After the controversy: Elmina Theater to perform in Jordan Valley

After the controversy regarding actor Norman Issa's refusal to perform in the Jordan Valley, the Elmina Theater announced Thursday it decided to accept Jordan Valley Regional Council head David Elhayani's invitation to perform in the area.

Earlier this week, Arab-Israeli actor Norman Issa, who founded the Elmina Theater and has been directing it with his wife the playwright Gidona Raz, refused to perform in a Haifa Theater production "Boomerang" in the Jordan Valley, beyond the Green Line. As a result, Culture Minister Miri Regev threatened to cut government funding to the couple's theater in Jaffa.

According to Issa, theaters solved this problem many years ago when they agreed on a formula: Productions will appear everywhere, but actors -- Jewish and Arab alike -- would be replaced by a stand-in if they refused to perform for conscientious reasons.

The theater accepted the invitation, which was sent yesterday, out of the belief that wherever there is a place to stage the theater's plays and messages of accepting the other and bringing people together, they would happily perform there.

The culture and sport minister congratulated the decision: "The country should encourage and support coexistence not only in Jaffa, but also in Ariel and the Jordan Valley." Regev later clarified at a close meeting with culture figures in her office that in light of the theater's willingness to appear in the Jordan Valley, she retracted her decision to cut its funding.

Representatives from Israeli actors' organization Shaham, who arrived at the meeting, said they were pleased with Regev's choice to separate a private actor's decision from an institution's right for government financial support.

The cultural representatives agreed to establish a joint task force to deal with artists' controversial statements and boycotts as well as other cultural issues.

However, at the beginning of the discussion, Regev told her audience: "We got 30 seats, you got a total of 20," while claiming the Left ascribes culture to itself.

"I determine the criteria, and I decide where the money goes. The government doesn't have to support culture. The artists will not dictate to me."

Sources present at the meeting told Israel Hayom that the culture minister's statements were received with shock, but instead of loud arguments, a fruitful dialogue was held to reach an agreement that would benefit all parties.

Meantime, Education Minister Naftali Bennett announced on Thursday that he had decided not to backtrack on his order to remove the play "A Parallel Time," performed by the Al-Midan Theater in Haifa, from the national culture basket, despite having the culture basket's Theater Repertoire Committee approve its content for the second time. The play tells the story of a Palestinian terrorist who murdered IDF soldier Moshe Tamam in 1984.

"The committee's decision to approve the play for the second time is bewildering," said Bennett.

Correspondingly, the Israel Cultural Institutions Forum decided to hold an emergency meeting this Sunday to discuss the recent events and the latest government ministers' statements pertaining to the area of culture and art in Israel.

טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו