{"id":73600,"date":"2016-05-16T12:00:44","date_gmt":"2016-05-16T11:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=73600"},"modified":"2016-05-15T15:25:48","modified_gmt":"2016-05-15T14:25:48","slug":"israel-lobby-pushing-to-ban-palestinian-film-at-cannes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2016\/05\/israel-lobby-pushing-to-ban-palestinian-film-at-cannes\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel Lobby Pushing to Ban Palestinian Film at Cannes"},"content":{"rendered":"

13 May 2016 – <\/em>Israel lobby groups in France are applying intense pressure to block the screening of a Palestinian documentary at the Cannes Film Festival, which began this week.<\/p>\n

The mayor of Cannes has also told French authorities that the screening could threaten \u201cpublic order.\u201d<\/p>\n

A short segment of Nasri Hajjaj\u2019s<\/a> work in progress, Munich: A Palestinian Story<\/em>, is due to be screened on on Monday [16 May] as part of the March\u00e9 du Film, a collaboration<\/a> between the Cannes Festival and the Dubai International Film Festival.<\/p>\n

\"Palestinian<\/a>

Palestinian director Nasri Hajjaj, left, seen with Lebanese director Zeina Daccache at the 6th Dubai International Film Festival in 2009.
Ammar Abd Rabbo abacapress.com<\/p><\/div>\n

The initiative<\/a> brings a number of works in progress from Arab filmmakers to international audiences and potential distributors.<\/p>\n

On 3 May, Roger Cukierman<\/a>, president of France\u2019s main Israel lobby group, CRIF<\/a>, wrote to the head of the Cannes film festival<\/a> to express his organization\u2019s \u201cconcern and profound malaise\u201d about the planned screening of Hajjaj\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

Cukierman claimed that the film engages in \u201chistorical revisionism\u201d about the 1972 raid on the Munich Olympics<\/a> by the Palestinian group Black September, in which 11 Israeli athletes, a German police officer and five hostage takers died.<\/p>\n

But Cukierman cannot know this since the unfinished film has never been screened publicly.<\/p>\n

Cukierman nonetheless claims the screening would be a \u201cprovocation all the more scandalous in the context of the terrorist violence that affects our country, and which such a film indirectly legitimizes.\u201d<\/p>\n

CRIF effectively uses the recent mass killings by suspected Islamic State militants in France and Belgium as a lever to shut down discussion of Palestinian history and to tar Palestinians with those attacks.<\/p>\n

Mayor intervenes<\/strong><\/p>\n

The French Jewish communal website Le Monde Juif<\/em> is claiming<\/a> that the screening has already been canceled after intervention by interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve.<\/p>\n

It calls the alleged cancellation \u201ca victory against hatred of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

The website claims that Cannes mayor David Lisnard sent a letter to the head of the city\u2019s Jewish community, G\u00e9rard Bavard, stating that \u201cthe documentary is \u2018an attack\u2019 on the memory of the victims and could constitute a disturbance to public order.\u201d<\/p>\n

The press office at Cannes city hall confirmed in an email to The Electronic Intifada that the mayor had been \u201cinformed by an organization of the planned screening of Munich: A Palestinian Story<\/em>\u201d and that the organization said that \u201cthis screening could cause a disturbance to public order.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a consequence, the mayor transmitted this information to the competent authorities, that is to say the state security services and the Cannes film festival organizers,\u201d the office said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mayor, however, has no power to cancel the screening of a film scheduled for the March\u00e9 du Film, and such a decision is not part of his duties,\u201d the statement adds.<\/p>\n

Censorship<\/strong><\/p>\n

A source close to the March\u00e9 du Film told The Electronic Intifada that while intense pressure is being applied, no decision to cancel the screening has been made.<\/p>\n

The source asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the sensitive matter.<\/p>\n

But the source stressed that what is due to be screened is nothing more than a few minutes of an unfinished film that has never been screened to any audience.<\/p>\n

The source said that, in effect, CRIF is calling for preemptive censorship of a film no one has seen.<\/p>\n

The film\u2019s director, Nasri Hajjaj, has previously noted<\/a> that \u201ceight films have been made on the Munich chapter, but none of them are Palestinian or Arab.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to present the Palestinian version of this story,\u201d Hajjaj has said, \u201cwhich is not necessarily uncritical of the operation and its [consequences].\u201d<\/p>\n

Hajjaj grew up in Lebanon\u2019s Ein al-Hilweh<\/a> Palestinian refugee camp and knew Afif Hamid, one of the Munich hostage takers, as a child.<\/p>\n

\u201cI therefore felt a personal connection to the Munich chapter,\u201d Hajjaj has said.<\/p>\n

His synopsis states that \u201cthe term \u2018terrorism\u2019 will be discussed with all of the concerned parties. It will be an attempt to present different views \u2013 irrespective of the support for or condemnation of the events in Munich in 1972.\u201d<\/p>\n

In France, where many claim that virtually any denigration or dehumanization of Muslims or Arabs must be celebrated as \u201cfree speech\u201d under the banner \u201cJe Suis Charlie,\u201d such reflection is apparently forbidden.<\/p>\n

If the censors win, it will be another example of the Palestine exception to free speech<\/a> in operation.<\/p>\n

____________________________________<\/p>\n

Ali Abunimah – <\/em>Co-founder of <\/em>The Electronic Intifada and author of <\/em>The Battle for Justice in Palestine<\/a>, now out from Haymarket Books, and of <\/em>One Country: A Bold-Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 electronicintifada.net<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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DON’T BUY<\/strong> PRODUCTS WHOSE<\/strong> BARCODE<\/strong> STARTS WITH<\/strong> 729<\/strong>, which indicates that it is produced in Israel. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0DO YOUR PART! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

7 2 9: BOYCOTT FOR JUSTICE!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

13 May 2016 – Munich: A Palestinian Story, is due to be screened on Monday [16 May] as a collaboration between the Cannes Festival and the Dubai International Film Festival. The unfinished documentary examines the 1972 Munich Olympics killings from a Palestinian perspective.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[167],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73600\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}