Zerocalcare Boycotts Lucca Comics Over Israeli Embassy Sponsorship

Italian cartoonist Zerocalcare (Michele Rech) has withdrawn from Lucca Comics & Games, Europe's largest comics festival, citing the event's partnership with the Israeli Embassy. The festival, scheduled for November 1-5, 2023, features a poster by Israeli twin artists Asaf and Tomer Hanuka, commissioned before the recent Hamas-Israel conflict. In a social media statement, Zerocalcare condemned the sponsorship amid the Gaza crisis, noting over 6,000 civilian deaths, UN ceasefire calls, and his personal connections to Gaza. He stressed his decision was not a moral judgment on attendees or the Hanuka brothers, but a refusal to celebrate while Palestinians face bombardment and siege. Lucca Comics & Games responded, defending the sponsorship as non-monetary and recognizing the festival's cultural program, and declined to renounce it, citing responsibility to participants and institutions.