
"Too often in the past there have been problems with artists who may have received sponsorship from the Israeli Embassy being targeted.
"The Shalom Festival is a positive fightback."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article