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RSA launches probe into pro-Israel event that sparked staff walkout [1]

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Date: 2023-12

London’s Royal Society of Arts (RSA) says it has launched an internal investigation into a pro-Israel event it hosted for the deputy prime minister and Israeli ambassador that prompted a staff walkout yesterday.

On Thursday afternoon, the arts venue and membership organisation released an official statement claiming the event had been “held by an external client who did not disclose the full event details in advance” and saying it did not endorse the day’s programme. Furious RSA workers were joined outside the building by dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters as Oliver Dowden and Tzipi Hotovely were due to attend.

The event, advertised as ‘Restart Il. Economy London’, was hosted by the Israeli company BMP in collaboration with London’s Israeli embassy with the aim to “create investment opportunities in an environment of support and solidarity” after the 7 October attacks on Israel by Hamas militants. Israeli president Isaac Herzog also addressed the conference virtually with a live-streamed video speech.

RSA staff who walked out declined to speak to openDemocracy on the record. But one, Nikki, said in a statement distributed by the IWGB union: “As RSA workers we had no idea that our employer was hosting this event or that the Israeli ambassador would be in our workplace today.

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“It’s an affront to many staff, especially those with family or friends in Gaza, which [the Israeli] government is turning into a graveyard. The presence of Hotovely, who has made such sickening comments in justification of the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, makes many of us feel unsafe in our place of work. We are ashamed that management has allowed this to happen. This, on top of our ongoing fight for fair pay, makes clear that they have no regard for staff wellbeing or the progressive values the RSA has historically held.”

An official statement from the RSA workers’ union has also been published, expressing disappointment in the decision to host an event that is “endorsing and profiting from the back of an ongoing genocide”.

The statement criticised an internal email circulated by senior RSA staff, apologising to employees who had been affected and claiming the organisation itself had been informed of the “geopolitically sensitive” nature of the lobby only a day beforehand.

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[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/rsa-london-union-staff-walkout-israel-business-event-tzipi-hotovely-oliver-dowden/

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