"The diktat of those who believe themselves to be the custodians of the truth
and with arrogance and hatred think of threatening freedom of thought and creative expression in a democratic and free nation like Italy is unacceptable, as well as shameful. Israel not only has the right to express his art but he has the duty to bear witness to his people precisely in a moment like this in which he has been hit hard by merciless terrorists".
Thus the Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano
.
The Biennale, he adds, "will always be a space of freedom, meeting and dialogue and not a space of censorship and intolerance".
"My deepest solidarity and closeness goes to the State of Israel, its artists and all its citizens" states the minister, underlining how
culture is "a bridge between people and nations, not a wall of division".
The minister's position comes after the letter addressed to the Biennale Foundation and signed by thousands of artists, institutions and cultural bodies who have asked for the exclusion of Israel from the next Venice Art Biennale, scheduled from April 20 to 24 November, stating that it is "unacceptable to host a state engaged in ongoing atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza. No to the Genocide Pavilion at the Biennale."
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