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The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil,    but because of the people who don't do anything about it

Occupation magazine - Activism Home page  back Print  Send To friend Open letter from Israelis and Jewish cultural workers in Berlin against censorship Oct. 25, 2016 Posted on Facebook We, cultural workers, academics and activists, Jewish and Israeli, who reside or are active in Berlin, take a stand against statements made by organizations, newspapers and politicians that undermine the right to freedom of expression regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict. Many of us left Israel because we could not or chose not to continue living in fear of threat for criticism of the occupation policy, or increased restriction on our freedom of expression. For the last several years, Netanyahu`s right-wing, nationalist government has endeavoured to silence progressive and Palestinian voices. Funding for Palestinian-Israeli cultural institutions has been frozen, dissident artists have been threatened by racist organizations, and enormous pressure has been imposed on critical voices in academia and media. We always hoped that Berlin would be the place where an open debate is possible, and in recent years, we experienced to a certain degree the fulfillment of these hopes. In light of developments in Israel, we are disturbed that now even in Berlin, expressions about the Israeli occupation policy are denounced as ‘hatred of Israel’ or ‘anti-Semitism’. Moreover, this call for political censorship comes from organizations and politicians who do not define themselves as right-wing—nationalist, or even identify as left-wing. This letter is written in reaction to the current campaign against the Ballhaus Naunynstraße and the ‘After the Last Sky’ festival which was organized in partnership with people who allegedly allowed ‘anti-Israeli sentiment’. In addition to this slander were accusations that certain participants advocated violence during the festival. Politicians and the media called for the withdrawal of public funding on the basis of critical remarks against the State of Israel by Jewish and Palestinian participants. Moreover, the actual or alleged support of the BDS Movement by curators of the festival was scandalized. We the undersigned have different opinions on concepts such as ‘apartheid’, ‘colonialism’ or ‘ethnic cleansing’ as useful or accurate descriptions of the past or present of the State of Israel. We also have different positions about the Palestinians call for boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against the State of Israel. However, we insist that a discussion of these concepts and the arguments by the BDS Movement are a legitimate part of a public debate on the political situation in Israel-Palestine. We are opposed in principle to political censorship of individuals or cultural institutions that allow space to criticism of Israeli policy. The chilling effect of these threats is the destruction of cultural debate in open society. They also prevent the current debate on the responsibility of Germany regarding the political situation in the Middle East, and particularly on the Israeli occupation which has continued for almost fifty years. As Jews and Israelis, who cannot avoid dealing with Middle Eastern topics and are affected by regional developments, we are alarmed by calls for the restriction of free expression, directed also at our freedom of expression as academics and artists. We see the instrumentalization of accusations of anti-Semitism against left-wing Palestinians, Israelis and others as an obstacle in the fight against existing anti-Semitism, which is of particular concern today in light of the right-wing rise in Germany. We are aware that political expressions about Israel and Palestine may also