Israeli Director of “No Other Land” Slams Claims of Antisemitism After Berlin Film Fest Controversy (Democracy Now!, 2024-04-05)
Video with Transcript.
"... conversation with Israeli journalist and filmmaker Yuval Abraham about the award-winning new documentary No Other Land, which he co-directed with Palestinian activist Basel Adra, about land dispossession in Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank. While accepting the audience award for best documentary at the #Berlinale Abraham said Israel was practicing apartheid, a comment for which he later received death threats..."
“... Abraham... calls for an end to the 'apartheid reality' in Israel and Palestine. 'If there is no full political equality and really full freedom to everybody who lives in this land, then there can be no future here. We are going to continue to fight to change this.'”
Israeli Director of “No Other Land” Slams Claims of Antisemitism After Berlin Film Fest Controversy (Democracy Now!, 2024-04-05)
"... conversation with Israeli journalist and filmmaker Yuval Abraham about the award-winning new documentary No Other Land, which he co-directed with Palestinian activist Basel Adra, about land dispossession in Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank. While accepting the audience award for best documentary at the #Berlinale Abraham said Israel was practicing apartheid, a comment for which he later received death threats..."
“... Abraham, who calls for an end to the 'apartheid reality' in Israel and Palestine. 'If there is no full political equality and really full freedom to everybody who lives in this land, then there can be no future here. We are going to continue to fight to change this.'”
The Golden Bear went to "Dahomey"- a documentary about the restitution of some royal treasures of the Kingdom of Dahomey from France to Benin. 👍
"Another strong political moment at the awards ceremony came with the announcement of the Best Documentary award, which went to 'No Other Land,' a film documenting the eradication of a West Bank village by Israeli soldiers and Jewish armed settlers.
"The film was directed by a Palestinian-Israeli collective and screened in the festival's Panorama sidebar. Picking up the award in the name of the collective, Palestinian Basel Adra and Israeli Yuval Abraham called on #Germany 'to respect the UN calls and stop sending weapons to Israel.'"
The Golden Bear went to "Dahomey"- a documentary about the restitution of some royal treasures of the Kingdom of Dahomey from France to Benin. Fine.
"Another strong political moment at the awards ceremony came with the announcement of the Best Documentary award, which went to 'No Other Land,' a film documenting the eradication of a West Bank village by Israeli soldiers and Jewish armed settlers.
"The film was directed by a Palestinian-Israeli collective and screened in the festival's Panorama sidebar. Picking up the award in the name of the collective, Palestinian Basel Adra and Israeli Yuval Abraham called on #Germany 'to respect the UN calls and stop sending weapons to Israel.'"
[…] Since October up until today, there are 16 entire villages in the West Bank that have been depopulated. In one village, the settlers burned houses. In another village, they shot somebody and people got scared, so they started leaving. I think that if this is not stopped, and if there aren’t more international sanctions against settlers who are using violence, then this process will continue.
[cont’d] Public Broadcaster Kan Removes Segment Labelling Israeli Berlinale Winner's Speech Antisemitic
"Yesterday we reported on Yuval Abraham's speech after the film No Other Land won the prize for Best Documentary Film at the Berlin Film Festival. The report was accompanied by a caption that described his speech as antisemitic. We want to make it clear that it would have been better to word the caption differently… As we emphasized in the evening news, what was missing from Abraham's speech at the festival was Hamas, the October 7 massacre, and the hostages."
It seems to me that the broadcaster's non-apology implies an expectation that any speech about #Palestine or Palestinians, must also mention October 7th. With #Israel losing control of the narrative and being accused for #genocide, accusations of #antisemitism now appear to be used to intimidate people into adhering to their preferred narrative.
"No Other Land" by #Palestinian and #Israeli debut filmmakers Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, and Rachel Szor.
Tickets for tuesday screening still available ⬇️