The Royal Court Theatre has been reported to the Charity Commission for allowing its staff to campaign for the Palestinian cause by wearing “Free Palestine” badges.

UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) argues that the English Stage Company Limited,  the charity whose working name is the Royal Court, has been acting illegally by failing to stop its staff from wearing the controversial badges.  Charities are only allowed to campaign politically for causes that will further their own charitable objectives. In the case of the English Stage Company, its objects are to “promote, maintain, improve and advance education or encouragement of the arts in the theatre.”

Jewish theatre goers have been upset to see that Royal Court Theatre staff were wearing badges saying “Free Palestine” while selling theatre programmes or tickets.  The Royal Court Theatre refused to confirm that the badges would be disallowed, after UKLFI drew to its attention the distress that the slogans had caused to its Jewish visitors . Instead, Will Young, executive director of the theatre said  “we will bear these considerations well in mind as we debrief our teams and continue our work to ensure that our policies and practices are as effective as they can be.”

UKLFI also pointed out that the Royal Court was likely to be in breach of the Section 29 (3) of the Equality Act 2010 by creating an intimidating, hostile, and offensive environment for its Jewish and Israeli visitors.

Many people regard the slogan “Free Palestine” as a call to violent resistance against the State of Israel. It is a shortened version of the phrase “From the River to the Sea Palestine will be free”, which is part of the Hamas Charter of 2017 and is used by supporters of terrorist organizations like Hamas and the PFLP, that seek Israel’s destruction through violent means. It is an antisemitic call to dismantle the Jewish state, denying the Jewish right to self-determination, including through the removal of Jews from their ancestral homeland.

It is also notable that the racist mob in Amsterdam who hunted down Israeli football fans in Amsterdam last week in order to beat them up, insisted that people they suspected of being Israeli should utter “Free Palestine” to confirm their “innocence”.

Caroline Turner, director of UKLFI commented: “We thought that the role of the theatre staff was to serve and assist the theatre goers, not to foist their political views, which many people find offensive, onto everyone.”