contain anti Semitism and anti-Muslim racism. This is precisely the reason we want to highlight the importance of centering the debate around human rights and equality. The basic rights of Palestinians are as important to us as those of the Jewish-Israeli population. The Palestinian cultural festival ‘After the Last Sky’ was organized by migrant and anti-racists artists, and expresses precisely these values. Therefore, we declare our full solidarity with the Ballhaus Naunynstraße and the organizers of the festival. Liste der Unterzeichner_innen / List of Signers Tal Adler - Künstler und Forscher Alma Alloro - Künstlerin Udi Aloni - Regisseur Hila Amit - Schriftstellerin und Wissenschaftlerin, Yossi Bartal - Aktivist und Autor Andrea Bellu - Künstlerin Matei Bellu - Wissenscahftler Noam Ben Chorin- Aktivist Irad Ben Isaak - Soziologe und Literaturwissenschaftler Gabriel Ben Moshe - Künstler Yaara Benger Alaluf - Wissenschaftlerin Avi Berg - Künstler Vered Berman - Studentin Iddo Bet-Hallahmi - Student Hannah Black - Autorin und Künstlerin Micah Brashear - Lehrer Noam Brusilovsky - Theaterregisseur Zoya Cherkassky-Nnadi - Künstlerin Sidney Corbett - Komponist Dr. Irit Dekel - Wissenschaftlerin Tomer Dreyfuss - Akademiker Michael Evgi - Erziehungswissenschaftler Lau Feldstain - Filmmacherin Yemima Fink - Grafikdesignerin Sylvia Finzi - Künstlerin Erica Fischer - Autorin und Übersetzerin Madelon Fleminger - Autorin Amnon Friedman - Künstler Uri Ganani - Musikwissenschaftler Tomer Gardi - Schriftsteller Ori Ginat - Aktivist William Noah Glucroft - Fotograf und Journalist Gadi Goldberg - Übersetzer Olga Grjasnowa - Schriftstellerin Harri Grünberg - Wissenschaftler Yara Haskiel - Video-Künstlerin Iris Hefets - Authorin und Psychotherapeutin Yaar Hever - Webentwickler Na’aman Hirschfeld - Historiker Sharon Horodi - Künstlerin Sapir Huberman - Künstlerin Dr. Ofri Ilany - Historiker und Journalist Dani Issler - Wissenschaftler Michal Kaiser Livne - Psychoanalytikerin Liad Houssein Kantarovicz - Performance Künstlerin Elad Lapidot - Dozent für Philosophie Angelika Levi - Filmmacherin Ruth Luschnat - Aktivistin Gal Katz - Philosoph Yosi Lampel - Herausgeber Armin Langer - Aktivist und Autor Tamir Lederberg - Künstler Dikla Levinger - Leiterin von Hashomer Haztair in Berlin Adi Liraz - Künstlerin, Kuratorin und Aktivistin Sharon Mantel - Künstlerin Naomi Mark - Menschenrechtlerin Lianne Merkur - Doktorandin Dovrat Meron - Performance Künstlerin Inna Michaeli - Sozialwissentschaftlerin Yonatan Miller - Aktivist Anka Mirkin - Künstlerin Etay Naor - Aktivist Ariel Nil Levy - Schauspieler Hagar Ophir - Künstlerin Dr. Hava Oz - Wissenschaftlerin Deborah S. Phillips - Künstlerin Einat Podjarny - Aktivistin Ella Ponizovsky, Künstlerin und Designerin Ruth Preser - Wissenschaftlerin Udi Raza - Student Prof. Dr. Fanny-Michaela Reisin - ehem. Präsidentin der Internationalen Liga f. Menschenrechte Michael Rothberg - Wissenschaftler Ella Schechter - Wissenschaftlerin Miriam Schickler - Kulturschaffende Dr. Gal Schkolnick - Wissenschaftlerin Ilona Schwetschuk - Studentin Ruth Sergel - Künstlerin Iris Shahar - Studentin Mati Shemoelof - Dichter und Schriftsteller Gil Shohat - Student Adina Stern - Lektorin und Übersetzerin Yousef Sweid- Schauspieler Hadas Tapouchi - Künstlerin Lola Tseytlin - Ton-Engineer Shlomit Tulgan - Kunstpädagogin Tanya Uri - Künstlerin Eyal Vexler - Kulturschaffende Shira Wachsmann - Künstlerin Prof. Dr.Michael Weinman - Wissenschaftler und Dozent Daphna Westerman- Künstlerin Uri Yacobi Keller - DJ Rotem Yaniv - Veranstalter Yehudit Yinhar - Künstlerin May Zeidani Yufanyi - Soziologin und Aktivistin Links to the latest articles in this section Israelis & Palestinians Negotiate Solutions to the Gaza Crisis A war to keep Netanyahu on his throne Back Home in U.S., Israel’s Lone Soldiers Break Their Silence About the Occupation