Israeli culture

Barak Heymann. (Lorenzo Ferroni)

Why the Polish gov’t has this left-wing Israeli filmmaker in its crosshairs

What happens when a film challenges one of Poland's nationalist myths? Barak Heymann found out the hard way when his latest documentary questioned the number of Poles who saved Jews during the Holocaust.

By Libby Lenkinski July 27, 2022

Israeli Culture Minister Miri Regev walks behind Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset during the opening of the winter session, Jerusalem, October 31, 2016. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Why is the Israeli Right so terrified of cultural expression?

The Right holds near total power in Israel, so why is it so afraid of poetry and theater productions? Should a stranger come upon the public discussions happening in Israel over the past few years, he or she would be under the impression that the country is a global cultural powerhouse. From Al-Midan Theater, Jaffa’s Arab Hebrew Theater,…

By Orly Noy September 26, 2017

Minister of Culture Miri Regev in the Israeli Knesset on January 27, 2016. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

I love Miri Regev

I have never met Miri Regev, but it feels like I have known her my entire life. I grew up, like her, in a place where we were constantly reminded that some people are worth less than others. By Alon Mizrahi I don’t know Culture Minister Miri Regev. I have never met her. But I have been surrounded…

By +972 Magazine October 2, 2016

Latest

Israeli Minister of Culture Miri Regev seen during the opening night of the Jerusalem Film Festival, near the Old City of Jerusalem, July 9, 2015. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

The minister of culture who knows nothing about democracy

Long before she walked out on a performance honoring Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, Israel’s Culture Minister Miri Regev was using hateful, divide-and-conquer rhetoric against the country’s minority groups. Miri Regev, Israel’s Minister of Culture and Sport, caused an uproar at last week’s Ophir Awards, the annual red carpet ceremony for the Israeli film industry. First she ostentatiously…

By Lisa Goldman September 27, 2016

People walk by a mural depicting a combination of the Israeli and German flag on the Berlin wall, March 13, 2016. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

Creating a radical Hebrew culture — in the diaspora

Israeli artists and authors abroad are beginning to create an alternative Hebrew culture that challenges norms and national borders. Israeli politicians, on the other hand, aren’t so pleased. By Mati Shemoelof Over the past few years we have been witnessing the growth of an alternative Hebrew culture, both independent and diverse, outside of Israel. Just recently two Hebrew-language…

By +972 Magazine August 19, 2016

Culture Minister Miri Regev reacts at the Knesset assembly hall during a question period with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on July 18, 2016. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

Israel’s culture minister is no friend of cultural equality

Culture Minister Miri Regev may be right in wanting to change the unbalanced distribution of Israel’s resources, but she’s going about it all wrong. By Yossi Dahan Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev is right to speak about the need for “social justice” in Israel, and she is correct when she says that the distribution of…

By Haokets August 9, 2016

Illustrative photo by Shutterstock.com

The diaspora is an integral part of Hebrew literature

There is a ceaseless movement of Israeli culture — and the diaspora experience is just waking up and testing its global limits. By Mati Shemoelof BERLIN — There is no such thing as “Hebrew literature written outside Israel” because the definition of “outside Israel” cannot address art in general or literature in particular. Literature is created…

By +972 Magazine April 22, 2016

Likud MK Miri Regev (Photo by Activestills.org)

Israel’s culture minister is turning artists into enemies

Miri Regev’s attempts to pull funding from artists who ‘delegitimize’ Israel expose the lengths to which this government will go to try and silence its critics. Last week Israel’s new Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev threatened to pull state funding from a children’s theater in Jaffa after its manager, Norman Issa, an actor with…

By Mairav Zonszein June 15, 2015

Israel Prize winner and famed author Amos Oz. (photo: Michiel Hendryckx/CC BY 3.0)

The prestigious award that only goes to Ashkenazi men

While the prime minister’s attempt to intervene in the selection committee for the Israel Prize is clearly anti-democratic, so is the fact that the vast majority of its recipients look exactly the same. The uproar over Prime Minister Netanyahu’s meddling in the nominations of three would-be judges for the prestigious Israel Prize selection committee caused many…

By Orly Noy February 13, 2015

Habiluim preforming at IndieNegev Festival, 2012 (photo: Goni Riskin)

A return of the post-Zionist cabaret

A successful indie band whose radical lyrics dealt with Israeli taboos – from the Nakba to militarism – is making a comeback. Photographs by Goni Riskin The basic rules for political engagement in Israel: Yearning for peace is welcomed, criticism of the occupation is tolerated but not really liked, and mentions of the Nakba and…

By Noam Sheizaf October 25, 2012