Israeli minister asks to rethink funding for dance group over PLO flag

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Israeli minister asks to rethink funding for dance group over PLO flag
Caption: Israeli coalition whip Miki Zohar of the Likud Party speaks during a Knesset Finance Committee meeting on Dec. 30. 2019. Photo by Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90.

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The Palestinian banner accompanied the flags of some 40 recognized countries as part of the performance.

Israeli Minister of Culture and Sports Miki Zohar asked Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Wednesday to reexamine state funding for Tel Aviv's Batsheva Dance Company after a recent performance included the flag of the PLO terrorist organization.

Zohar noted in the letter to Smotrich that he received "complaints from people who attended the show and said that in the final segment, three Palestinian flags were waved on stage and thrown at the main dancer."

"I am saddened to see that a year after the most horrific massacre in the history of the country, there are already those who forgot our hostages in Hamas tunnels and forget the soldiers fighting on all fronts and boldly wave a flag that opposes the State of Israel," the culture minister continued.

"I ask that you examine in depth whether the Bat Sheva Company, which is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Sports, violated section 3A of the Budget Foundation Law with this protest," Zohar said.

Under Israeli law, Smotrich can cancel subsidies provided by ministries. The Budget Foundation Law states that the finance minister, after a hearing, can decide to revoke funding to organizations that deny Israel's right to exist or express public support for "an armed struggle or act of terror by an enemy state or a terrorist organization."

In a statement, the acclaimed dance group said that there were no legal grounds to cancel the funding.

"The use of the Palestinian flag in the work, alongside dozens of other flags, was done in a broad artistic context," the statement claimed.

Israel's Channel 12 News reported that the PLO banner was part of the performance, along with the flags of some 40 recognized countries.

Flying the PLO banner in public is not a criminal offense in the Jewish state. However, police have the authority to take it down if it is hoisted in solidarity or sympathy with a terrorist group, or if there is a high probability that leaving the flag up will result in a public disturbance.

Last year, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose ministry oversees the Israel Police, ordered the enforcement of the ban on the flying of Palestinian flags to identify with terrorist organizations.

"We will fight terrorism and the encouragement of terrorism with all our might," the minister tweeted on Jan. 8, 2023.


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