Directors join artists' boycott of Ariel cultural center

Ari Folman, Keren Yedaya, Eytan Fox among cinema and TV figures who sign petition saying "together we will stand up for our civil rights."

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Ariel Theater 311 (photo credit: Associated Press)
Ariel Theater 311
(photo credit: Associated Press)
Dozens of Israeli cinema and television figures decided to join other artists in protesting Culture Minister Limor Livnat's plan to obligate state-supported arts centers to require their actors to perform anywhere in Israel, including in settlements beyond the Green Line, if they want to continue to receive funding.
In a petition published online, the artists state: "Together with you we will stand up for our civil rights and moral duty to express our opinion and to act according to our political positions and our conscience, and therefore to try and influence the future of the State of Israel."
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The petition was signed by prominent directors Ari Folman, Keren Yedaya, Eran Riklis, Ronit Elkabetz, Eytan Fox, and several others.
The petition's signatories add: "The number of Knesset members and ministers from the Israel Beiteinu and Likud parties, as well as other figures from the right, have in recent days called for a stop in funding to artists who called for a boycott of the cultural center in Ariel. Threats uttered by these MKs do not scare us. Israeli culture and its funding are not a carrot and stick."
"The funding of culture is one of the distinguishing marks of a democratic country, not a tool used to threaten and silence citizens. Culture should, among other things, reflect the reality we live in for all its problems and not serve as a mouthpiece for propaganda for this regime or any other," the petition continued.