Roseanne Barr set to speak in Israeli Parliament

The actor will speak at the Israeli Knesset at the end of next month

Roseanne Barr waves on her arrival to the 75th Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California, US, 7 January, 2018

(REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo)

Roseanne Barr has said she will travel to Israel next month to speak to the country’s parliament.

According to Deadline, the actor said in a statement that she intends to “further my own knowledge of Jewish and Israeli history” and speak “against the insidious and anti-Semitic BDS movement”, referring to the Palestinian-led movement calling for boycott, divestment, and sanctions of Israel for its treatment of Palestinian citizens.

“We are in an age where Israeli innovation is ascendant and changing the world in areas of medicine, technology, media and the arts. Israel is an oasis of openness, freedom, democracy and tolerance amidst a desert of brutality from an age gone by,” she added. “I want to shout this from the heights of the Galilee to the halls of the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel’s capital city – and from the cafes and art galleries of Tel-Aviv to the beaches of Eilat.” She will speak at the Israeli Knesset on 30 January.

The revival of Roseanne, which had returned to TV following its cancellation in 1997, was cancelled by the network after Barr fired off a racist tweet comparing Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to a character from Planet of the Apes and linking her to the Islamist organisation Muslim Brotherhood.

Barr wrote, “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj”, in response to a tweet claiming Jarrett helped with cover-ups during the Obama administration.

She deleted the tweet and later apologised for “making a bad joke about her politics and her looks”. She said: “I should have known better. Forgive me – my joke was in bad taste.” However, only 11 hours after her apology, Barr was back to sharing conspiracy theories about Jarrett. Barr has claimed that she did not know Jarrett was black, while also attempting to use the defence that she had taken Ambien before writing the tweet.

Lana Del Rey and Lorde have both cancelled performances in Israel this year due to pressure from Palestinian boycott activists.

BDS urges businesses, artists and universities to sever ties with Israel. It says it is a nonviolent way to promote the Palestinian cause. But Israel says it masks a more far-reaching aim to delegitimise or destroy the Jewish state.

There is a long history of artists either cancelling performances in Israel or publicly joining the cultural boycott. In 2015, a group of 700 artists – including Brian Eno, Riz Ahmed, and Ken Loach – vowed not to play music, accept awards, or attend events in the country until the “colonial oppression of Palestinians” comes to an end.

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