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Over 300 Filmmakers Condemn Inclusion of Israeli Films in Venice Festival, ‘Artwashing of Gaza Genocide’

Actor Sveva Alviti, who hosted the opening ceremony of the 81st Venice Film Festival, and director Alberto Barbera react, in Venice, Italy, on August 27, 2024. Photo: Reuters/Yara Nardi

Nearly 350 filmmakers, actors, and other members of the film industry signed an open letter on Wednesday, the same day as the opening of the Venice Film Festival, criticizing the prestigious festival for featuring two Israeli films.

At the center of the controversy is Dani Rosenberg’s Hebrew-language film “Al Klavim Veanashim” (“Of Dogs and Men”), which is about the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel, and “Why War” by director and screenwriter Amos Gitai, which will be making its world premiere on Aug. 31 out of competition. The latter film was inspired by a correspondence between Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud about avoiding war and “embarks on a search for an explanation of the savagery of wars that inhabit our world,” according to a synopsis provided by the Venice Film Festival.

In the open letter, published by Artists for Palestine Italia, members of the film industry claim “Of Dogs and Men” and “Why War” were “created by Israeli production companies that are complicit in whitewashing Israel’s oppression against Palestinians.” They claimed it was “unacceptable” for the Venice Film Festival to showcase both films and said they “reject complicity with the Israeli regime of apartheid and oppose the artwashing of its Gaza genocide against Palestinians at the 81st Film Festival in Venice.”

“‘Of Dogs and Men,’ shot in the midst of Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza, whitewashes the genocide,” the letter continued. “Like ‘Of Dogs and Men,’ ‘Why War’ was created by complicit Israeli production companies that contribute to apartheid, occupation, and now genocide through their silence or active participation in artwashing. Palestinian society, including the absolute majority of filmmakers, has called for refusing to screen such productions.”

Among the signatories were a number of Palestinian filmmakers and actors — including two-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad, Rosalind Nashashibi, Raed Andoni, and Saleh Bakri — as well as more than 80 Italian film industry figures such as screenwriter and David di Donatello nominee Davide Serino; filmmakers Enrico Parenti and Alessandra Ferrini; and actors Niccolò Senni, Simona Cavallari, Chiara Baschetti, and Paola Michelini. Others who signed the open letter included Tony Award nominee Kathleen Chalfant, César-winning actor Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, composer Nitin Sawhney, and Israeli filmmakers Oreet Ashery and Eyal Sivan.

The film industry figures also took issue with the Venice Film Festival for staying silent “about Israel’s atrocities against the Palestinian people.”

“This silence outrages us deeply,” they explained, before urging film festival organizers to take “effective and ethical measures to hold apartheid Israel to account for its crimes and system of colonial oppression against Palestinians.”

“The film festival should not program productions complicit in apartheid crimes, ethnic cleansing, and genocide, regardless who perpetrates them, and should refrain from doing so in the future,” the open letter stated in conclusion. “Artwashing Israel’s genocide in Gaza on the international cultural stage, including film festivals, is profoundly immoral.”

The Venice Film Festival last year hosted the world premiere of “Tatami,” the first feature film co-directed by an Israeli and an Iranian filmmaker, as well as the world premiere of “Letters from Drancy,” a virtual reality film about the life of a Holocaust survivor.

The post Over 300 Filmmakers Condemn Inclusion of Israeli Films in Venice Festival, ‘Artwashing of Gaza Genocide’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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‘Free Palestine’ Activist in Arizona Wearing ‘Israel Kills Children’ T-Shirt Gets Arrested After Refusing to Leave Gym

A pro-Palestinian activist who was kicked out of a gym in Gilbert, Arizona, and arrested after he wore a shirt that read “Israel Kills Children.” Photo: Screenshot

A pro-Palestinian activist wearing an offensive T-shirt critical of Israel was kicked out of a gym in Gilbert, Arizona, and arrested this week after he ignored requests by gym management to leave the premises.

The man, who goes by the social media handle Resistance is Beautiful, posted videos of the incident on Wednesday on Instagram. It began when he was exercising at a Life Time gym in Gilbert while wearing a black short-sleeve T-shirt that said “Israel Kills Children.” He said that when he arrived at the gym and was checked in, a gym employee told him that he needed to take off the shirt, whose message was an apparent commentary on the ongoing Israel-Hamas war falsely accusing the Jewish state of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. He refused to take off the shirt.

