Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumCalling artists ‘tight-asses,’ minister escalates culture clash
Culture Minister Miri Regev continued on Thursday to stoke the fires of conflict which has raged in recent days between herself and Israels artistic community, calling the countrys artists tight-assed, hypocritical and ungrateful people who think they know everything.
Artists from various fields have accused the new minister of seeking to limit freedom of expression in the country through anti-democratic measures, and have expressed outrage at her stated intention to defund institutions and subversive works that in her opinion delegitimize Israel.
I knew the cultural world is ungrateful, she said in a recorded interview that aired Thursday evening on Channel 2, ahead of an in-depth interview that will appear in womens magazine At next month. And I dont feel like working for ungrateful people. Tight-assed, hypocritical and ungrateful, and I dont feel like working for them.
Regev went on to say she would move mountains to fight for the governments culture budget in her new position, but found it difficult to muster enthusiasm to do so due to the ill will expressed towards her by many leading figures in the community.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/calling-artists-tight-asses-minister-escalates-culture-clash/
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)bemildred
(90,061 posts)geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)and Michelle Bachmann as his de facto foreign minister.
Little Tich
(6,171 posts)This reminds me of the old days when Soviet nonconformist artists were sent to the Gulag.
Israeli
(4,151 posts)Itay Blumenthal, Noam 'Dabul' Dvir
Published: 06.19.15, 22:06 / Israel Culture
Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev was met with a mass of silent protesters Friday morning, when she arrived at the Einav Culture Center in Tel Aviv for an Israeli theater award ceremony where, amid controversy regarding her decisions to cease government support for some cultural institutions, she said, "The question is not freedom of expression, but the matter of funding."
While Regev assured the crowd that freedom of expression is permanently embedded in Israel's Democracy, she also said, "The state has to ask itself a moment before it gives tens of millions of shekels to private organizations and associations. Is a country that reifies life committed to fund artists? No."
http://www.ynetnews.com/home/0,7340,L-3086,00.html
Dozens were present with their mouths taped shut when Regev arrived at the event, in protest of recent decisions and comments that many of Israel's artists feel smothers their right to the freedom of expression. Regev recently cut state funding to a theater in Haifa over a play that told the story of a Palestinian who killed an Israeli in a terror attack. In another incident, Regev threatened to end funding for the Jerusalem film festival if they continued with plans to screen a film centered on Yitzhak Rabin's murderer.
Actor Itay Tiran said Friday, "The Prime Minister is showing us what he things about culture. If they shut our mouths, we'll do it with pens; if they tie our legs together, we'll do a pirouette. They won't silence us."
Ohad Knoller, Chairman of the actor's union, addressed Regev on stage saying, "I don't think there should be any intervention in content and I request that you don't intervene in content. This is getting out of proportion. There's no reason that the state should tell producers what to do and what's right to write."
While less than friendly, Regev's rhetoric on Friday was less than that in a recent interview with AT Magazine in which she called Israel's artists, "Tight-ass, hypocritical and ungrateful," and said, "I don't feel like working for them." She added that she would rather be welfare minister as the people would show her more gratitude for her work.
Representatives of the theater and film community have done their own mudslinging however, including an incident in which actor Gavri Banai called her an 'animal'. This incident, said Regev on Friday, showed anything but culture.
Source: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4670437,00.html