Australian comedian boycotts Sydney Festival over Zionist regime
The festival, which wraps up on Sunday, has endured weeks of negative publicity and withdrawals by dozens of acts including comedians Judith Lucy and Nazeem Hussain as well as TV personality Yumi Stynes and Indigenous theatre troupe Marrugeku.
The acts cited the festival's receipt of $20,000 from the Israeli embassy in Canberra to support the Sydney Dance Company production of Decadance.
The work was created by Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin and Tel Aviv's Batsheva Dance Company.
"Withdrawing my labour is one small but important thing I can do to stand in solidarity with Palestinians," Ballard told AAP.
"Pulling out was a major bummer. I love Sydney Festival and was really looking forward to the gig."
Ballard said an increasing number of Australians are more aware of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"Younger people today are more willing to question the bulls*** served up by foreign affairs 'experts' and assess what's really going on for themselves," he said.
Israel has committed war crimes against Palestinians and illegally occupied Palestine since 1948.
In May, Israel bombarded blockaded enclave Gaza with air strikes for 11 days, demolishing several key buildings including one housing American news organisation Associated Press.
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