Bank Hapoalim's long-standing cultural project is returning in a renewed format under the name Poalim Israeli after being canceled this year due to the Roaring Lion war. Throughout May, dozens of museums, heritage sites and parks across Israel will open to the public free of charge, but only on the bank's terms: advance registration, fixed weekends, and compliance with Home Front Command guidelines.
Who Sets the Terms
The initiative will offer free entry to 54 sites from north to south over three weekends: May 8-9, May 15-16 and May 29-30, excluding the Shavuot holiday. Entry will be available on Fridays and Saturdays, subject to advance registration. The setup is presented as a gift to the public, but the structure is unmistakably managed from above: a bank decides when access happens, which sites participate, and how people may enter.
The bank said the decision to proceed despite the earlier cancellation during Passover stems from a desire to continue supporting cultural institutions and the local tourism sector, which were affected during the conflict, especially in the northern and southern regions. That is the language of managed relief, with the institution framing itself as benefactor while the public is asked to line up, register, and fit itself into the schedule.
Who Gets the Access
Sites taking part include the Israel Museum, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, ANU - Museum of the Jewish People, Timna Park, the Jerusalem Walls Promenade and LUNADA - the Children's Museum. Nature sites operated by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority will also participate, including Nimrod Fortress National Park and Susita National Park, along with regional museums and heritage sites across the country. The list stretches from north to south, but the access remains filtered through a centralized program rather than anything resembling open, self-directed public use.
For the first time, small businesses in the south are included through a collaboration with the tourism association of the Shikma-Besor region, including agricultural farms, visitor centers and experiential workshops. The addition is framed as expansion, though it still runs through institutional partnerships and the same controlled structure. Even the so-called local inclusion arrives through a tourism association and a bank-led initiative, not through anything built independently by the communities themselves.
The project has been running for about two decades and is described as one of the most prominent cultural and leisure initiatives in Israel, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. That scale shows how deeply these kinds of corporate-backed cultural programs can shape public life, turning access to museums, parks and heritage sites into a managed event rather than an ordinary commons.
What the Public Is Asked to Accept
Entry to all sites is subject to advance registration via the project's website and will be carried out in accordance with Home Front Command guidelines. So the public gets the familiar bargain: a little free access, tightly organized, with the rules set elsewhere. The bank, the Home Front Command, the tourism sector, and the participating institutions all sit above the people who are expected to plan around the schedule and comply.
The article says the project was canceled this year due to the Roaring Lion war, then revived in a renewed format under Poalim Israeli. The return is being sold as continuity and support for culture, but the mechanics are those of hierarchy: a major bank coordinates access to public-facing institutions, while the public receives a limited window and a registration form.
Published by Meital Sharabi/Maariv on May 8, 2026 at 15:00, the report lays out a familiar arrangement. Cultural life is not simply shared; it is administered. The museums, parks and heritage sites are open, but only through the apparatus that decides when, where and how people may enter.