Minister of Culture and Sports Miri Regev attacked, Monday, the decision to allow singer Mira Awad to sing a song by Palestine Liberation Organization member Mahmoud Darwish at the awards ceremony of the ACUM Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers in Israel. Regev was applauded when she said, "It is permissible to say and I say here: Arabic poetry Ahlan and Sahlan, Darwish - no."
Before she left the auditorium so as not to sit in the audience during the performance of Darwish's song, she said, "It's a pity that from all the Arab poetry, the committee decided to choose this provocation and not to respect the public's feelings, not to respect ACUM." She continued, "Arab music has something to offer to Israeli culture, and it does offer interesting trends and combinations, from Nasrin Kadri, Lina Makhul to Jewish singers, who give honor to the countries of origin of their father's house."