New restrictions on Arab institutions in Israel

Israeli Minister of Culture Miri Regev has connected the allocation of state funds to cultural institutions on the recognition of illegal Israeli settlements, Haaretz revealed yesterday.

The newspaper reported that Regev’s ministry had sent questionnaires to directors of theatres, orchestras and dance companies asking them to state whether they would agree to perform in Negev, Galilee or illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Regev wanted to allocate much more funds to cultural centres which did perform in the settlements, in an attempt to undermine Arab and leftist institutions because they do not recognise illegal settlements. She added that she would not allow boycotts by cultural organisations.

In its Thursday’s editorial, Haaretz said: “Regev’s move is an infringement on the central democratic concept of freedom of expression and of opinion.”

“It is also an attempt to impose a political stance on cultural institutions and prevent them from expressing a position that is shared by a large portion of the Israeli public – namely, that the settlements are not a legal and legitimate part of the state.”

“Making funding contingent on recognition of the settlements is a clumsy attempt at political coercion that seeks, as in the worst regimes, to bring the cultural world into line with the government’s positions.”

The paper criticised Regev’s new measure because it proves that she failed to fulfil even her proclaimed promise when she became a culture and sport minister.