Archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu has urged a South African opera company to boycott Israel, comparing its treatment of Palestinians to his own country's era of racial apartheid. The Nobel peace prize laureate said that it would be "unconscionable" for Cape Town Opera to perform in Israel while millions of people living there are denied access to culture and education. However, the opera company insisted that it would go ahead with next month's tour of the American classic Porgy and Bess. Tutu's stand was condemned by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies.