As they fight to persuade the Haifa Municipality to withdraw its financial support of a theater that has produced a play glorifying the murderers of IDF soldier Moshe Tamam, the members of the Tamam family discovered a most distressing development: Walid Daka, who kidnapped and murdered the 19 year old soldier in 1984, has filed a request for clemency, based on his “good behavior” in prison.
The Tamams have made it their mission to fight the play based on the life story of Palestinian terrorist Walid Daka, called “A Parallel Time.”
The play depicts the daily life of Daka and other terrorists in prison, and their relationship with a prison guard. The centerpiece of the play is based on a real-life event – the wedding of Daka while in prison, which took place in 1999.
Following complaints from Tamam's family, the municipality suspended its annual funding to the Al Midan Theater and launched a probe into the content of the play in the case of further action. Earlier this week, however, the municipality decided to restore the play's funding.
On Wednesday, Education Minister Naftali Bennett demanded that Culture Basket's Theater Repertoire Committee remove the play from the ministry project's repertoire altogether.
“When the play was approved for production, it was not made clear that this is based on a story of a terrorist, a murderer who is serving a life sentence for his role in the torture and murder of the late Moshe Tamam.
"I believe in the committee's professionalism and freedom of expression, but there are some things that are forbidden for us to accept," the Education Minister said.
Meanwhile, Ortal Tamam, niece to the slain soldier, said that while the battle against the play was going on, a new development had cropped up.
“Just a few days ago, this evil murderer filed a motion for early release. He is being supported by many organizations that seek to glorify his actions and his reputation and turn him into a hero.
“It won't bring back our uncle, but we will do everything we can to make sure this terrorist remains in jail,” Tamam vowed.
“Daka kidnapped, tortured, and murdered our uncle, and he cannot be allowed to be turned into a hero. Unfortunately, we have been getting a cold shoulder from authorities on closing the play, hopefully we will have more success keeping this terrorist in jail.”