Berlinale, one of many world’s largest movie festivals, introduced on X on Sunday that they have been launching an investigation into how pro-Palestinian content material had been shared on their Instagram account.
“Right now, image-text posts in regards to the struggle within the Center East, which included the Berlinale brand have been posted on Panorama’s Instagram channel,” Berlinale posted on-line. “These posts didn’t originate from the pageant and don’t signify the Berlinale’s place. We instantly deleted them and initiated an investigation into how this incident occurred. We’ll file felony costs towards unknown individuals.
— Berlinale (@berlinale) February 25, 2024
Whereas the submit has been deleted from Berlinale’s Instagram account, screenshots of the submit circulated on X. The picture depicts a person on a horse with the Berlinale brand featured on the underside nook above the textual content “FREE PALESTINE” and “From the River to the Sea.”
“From the River to the Sea” is a well-liked chant utilized in pro-Palestinian demonstrations, considered referencing the land from the Jordanian River to the Mediterranean Sea which encompasses your entire state of Israel. It’s based mostly on this understanding that many think about the controversial slogan’s which means as advocating for the destruction of the state of Israel in favor of a singular Palestinian state.
Berlinale’s different social media controversy
Whereas Berlinale has solely publicly commented on an unauthorized Instagram submit, the President of the German-Israeli Society posted on X that he had been blocked, and later unblocked, by Berlinale.
“There may be nonetheless excellent news. The @berlinale has come to its senses: secretly unblocked it. I can see the Twitter account once more,” Volker Beck posted on X on Monday, whereas sharing a earlier submit with proof of being blocked.
Es gibt sie noch die guten Nachrichten. Die @berlinale hat sich besonnen: klammheimlich entblockt. Ich kann ihren twitter-Account wieder sehen. https://t.co/jhiwRvuOOl
— Volker Beck (@Volker_Beck) February 26, 2024
The blocking got here as Beck reposted criticism of Berlinale within the type of an article by Judische Algeimeine. The article highlighted criticisms of Berlinale by Minister of State for Tradition Claudia Roth, who mentioned the pageant had been overly important of Israel.
“The statements on the Berlinale Bear Awards on Saturday night have been shockingly one-sided and characterised by a deep hatred of Israel,” Roth is cited by the paper as having mentioned. “It’s not acceptable if, on a night like this, worldwide filmmakers don’t point out the brutal terrorist assault by Hamas on over a thousand individuals residing peacefully and celebrating at a pageant and their merciless homicide, nor do they are saying a phrase in regards to the greater than 130 hostages those that are nonetheless within the energy of Hamas.”
Kulturstaatsministerin Claudia Roth will die Skandale um die Berlinale aufarbeiten. Die Erklärungen bei der Verleihung seien »erschreckend einseitig und von einem tiefgehenden Israel-Hass geprägt«, so Roth. https://t.co/kdEYKM0Kmw
— Jüdische Allgemeine (@JuedischeOnline) February 26, 2024
