Israel Imposes Penalties on Cultural Groups That Shun West Bank Settlements
— In a step critics say amounts to a political litmus test stifling free expression, Israel’s culture minister is collecting information about which theater and dance troupes perform in Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Miri Regev, of Likud, said Wednesday she circulated a questionnaire on the topic because she is proud to lead a “revolution” against boycotts, The Associated Press reported.
The questionnaire sent out Monday by a firm working on behalf of the culture ministry is, according to Haaretz, related to new funding criteria Regev announced in April.
Under the new criteria, the ministry will cut by 33 percent government funding for institutions that do not perform in West Bank settlements, the Negev or the Galilee. The new policy, which will be applied for this year’s funding decisions, also offers a 10-percent bonus in funding for institutions that perform in settlements.
“Minister Regev is leading a policy of incentivizing state-supported cultural institutions to perform in the periphery and Judea and Samaria, based on a view that culture is a basic right of all citizens,” her office said in a statement, using the biblical names for the West Bank.
Israel’s High Court of Justice is scheduled to hear a petition by the Cultural Institutions Forum asking it to delay implementation of the new criteria.
Choreographer Noa Dar, founder and director of a dance group bearing her name, told Haaretz that the policy “is essentially a demand to tie my political opinions and my conscience to ministry funding. This is an anti-democratic act.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
