Israel: “Censorship minister” wants filmmakers to exercise self-censorship
On 26 February 2013, the Israeli Culture and Sports Minister Limor Livnat called on Israeli filmmakers to exercise “self-censorship” and refrain from producing movies that cast aspersions on Israel and “libel it throughout the world.” In response, this brought out an editorial in Haaretz, a leading Israeli newspaper, which labeled Limor Livnat as “The censorship [...]
Iran: Banned Israeli Persian-language album gains popularity
The music of Rita Jahan-Foruz — an Iranian-born, Israel-based singer — is becoming increasingly popular in both Iran and Israel, as political tensions grow between the two countries. 50-year-old Rita Jahan-Foruz’s music is banned in her birthplace Iran where any music whose singing, performance or distribution is not approved by the authorities is deemed illegal. [...]
Palestine: Two on hunger strike for The Freedom Theatre
In an Israeli military court hearing on 5 July 2012, the Artistic Director of The Freedom Theatre, Nabil Al-Raee, was accused of possessing guns, and helping a wanted person (Zakaria Zubeidi) as well as three other wanted (but unnamed) persons. In response to the accusations Nabil declared that he is starting a hunger strike from [...]
Palestine/Israel: Theatre director arrested by the Israeli army
At approximately 3:15 in the morning of 6 June 2012, the Israeli army entered the home of Nabil Al-Raee, Artistic Director of The Freedom Theatre, and arrested him. The soldiers refused to tell Al-Raee’s wife where they’d be taking him and why. Jonathan Stanczak, who will be on stage at the World Conference on Artistic [...]
Israeli musicians plan to break Richard Wagner taboo
A classical music event in Israel on 18 June 2012 is expected to break the country’s taboo on performing the music of Richard Wagner, the 19th century German composer and a well-known anti-Semite. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the event, scheduled for 18 June 2012, will be an academic symposium at Tel Aviv University [...]
Israeli cartoons removed from Facebook
Four political satire images by the cartoonist Mysh have been removed from Facebook and Mysh’s account was suspended for three days as “punishment”, reported the liberal Jewish blogger Richard Silverstein. One of the censored cartoons was about the Israeli pogromists who assaulted African refugees in Tel Aviv. Others were The Green Sabra (a parody of [...]
German poet barred from visiting Israel
Israel has declared the 84-year-old Nobel Prize-winning German poet Günter Grass a persona non grata. On 7 April 2012, Israel’s Interior Minister Eli Yishai declared Günter Grass a persona non grata in Israel because he published a poem claiming that Israel is endangering world peace by threatening Iran. Eli Yishai said in a statement [...]
