Israeli filmmaker receives ‘death threats’ after condemning Israeli apartheid in Gaza

Israeli filmmaker is receiving ‘death threats’ after condemning Israeli apartheid in Gaza!

The statement made by the Israeli journalist and documentary filmmaker Yuval Abraham at the Berlinale International Film Festival has left him facing death threats. 

The documentary that Abraham co-directed with Palestinian lawyer and activist Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, and Rachel Szor won the prize. It depicts the Israeli forces’ demolition of homes in the occupied West Bank and the eviction of people living there.

Yuval Abraham in his acceptance speech said that he stands “behind every word” of his condemnation of Israeli apartheid and Gaza genocide at the Berlinale International Film Festival.

Abraham took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share that he has been receiving “death threats” since he condemned Israeli apartheid during his acceptance speech at the film festival after his documentary “No Other Land” won the Best Documentary award.

“Israel’s Channel 11 aired this 30-second segment from my speech, insanely called it ‘anti-semitic’,” he wrote. “I stand behind every word.”

 

As he accepted the award on Sunday, Abraham, who stood alongside Adra, said: “Me and Basel are the same age. I am Israeli, Basel is Palestinian and in two days we will go back to a land where we are not equal.

“I am living under civilian law and Basel is under military law. We live 30 minutes from one another but I have voting rights and Basel does not have voting rights.

“I am free to move where I want in this land, Basel is like millions of Palestinians, locked in the occupied West Bank. This situation of apartheid between us, this inequality, it has to end.”

Meanwhile, Palestinian lawyer and activist Basel Adra called on Germany to “respect the [United Nations] calls and stop sending weapons to Israel,” and noted that the support of Western countries has allowed nearly 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza to be “slaughtered and massacred” by Israel.

The Israeli public broadcaster, Kan, promptly labeled Abraham’s remarks an “antisemitic speech.”

At the same time, Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner criticized the statement and those of several other Palestinian rights supporters at the awards ceremony.