Shortly afterward, the gym’s manager approached the activist and told him that he must leave the premises for not having “an active membership, or the gym would call the police. When the activist refused to leave the facility, police were called to escort him out of the building.

“You don’t have an active membership so I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” the gym’s manager, Mike Esposito, said to the anti-Israel activist in a video shared on Instagram.

“I just paid for my membership, what do you mean?” the activist replied. “I pay for my membership … I’ve been a member here for three years. Payment goes through every month.”

“Someone from corporate … the cops are on their way,” Esposito said. “Your membership is not active so we called the police because you’re trespassing here in the club.”

The activist then asked Esposito, “Is the problem the shirt? Or is it the skin color?” He also told the manager: “You know where there are no more gyms left? In Palestine. Because you guys bombed it all. Are you offended by the shirt or the fact that you guys kill all the Palestinians in the gyms over there [in Gaza]. Is the problem the shirt?”

Esposito, who is reportedly not Jewish or Israeli but of Italian descent, ignored the man’s questions about the T-shirt and his remarks about Palestinians. Instead, the manager repeatedly said that the activist does not have an active membership at the facility. “You just don’t have an active membership, so right now you’re trespassing because you’re in the club without an active membership,” he said. “We have to ask you to leave.”

Two Gilbert police officers arrived not long afterward and arrested the anti-Israel activist for trespassing. Before they escorted him out of the gym, he told police, “There’s a Holocaust going on in Palestine … there are no more gyms left in Palestine, you guys bombed all of them. Free Palestine.” He also shared that he wore the “Israel Kills Children” T-shirt previously at the gym, and staff members told him in the past that it was offensive. “They’ve always said, ‘Oh that shirt is offensive.’ You know, typical Gilbert white supremacy stuff,” he said.

The founder, CEO, chairman, and president of Life Time is Bahram Akradi, who was born in Tehran, Iran, and emigrated to the US months before the 1979 Iranian revolution. He founded the chain of gyms in 1992.

The activist was released from the Gilbert police station shortly after the incident at the gym. “There is no greater honor in the world than to sit in a jail cell for Palestine,” he said in an Instagram video posted on Wednesday after his release. “And we’ll do it over and over and over again until we break this enemy and we get Palestine back. That’s my word.”

The man has shared other photos and videos on social media of him clashing with police officers in Gilbert, trespassing while carrying a Palestinian flag and getting arrested for his anti-Israel activism. He also shared clips of himself wearing other anti-Israel shirts, including one that read “Israel is a terrorist project, Free Palestine,” and another that said, “Israel KILLS and America covers it up.”

The post ‘Free Palestine’ Activist in Arizona Wearing ‘Israel Kills Children’ T-Shirt Gets Arrested After Refusing to Leave Gym first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Gal Gadot Addresses Controversy Over Not Wearing Hostage Pin to the Golden Globes

Gal Gadot at the 82nd Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025. Photo: Dan MacMedan-USA TODAY via Reuters Connect

Israeli actress Gal Gadot took to social media on Wednesday to explain why she did not wear to the 82nd Golden Globes this past weekend a pin in solidarity with the 100 hostages still held by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip for more than 450 days.

In a message shared on her Instagram Story, the “Wonder Woman” star, 39, started by clarifying that contrary to Israeli media reports, she was “never forbidden” by Golden Globes organizers from wearing to the award ceremony on Sunday night in Beverly Hills a pin that featured a yellow ribbon, which is a symbol that calls for the return of hostages abducted by Hamas terrorists from Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

“Some people chose to tell a story that never happened, and I prefer to focus on what’s real and truly important — our hostages,” she wrote. She then detailed her conscious decision not to wear a pin with a yellow ribbon to the Golden Globes — a move for which she was widely criticized by many pro-Israel supporters on social media. The “Red Notice” star explained that she instead chose to show solidarity with the hostages by wearing a yellow sapphire ring to the award show, where she was a presenter.

“Everyone expresses their support in a way that suits them. I chose to share a post with global reach and wear a yellow ring as a symbol of solidarity,” she wrote in the Instagram Story. “What truly matters is that the hostages come home now. My heart is with the families waiting for them. May we experience quieter and safer days.”

