Cash-strapped Foreign Min. can't celebrate 60th anniversary abroad

There is no funding for overseas cultural events to mark Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations. The Foreign Ministry blames the Committee for Israel's 60th Independence Day Events, which has NIS 100 million at its disposal, but has decided not to allocate any funds for overseas events.

"For a long time the ministry presented proposals and plans for events abroad," says Amir Goldstein, from Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's bureau. "We submitted budget proposals and asked for around 10 percent of the budget for the 60th Independence Day celebrations for our activities, but the committee, chaired by minister Ruhama Avraham-Balila, decided not to allocate any funds for activities abroad."

Aviv Shir-On, the ministry's deputy director general for media affairs and its representative on the 60th Independence Day Committee, backs up Goldstein: "We submitted papers, documents and lists, but we didn't receive money for anything. The committee chaired by the minister felt that it would be better to spend the money at her disposal on events in Israel."

For its part, the committee rejects any blame leveled at it, saying that a legal opinion from the Prime Minister's Office "specifically stated that the organizer of the 60th Independence Day celebrations for the State of Israel does not have the authority to support information and public relations events abroad.

"Such activities are not within the realm of the duties of the minister overseeing the 60th independence celebrations, as they are regular public relations efforts that are under the jurisdiction of other government ministries." While the Foreign Ministry has the authority, it does not have the money or budget to organize 60th anniversary events. Therefore they are making do with what there is: the budget for information and public relations activities, which totals around NIS 10 million, and the even smaller budget for cultural events abroad, of around NIS 6 million. With this budget, the Foreign Ministry is having a hard time even covering the $10,000 needed for security for the Israeli Opera's performance in Rome on Independence Day.

"The number of invitations for events and performances around the world increased significantly due to the 60th anniversary celebrations," says Ofra Ben-Yaakov, the director of the department of the arts at the Foreign Ministry's cultural affairs and science department, "but there is no money to market them.

"The projects that present the best of Israeli culture on the most prestigious stages around the world are not receiving funding. For this reason, some projects were canceled and the fate of others - f or example, the design exhibition in Turin, Israel culinary week in Uruguay, the choreography competition in Hannover - is uncertain, and the 'Israeli Season' in Poland, was dramatically cut. Every day, another project is dropped or 'wavers.'

"On top of that, there is the unpleasantness with regard to the bodies around the world issuing the invitations. In Berlin, for example, where a rich series of events is planned, there was great disappointment voiced at our share of the funding for the events; and so too at the festival for reading original plays in the German city of Ulm. It seems as if the world's desire to salute Israel on its 60th year of independence is greater than our own desire." Nevertheless, what is the Foreign Ministry doing for the celebrations, which at the moment seem as if they are taking place in the next millennium?

"We are trying to obtain funding from other sources," says Goldstein. The other sources he refers to are the cabinet secretariat and the director general of the Prime Minister's Office, but so far no funding has been received.

Arthur Avnon, the head of the Foreign Ministry's department of cultural affairs and science, adds: "Cultural events abroad should be more perceptible than in previous years, because something is being celebrated. That is why we instructed our representatives to have everything revolve around the motif of 60 years. Even ongoing events will feature the 60th independence motif, so that it won't be said that the State of Israel is not celebrating its 60th independence. It's not something major, but it's certainly better than nothing."