In 2021, the Enforcement and Control Unit of the Corporate Authority at the Ministry of Justice filed a request for a dissolution order against the Al-Hakwati Theater Association, for failure to submit reports, as required by law.
After filing for liquidation, the association submitted reports and documents, which were reviewed by the Intelligence and Investigations Branch of the Corporations Authority. At the end of the review, the association was given a report on the results of the inspection, which revealed serious deficiencies in the association's conduct, including: submitting false reports that do not match the association's banking conduct in its account in Israel, managing the association's assets through a bank account of another corporation in Ramallah, failing to safeguard the association's assets, handling cash on a significant scale, and failing to submit reports properly.
The Registrar of Associations subsequently filed a request for a temporary restraining order regarding the association's bank account, preventing disposition of its account, and the court granted the request.
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A ruling was recently issued in the Jerusalem District Court regarding the association by Judge Shoshana Leibowitz. As part of the ruling, an order was issued to dissolve the association, in accordance with the Associations Law.
The court ruled that managing the association through a foreign bank account to which the association itself has no access is a serious deficiency, as this conduct creates a "black hole" that prevents real criticism of the association's operations.
The court rejected the association's claims that it operated through a foreign bank account due to coercion, stemming from restrictions imposed on its bank account in Israel. The court ruled that the provisions of the Associations Law were clear and that the association should act in a way that would allow it to manage its financial activities transparently through the bank account, or alternatively, to forgo its incorporation as an association.
