BERLIN.- The Berlin Film Festival was reported this Sunday to have served as a platform for several filmmakers who, the day before, made statements about the war in Israel contra Hamas in Gaza which the mayor of the German capital considered “anti-Semitic”.
“Anti-Semitism has no place in Berlin and that also applies to artists,” denounced the mayor of the German capital, Kai Wegner, in X.
“What happened yesterday in the Berlinale “It constituted an unbearable relativization,” he added, calling the festival management to account.
The first mayor was referring, above all, to the opinions expressed during the awards ceremony of the contest, on Saturday night, by filmmakers who accused Israel of “genocide” in relation to its bombings in the Gaza Strip, which have left almost 30,000 dead – mostly civilians – according to the Hamas-ruled Ministry of Health.
Instead, these directors omitted that the Israeli offensive was triggered by an attack by Hamas militants in southern Israel on October 7, which led to the deaths of at least 1,160 people, mostly civilians.
One of them was the American film director Ben Russel, who wore a Palestinian scarf and accused Israel of genocide.
For his part, Palestinian documentary filmmaker Basel Adra, who received an award for a film about the expulsions of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, accused Israel of “massacring” the Palestinian population and criticized Germany’s arms sales to Israel.
His statements were applauded by the audience in the room.
An official of the Social Democratic Party, led by head of government Olaf Scholz, Helge Lindh, described the public’s applause as “shocking.”
“I am ashamed to see people in my country who today applaud accusations of genocide against Israel,” he told the newspaper Die Welt.
The Berlinale is financed mainly by the German State.
Source: AFP
