Israeli dance troupe's Wellington performance protested

Protestors objected to the performance of Israeli dance group Batsheva.

A protest outside a performance of a visiting Israeli dance troupe prompted five people to avoid the show, protest organiser John Minto says.

Mr Minto was part of a 40-strong protest group outside Wellington's St James theatre yesterday evening objecting to the performance of Israeli dance group Batsheva.

"It is an apartheid state. Palestinians who have Israeli citizenship - they're not regarded as nationals of Israel. To be a national of Israel, you have to be Jewish and so you have a whole network of laws that follow through from that which actually discriminate against Arab-Israelis.''

The protest group, which are part of a the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign supporting Palestinian rights, faced-off with a group of Israeli supporters outside the theatre.

David Zwartz, a member of the Wellington Jewish Community, was among about 40 Israeli supporters.

"Police asked us to stand on one side, and the Minto crowd stood on the other side of the entranceway,'' he said.

Allegations that Israel was an apartheid state were racist and unfounded, he said.

"Israel is a democratic state where all the citizens have equal rights under the law.''

There are no laws discriminating against Arab-Israelis in Israel which compare to those that determined how blacks and coloured people were treated in apartheid South Africa, he said.

Mr Minto told APNZ a family of three, and two other people decided not to attend last night's Batsheva performance after seeing the protest.

While the group had two more performances in Wellington, no further protests had been planned, he said.