Protests against patron Len Blavatnik outside Tate Modern

On July 21, a group of Israeli activists from the WeDemocracy movement demonstrated in front of the Tate Modern. “Blavatnik, don’t destroy freedom of the press” they chanted, in front of the new wing of the Tate that bears the name of the American-British billionaire, a major patron of the museum, and accused of putting his Israeli media at the service of the government. Among them, some wore masks representing the faces of Len Blavatnik and Benjamin Netanyahu, symbolically subjugating the Israeli news channel Channel 13.

The protests led by London-based Israeli activists follow a recent mobilization by Israeli journalists who joined the “Emergency Conference to Save Channel 13” to organize against a threat of interference in the country’s news channels by the Netanyahu government.

“We feel that we are facing a powerful, sophisticated monster and that we have no way of fighting it.” explained journalist Raviv Drucker. The newspaper Haaretz published an “opinion” article accusing Len Blavatnik of being responsible for the appointment of Yulia Shamalov-Berkovich, a close associate of the prime minister, as head of Channel 13 and headlines “A historic day in the destruction of Israel’s press freedom”.

Len Blavatnik, owner of Israel’s second-largest news channel, has been under fire since investigative journalist Raviv Drucker was banned from the air a month after the channel’s new director arrived. The channel’s most-watched show “Warzone” was abruptly taken off the air. The show mainly covered army operations and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decisions.

The media mogul, who also owns Warner Music and the Access Industrie investment fund, made one of the largest donations ever received by the London museum: a record $50 million. This sum was used to finance the construction of the “Blavatnik Building”, which opened to the public in June 2016. The new wing of the museum has welcomed six million visitors since its opening. In the United Kingdom, the Blavatnik Family Foundation funds many cultural institutions and exhibitions at the V&A, the National Portrait Gallery, the Courtauld Institute of Art and the British Museum.

“We cannot allow Channel 13 to become a new mouthpiece for Netanyahu on his path to dictatorship” explains Aviel Lewis, one of the protesters on Instagram. The spokesperson for Access Industry denies any responsibility of Len Blavatnik in the appointment of Yulia Shamalov-Berkovich as CEO of the channel. According to the spokesperson, the decision was made by an independent committee. “Len Blavatnik is pro-Israel, not pro-Netanyahu or any other political party” he explains. In 2020, according to TimesofIsraelthe channel had already dismissed 42 journalists among the most critical of Netanyahu.

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