German pastor: Anti-Israel film boosts Nazi support

A German court ruled that a pastor will continue to be able to describe a film about Israel-Palestinian conflict as anti-Semitic.

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
Palestinians hold a flag in the West Bank 370 (photo credit: Reuters/Mohamad Torokman)
Palestinians hold a flag in the West Bank 370
(photo credit: Reuters/Mohamad Torokman)
BERLIN – A pastor can continue to describe a film about the Israel-Palestinian conflict as anti-Semitic, a regional court in Bavaria covering the cities of Nürnberg-Fürth ruled on Friday.
The film, We refuse to be enemies, by Stefanie Landgraf, a local director, compares a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank with the Warsaw Ghetto under the Third Reich.
The pastor argued that the film strengthens the neo-Nazi scene and anti-Semitism in the Federal Republic, according to a report in the local Nordbayern paper.
Nordbayern added that the court affirmed the pastor’s criticism as protected by freedom of speech.
The pastor accused the film of anti-Semitism because of comparisons between the Jewish state and Nazi Germany.
In addition to the alleged demonization of Israel through the Nazi comparison, the pastor labeled the film anti-Semitic because a Jewish museum is charged with manipulating the Holocaust in order to steal land from the Palestinians.
However, Nathan Gelbart, a leading international expert on media law, wrote to The Jerusalem Post by email, “The magistrate’s court has not ruled Ms. Landgraf’s movie as anti-Semitic but just has allowed the defendant to continue to call this movie anti- Semitic as a legitimate expression of his views and thoughts which are protected by article five of the German Constitution.“ Gelbart, who practices law for the Berlin-based FPS firm, added, “Ms. Landgraf might not like it but has to live with it since the defendant has not crossed the red line calling her movie anti-Semitic without any reasons.”
In response to the school ban of her film, Landgraf said, “Germany must stop to impose such restrictions.”
She said Israel is responsible for the expulsion of the Palestinians and permanently violates human rights.
The oldest serving head of a German Jewish community, Arno Hamburger of the Israelitischen Kultusgemeinde (IKG) organization in Nürnberg, slammed the film for its distorted depiction of Israel.