MK Sharren Haskel (Likud) demanded that Education Minister Naftali Bennett to re-examine the subsidy given to young people before enlisting in the IDF to watch plays which often include anti-Israel propaganda.
An example of this phenomenon is the presentation by MK Haskel to Minister Bennett of the play "The Confession" by the Jaffa Theater. The play deals with the capture of the Arab village of Tantura during the 1948 War of Independence. The play addresses the controversy among several Israeli historians over the possibility that during the IDF soldiers may have massacred the residents of the village.
Minsiter Bennett instructed the director-general of the Education Ministry to to examine the complaint over the play earlier this week.
"There are other examples of plays and people invited to the theater and calling for a violent struggle against the State of Israel, praising martyrs and thus admiring them," MK Haskel said. "The Jaffa Theater is a controversial theater. Miri Regev dealt with the matter removed the Culture Minister's subsidy from this theater because of these claims. But we are still subsidizing through the Education Ministry tickets for young people before their army service, and thus this theater is receiving yet another subsidy."
Haskel said that she is aware that the project is not new and has existed for more than a decade, with the goal of encouraging young people to experience cultural and artistic performances. "But with all due respect, if there are theaters that present positions against the State of Israel and against IDF soldiers, we as a public do not have to finance it. This is why I turned to the education minister to stop the subsidization of young people who come to the Jaffa Theater.Anyone who wants to see these thing will pay for them from his own money and not from state funds."
Haskel emphasized that she has no intention of silencing anyone who wants to produce such a plays, but that it should not come "at the expense of the Israeli public."