Germany’s largest paper posts ‘censored’ antisemitism film online

Acclaimed documentary online for 24 hours.

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
Updated: JUNE 14, 2017 01:51
An image from the film that was dropped because it depicted antisemitism in a "pro-Israel" light. (photo credit: screenshot)
An image from the film that was dropped because it depicted antisemitism in a "pro-Israel" light.
(photo credit: screenshot)
The Bild paper on Tuesday posted on its website a film believed to be have been censored by the Franco-German TV outlet ARTE because it show Islamic-animated antisemitism and Jew-hatred in all walks of European life.
Writing on the website – one of the largest news outlets in Europe – Julian Reichelt, the Bild’s online editor-in-chief, said, “The TV documentary proves the rampant, in part [socially] acceptable Jew-hatred, for which there are only two words: disgusting and shameful.”
Reichelt added, “It is suspected that the documentary is not being shown [on television] because it is politically unsuitable and because the film shows an antisemitic worldview in wide parts of society that is disturbing.”
The film, Chosen and Excluded – Jew Hatred in Europe, was set to available for viewing online Tuesday until midnight Central European time (1 a.m. Israel time).
ARTE and its German sister news station WDR commissioned the film in 2015 but, when it was ready for broadcast earlier this month refused to air it.
Historians and journalists with an expertise in contemporary antisemitism lauded Chosen and Excluded as a masterpiece for its expose on lethal antisemitism, European NGOs that finance hatred of Israel, and the growth of the BDS movement.
The Times of London wrote on Sunday: “TV film on migrant Muslims’ hate of Europe’s Jews axed.”
Bild slammed ARTE for failing to show the film, denying viewers the right to form their own opinions. German viewers pay a public fee to finance ARTE and WDR.
Michael Wolffsohn, a prominent German-Jewish historian, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung the film is “by far the best, smartest and historically deepest documentary on this topic, while at the same time being very much up to date and true.”
Bild listed a wide range of experts on its website, including the Israeli-Arab psychologist Ahmad Mansour, who endorsed the documentary and appealed to ARTE to air it.
Reichelt wrote: “Our historical responsibility requires us to decisively counter the unspeakable [truth] that this film establishes.”
Joachim Schroeder, along with Sophie Hafner from Schroeder’s Munich-based Preview Production company, made the documentary.
The filmmakers interviewed François Pupponi, the Socialist Party mayor of Sarcelles, a suburb north of Paris, who said: “French Jews think they have no future in France, that they have to leave the country to live in security and peace.” Sarcelles has been engulfed by outbreaks of antisemitism.
In a statement to the Post, ARTE wrote,"the website Bild.de has decided on its own authority to stream the documentary. Although the practice is an odd one, ARTE has no objection to the general public being able to make up their own minds about this film.
ARTE added,"The accusation that the film does not fit into our programme for political reasons is simply absurd: the proposal originally approved by the Programme Conference explicitly addressed the theme of anti-Semitism being couched in a critique of Israel – in Europe, however, and not in the Middle East, in accordance with ARTE’s editorial line as a European channel."