“These false claims are malicious and poison the political debate”

“The Pali activist scene showed its ugly face at the Berlinale with hatred of Israel, aggressiveness and demands for confession,” Weimer told the Tagesspiegel. “Jury work and award ceremonies were misused for political destruction and many artists were deprived of their unique moment of appreciation for their work.”

On stage with the Palestine flag and keffiyeh

Alkhatib came on stage with a Palestine flag and a keffiyeh and initially expressed his wish that at some point a film festival should take place again in a free Palestine in which people would talk first about politics and then about art, first about people and then about artists. He then threatened with the words that “Palestine will remember everyone who stood against us” and finally blamed the German federal government for the “genocide in Gaza”.

After these statements, Federal Environment Minister Carsten Schneider from the SPD, who was present at the gala, left the hall. Schneider distanced himself from these statements and rejected them as “unacceptable,” as a spokesman for his ministry told the dpa news agency.

Weimer also rejected the claim that the federal government was a partner in the genocide in the Gaza Strip: “These false allegations are malicious and poison the political debate. They destroy the appreciation of film art at the Berlinale.”

Weimer also considers the criticism of jury chairman Wim Wenders and Berlinale director Tricia Tuttle, who were accused of their “silence” in an open letter by over a hundred international artists, including Javier Bardem and Tilda Swinton, to be unacceptable.

“Tricia Tuttle and Wim Wenders have designed this edition of the festival sensitively, fundamentally liberal and artistically demanding, taking into account the special global political challenges. In doing so, they have sustainably consolidated the character of the film festival as a platform for artistic dialogue, for cultural diversity and for democratic values. Open controversies and broad political debates are part of the DNA of the Berlinale. But the hatred of Israel and the activist aggressiveness of conscious misunderstanding are the opposite of humanistic tolerance.”