Israelis threaten director with death over Gaza ceasefire call
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Yuval Abraham criticizes German officials, stating that their statement jeopardizes lives.
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Israeli director Yuval Abraham receiving the Berlinale Film Festival's documentary award for "No Other Land." (AFP via Getty Images)
An Israeli filmmaker, who received a major award at the Berlin Film Festival, disclosed that the characterization of the awards ceremony as "antisemitic" by German officials has resulted in death threats and the physical intimidation of his family members, The Guardian reported. This situation has compelled him to postpone his plans to return to "Israel".
Yuval Abraham, aged 29, received the best documentary award at the Berlin Film Festival on Saturday for "No Other Land," a film documenting the destruction of Palestinian villages in Masafer Yatta in the West Bank. During his acceptance speech, Abraham denounced the situation of apartheid and called for a ceasefire in Gaza. This, along with other expressions of solidarity with Palestine during the closing ceremony, led to an outcry in German media, with some politicians accusing the speeches of being "antisemitic".
"They have been dragging us from one court hearing to another for 22 years."
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) March 25, 2022
More than 1,000 residents of Masafer Yatta in occupied #Palestine are under imminent threat of eviction because of "Israel's" decision to turn the land into a firing zone. pic.twitter.com/9k2FACu8cI
“To stand on German soil as the son of Holocaust survivors and call for a ceasefire – and to then be labeled as antisemitic is not only outrageous, it is also literally putting Jewish lives in danger,” Abraham said, as quoted by The Guardian.
“I don’t know what Germany is trying to do with us,” he stressed. “If this is Germany’s way of dealing with its guilt over the Holocaust, they are emptying it of all meaning.”
I deeply apologize as a German for what these politicians and journalists here doing to you and Basel. I am from Kassel and we have witnessed the same thing last year against many artists of the Documenta exhibition. It worries me and many others so much how the struggle against…
— Juri (@JuriMrK) February 27, 2024
Yuval Abraham had initially intended to return to "Israel" the day after the Berlin Film Festival's closing ceremony but altered his plans during a stopover in Greece. He decided to change his plans after learning that Israeli media, citing German officials, were labeling his speech as "antisemitic".
Following the incident, Abraham received death threats on social media, and individuals physically intimidated his family members in "Israel", prompting them to leave their homes due to concerns for their safety.
He emphasized that Germany is weaponizing the term "antisemitic" to silence not only Palestinians but also Jews and Israelis critical of the occupation and using the term apartheid. Abraham asserted that this practice is dangerous as it devalues the term "antisemitism".
Basel Adra, Abraham's Palestinian film-making partner, expressed difficulty celebrating the success of their film on Saturday while his people in Gaza were “being slaughtered and massacred." Adra urged Germany to stop arms exports to "Israel".
In an exclusive interview for #AlMayadeen English, Palestinian activist @basel_adra says he and his family were forced to leave the village in 1999 when he was just 3 years old. pic.twitter.com/qx3LjD5src
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) May 6, 2022
On his account, Abraham emphasized his concern for Adra's safety, who has returned to his village in the occupied West Bank, surrounded by Israeli settlements.
"This situation of apartheid between us, this inequality. It has to end.”
— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) February 27, 2024
Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham delivered a speech at the Berlinale festival in Berlin where he condemned Israel's apartheid policies and called for justice for Palestinians. pic.twitter.com/uyTBVfuzt4
“Basel lives under occupation and the army or settlers can take revenge against him at any moment,” Abraham said. “He is in much greater danger than me.”
The backlash against the Berlinale ceremony in Germany also involved calls for the resignation of the minister of state for culture, Green party politician Claudia Roth, who was seen applauding Abraham and Adra’s speech in footage of the event.
Roth’s office yielded to pressure from the Israeli lobby and claimed that Roth had clapped at the Israeli but not the Palestinian half of the duo in a statement on X on Monday.
Her applause “was directed at the Jewish-Israeli journalist and film-maker Yuval Abraham, who spoke out in favor of a political solution and a peaceful coexistence in the region." Roth’s office also said that reports of death threats against Abraham were “alarming”.
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