Video: Architects protest at Dublin event sponsored by Israeli Embassy

Published on Oct 4, 2012 by iDirectMovies

AROUND the world, interesting buildings are opened to the public as part of an architectural celebration called Open House. In Dublin, however, the Civic Trust – a charity which protects architectural heritage in Ireland – sparked controversy by opening its doors to an Open House project sponsored by the embassy of Israel in Dublin.

The event, attended by Ambassador Boaz Modai, encouraged members of the public to send postcards to Tel Aviv which in itself is not controversial. It was the fact that the event invitation claimed that Tel Aviv was raised out of the sand. A number of eminent Irish architects co-signed a letter to The Irish Times complaining that Tel Aviv was in fact built on four Palestinian towns which were cleared in what the Palestinians call "Al Nakba", translated as the catastrophe.

Some of the signatories were joined by humans rights activists from trade unions, academic institutions and the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign to demonstrate outside the Civic Trust.