Palestinian & Israeli winners at Berlinale urge Germany to "stop sending weapons to Israel"

When 'No Other Land' - a film about the displacement of Palestinians in the Masafer Yatta region in the occupied West Bank - won the documentary film award at the Berlinale last weekend, its Palestinian director, Basel Adra, used his acceptance speech to not only highlight the Israeli forces' relentless and genocidal war on Gaza but also urged Germany to stop sending weapons to Israel.

Adra's co-director, Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, also spoke of a system of “apartheid” in the occupied West Bank and called for a ceasefire and end to Israel's occupation of Palestine.

While the audience applauded the duo's speeches at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, Europe’s first major film festival of the year and better known as the Berlinale, outside Potsdamer Platz the backlash from German authorities was rife.

“Berlin has a clear stance when it comes to defending freedom," Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner told rbb. "This also means that Berlin is firmly on Israel’s side…I expect measures from the new Berlinale festival management."

Israel’s Ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor posted a tweet on X, formerly known as Twitter, where he criticized Germany’s cultural scene: “At the Berlinale, antisemitic and anti-Israel statements were greeted with thunderous applause."

Meanwhile, Green Party politician Daniela Billig said: “I perceived this as an emotional and moral low point" and a cultural policy spokesperson from her person warned there could be "political damage to the Berlinale", adding that "the cultural scene has done itself a disservice".

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