MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) has asked Culture and Sport Minister Limor Livnat to suspend theatrical producer Miriam Keini from a panel that awards prizes to top plays, because she said she did not want any religious individuals on the panel. Keini reportedly made the statement at a meeting of a committee to form the awards panel. The panel will consist of some 30-35 members. Several of the names proposed were of religious individuals active in the Israeli theater, and Keini reportedly said that she was “not prepared to allow people who wear kippot (skullcaps) to sit on this panel.”
In his letter, Eldad told Livnat that Keini's attempt to bar an entire population group is “intolerable, and anyone who holds such beliefs is not worthy to participate in a public group based on democratic and pluralistic principles. Once again we are led to understand that 'pluralism' for some of the Israeli left means a demand that 'you agree with what I say.'”
In his letter, Eldad told Livnat that Keini's attempt to bar an entire population group is “intolerable, and anyone who holds such beliefs is not worthy to participate in a public group based on democratic and pluralistic principles. Once again we are led to understand that 'pluralism' for some of the Israeli left means a demand that 'you agree with what I say.'”