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.
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