Veteran journalist Dan Shilon made a rare political statement on his TV show coming out against the boycott of the new Ariel theater by a group of several dozen actors. The actors said that because the city of Ariel is located in Judea and Samaria they would refuse to set foot in the new theater.
During an interview with Knesset Member Yossi Peled and former head of the Council of Judea and Samaria Pinchas Wallerstein, Shilon said that he thought the boycott was hypocritical. He stated that he personally would be in favor of relinquishing Judea and Samaria to Arab control if it were to bring peace, but that the actors were hypocritical for complaining that Ariel was in an area near Arab communities since many other areas in Israel also had Arab communities.
He specifically pointed out that MK Peled grew up on Kibbutz HaShomer which was near an Arab community that left during the War of Independence in 1948. He further asked if the actors would be willing to boycott certain places in the Jaffa-Tel Aviv area because Arabs used to live there.
Judea and Samaria was controlled by Jordan from 1948 until 1967.