Miri Regev
Miri RegevFlash 90

Culture Minister Miri Regev came out in support of Israel's NGO Registrar after it reportedly recommended that Haifa's controversial Al-Midan theater be shuttered due to financial irregularities.

"I am proud of the decision of the NGO Registrar, which supports my viewpoint, and I am waiting for the closure of Midan and the opening of a genuine Arab theater that is loyal to the State of Israel and its values and symbols," said Regev in a video she released.

Reports on Wednesday said that the NGO Registrar had informed the Al-Midan Theater in Haifa that an investigation into theater file had been transferred to the Ministry of Justice's enforcement and control unit, which would consider dismantling the non-profit which manages Al-Midan.

The Al-Midan theater in Haifa has been criticized in the past for hosting plays glorifying “the Palestinian struggle” against Israel, including a play adapted from the writings of a terrorist murderer responsible for the gruesome killing of IDF soldier Moshe Tamam in August 1984.

Tamam, 19, was hitchhiking when he was abducted by a terror cell which included Israeli-Arabs. Tamam’s remains were later found after he had been tortured to death and his body severely mutilated.

Al-Midan, which was established in 1994 in cooperation with the Rabin government’s Education Ministry, sparked controversy in 2014 when it began running the play “A Parallel Time”, adapted from the writings of Tamam's murderer Walid Daka.

"מחכה בכליון עיניים לסגירת אל-מידאן"