Rodrigues wrote on a Facebook post that he “decided to join the cultural boycott of Israel, convinced that global and collective pressure might produce similar results to the boycott of South Africa during apartheid.”

Tiago Rodrigues, a Portuguese actor, director and playwright, announced that he would join the BDS movement, and boycott an Israeli festival that had invited him to perform, after expressing fears that his work would be politicized to celebrate Israel’s 70th anniversary.

Rodrigues wrote on a Facebook post that he “decided to join the cultural boycott of Israel, convinced that global and collective pressure might produce similar results to the boycott of South Africa during apartheid.”

Meanwhile, the Israel Festival commented that Rodrigues bowed “due to BDS pressure,” saying that Rodrigues’ position was “a one-sided political stance regarding a complicated conflict.”

“Rodrigues’ show deals with memory as a tool to struggle against limitations on freedom of speech. It’s surprising that he chose to act against the values that his work represents,” Eyal Sher, the CEO of the Israel Festival, said.

“The festival espouses the creation of a space that would enable a meeting point and a dialogue out of deep faith in the ability of art to present new reference points, open up to getting to know the ‘other’ and promote understanding and tolerance.”