The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) has requested that Deputy Attorney General Dina Zilber advise Culture Minister Miri Regev that her request to the Mayor of Ma'alot to remove the film about Leah Tsemel was illegal.
In a letter signed by attorney Dan Yakir, the legal counsel of ACRI, "the film was removed after a request from Regev, even if the mayor won't confirm such to the press. The fact that the Minister of Culture made a request from the mayor is to be viewed with severity."
Regev approached the mayor of Ma'alot after she found out that the film "Leah Tsemel, Attorney" was going to be included in the documentary festival held in the city and asked him to remove it.
In the letter, Yakir wrote "We wrote to you on 24/4/17 to request your involvement in the Minister of Culture's requests to Mayors to cancel any events or withhold funds. Your response on the 5/11/2017 clearly stated that mayors may not intervene in cultural events and the requests from the Minister of Culture have to stop."
"It is important to note that Attorney Tsemel has been working for 45 years to defend human rights of Palestinians in the occupied territories, and any person has the right to a legal counsel. However, this is not relevant towards the debate of showing the documentary. The film is praised for its content and artistic abilities, even winning a prize."
Yakir reinforced that "please mention that the Culture Minister may not make such requests and mayors do not have jurisdiction over which events of culture are held in their city."