The message on her Instagram Story was written in both English and Hebrew, and was accompanied by an image of a yellow ribbon.

Before the Golden Globes took place on Sunday night, Gadot uploaded a post on Instagram that featured a statement and photos about the remaining 100 hostages with a focus on 20-year-old Israeli hostage Liri Albag, who was featured in a video that Hamas released on Saturday. Albag was taken hostage along with six other female soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces at the Nahal Oz army base on the Israel-Gaza border during the deadly Hamas-led terrorist attack in southern Israel in October 2023. The five women are still held hostage by Hamas.

Gadot wrote in her Instagram post on Sunday afternoon that while she prepared to attend the Golden Globes, “my heart is heavy, and my soul aches knowing the hostages are still there [in Gaza].” She added: “Every day that passes without an agreement puts their lives in greater danger. I can’t stop thinking about the families, waiting for them, counting the hours, the minutes, clinging to hope. They must come home. We all deserve to see them return, alive. Bring them home now.”

Gadot presented at the 82nd Golden Globes wearing a custom black silk Giorgio Armani Privé long sleeve gown that she styled with Tiffany & Co. jewelry and a yellow sapphire ring.

A screenshot of Gal Gadot’s Instagram Story.

The post Gal Gadot Addresses Controversy Over Not Wearing Hostage Pin to the Golden Globes first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Polish President Wants Netanyahu to Be Able to Go to Auschwitz Anniversary Despite ICC Arrest Warrant: Aide

People with Israeli flags attend the International March of the Living at the former Auschwitz Nazi German death camp, in Brzezinka near Oswiecim, Poland, May 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki

Poland’s president asked the government to ensure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can choose to attend the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp without fear of arrest under an ICC warrant, a senior aide said on Thursday.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Netanyahu and his ex-defense minister, as well as a Hamas leader, Ibrahim Al-Masri, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group.

Israel has condemned the warrants for Netanyahu and former defense chief Yoav Gallant, saying that it has acted in self-defense in its air and ground war in Gaza triggered by Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border invasion of and massacre across southern Israel.

On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that President Andrzej Duda had written Prime Minister Donald Tusk saying Poland should ensure Netanyahu can be “unhindered” in attending the Jan. 27 Auschwitz commemoration given the event’s exceptional nature.

Malgorzata Paprocka, the head of Duda’s office, confirmed to state news agency PAP on Thursday that such a letter had been sent.

“In the opinion of the president, there is one issue — precisely because it is the Auschwitz camp, every person from Israel, every representative of the authorities of this country should have the opportunity to take part in this exceptional event.”

She said Duda was waiting for a response. Tusk’s office did not reply to an emailed request for comment.

Duda is a right-wing nationalist who has had tense relations with Tusk’s centrist, pro-European government since it took office in December 2023.

Asked by state-run news channel TVP Info whether Netanyahu could count on a guarantee from Poland that he would not be arrested, Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said: “There is no such topic, because Mr. Netanyahu is not coming to Europe.”

Meanwhile, the Polish Foreign Ministry denied reports on Thursday that the country had threatened to arrest Netanyahu should he choose to attend the Jan. 27 ceremony marking 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz.

“We are aware that this fake news is being spread in the US media, as if Polish Secretary of State Władysław T. Bartoszewski had stated that Prime Minister Netanyahu would be arrested upon his arrival in Poland, based on a ruling by the International Criminal Court,” the Foreign Ministry told JNS in a statement.

“Such a statement has never been made,” the ministry added. “Poland is a safe country and any leader visiting Poland is entitled to protection granted by the Ministry of the Interior.”

A spokesperson for Netanyahu declined to comment. Netanyahu has not said whether he would attend the Auschwitz commemoration. He has attended previous anniversary events at Auschwitz.

Over 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, perished in gas chambers or from starvation, cold, and disease at Auschwitz, which Nazi Germany set up in occupied Poland during World War Two.

More than three million of Poland’s 3.2 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis, accounting for about half of the Jews killed in the Holocaust.

The post Polish President Wants Netanyahu to Be Able to Go to Auschwitz Anniversary Despite ICC Arrest Warrant: Aide first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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