The Festival of World Cultures in Dún Laoghaire has cancelled sponsorship of €1,500 from the Israeli embassy.
The grant was meant to fund travel expenses between Tel Aviv and Dublin for Israeli musicians Avshalom Farjun and Avi Agababa, who will be performing as Toy Vivo Duo at the festival on August 26th.
In a meeting on July 31st, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown county councillors and the festival organisers decided that retaining the embassy's sponsorship could invite protests at the performance and create a public safety issue.
The organisers then raised the issue with the county manager, Owen Keegan, who decided with the cathaoirleach, Eugene Regan (FG), to decline the funding on the grounds that to accept it would "politicise the event", according to a spokeswoman for the local authority.
Before the meetings, the chairman of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Raymond Deane, had lobbied county councillors and the festival organisers. The IPSC regularly protests against Israel-sponsored cultural events and favours a general boycott against Israeli goods.
The Israeli embassy, which was notified of the Dún Laoghaire funding refusal by e-mail last Thursday, expressed disappointment over the action.
Last week the Irish Film Institute also cancelled sponsorship from the embassy for an Israeli film in the Dublin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.