Government financed theater company plays politics
The government-financed Cameri Theater Company in Tel Aviv has excused some of its actors from participating in a production at the Ariel Cultural Center in Samaria.
Three Israeli stage actors asked to be excused from performing in a play
staged at a cultural center in the West Bank settlement of Ariel.
The
cast members, employees of the Cameri and Beit Lessin theaters, will be
replaced by understudies for the performances of the acclaimed play
“Best Friends” taking place in Ariel in the northern West Bank, the
theaters said in a statement, the Associated Press reported.
The Cameri said in its statement that is respects the political views of its employees.
“The
theater does not force its actors to perform in Ariel. Those who are
not interested are replaced by their colleagues. The Cameri Theater
chose to allow its actors to exercise their freedom of expression and
follow their conscience,” the statement said.
The Ariel cultural
center, which cost more than $10 million, was built with public funds
and inaugurated in November 2010. More than 50 Israeli theater
professionals signed a petition in advance of its opening saying that
they would not perform in the Ariel center. At least 150 Israeli
academics and authors, and another 150 American and British television
and film professionals, also threw their support behind the boycott.
Wouldn't it be great if the understudies won prizes for their performances and replaced the three actors on stage?
Israeli 'artists' call for boycott of Ariel Theater Center
You will recall that in August, Israel's suicidal Left called for the boycott of the forthcoming opening of a new theater complex in Ariel. That call was backed by a similar letter signed by American 'artists.' The theater is due to open this coming week, and once again a letter has been issued.
Three days before the Ariel Cultural Center is set to open in the northern West Bank settlement, artists and academics published an open letter on Friday calling on performers to boycott the theater.
The letter asks the performers to consider that Ariel “is an illegal settlement which violates international law and the Geneva Conditions, which the State of Israel has signed.”
The settlement “was founded for only one purpose: to prevent Palestinians from being able to build an independent state, and by extension, preventing us, citizens of Israel, from having the chance to live in peace in this region,” the letter continues.
Author David Grossman, playwright Yeshoshua Sobol and filmmaker Eytan Fox are among the artists who signed the letter, which has also gained the support of academics such as Prof. Gad Kiner, theater arts department head at Tel Aviv University.
The letter was also signed by actors, make-up artists and lighting engineers.
For the record, Ariel is one of those 'settlement blocs' that President Bush told Israel it could keep under any final status agreement with the 'Palestinians.'
This one even drew a reaction from Kadima's token revenant, Otniel Schneller.
Friday’s letter was also met with criticism from a number of politicians, including MK Otniel Schneller (Kadima), who called on the government to “expand the artists’ awareness and inform them that Ariel is an inseparable part of Israel.”
Schneller, who lives at the Ma’aleh Michmash settlement, which like Ariel is in Samaria, said the artists’ “apartheid letter – which boycotts Israeli citizens” only harms the cause of peace.
“Ariel will be part of Israel in any agreement, and it is up to the heads of the large parties in the Knesset to clarify to Israel prize laureate authors where the peaceful borders of Israel will be,” he said.
Good luck with that. His own party's leader would take us back to the 1949 armistice lines at the snap of a finger if she could.
At the end of the day, this is what the answer to these 'artists' - all of whom receive state funding - ought to be but won't be.
Knesset House Committee Chairman MK Yariv Levin (Likud) said on Saturday that he would call for an urgent hearing of the Education and Culture Committee to debate freezing funding for the artists who signed the letter.
“We must permanently end the funding for cultural institutions and devise new criterion for funding, which will focus on encouraging works that reflect the glorious heritage of our culture,” Levin said.
MK Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) referred to the boycotting artists as “parasites who milk the public coffers” and suggested that if they seek to make a living in performance arts, they should “ask for money from [Palestinian Authority Prime Minister] Salaam Fayyad and not the Knesset.”
Well, yeah, but we all know that if by some miracle the government actually did cut off their funding, they would go the 'High Court of Justice' and get a ruling that it's illegal for the government to cut off funding from those who oppose its existence.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
