From all accounts, an amazing film on antisemitism in Europe called "Chosen and Excluded – Jew Hatred in Europe" that was commissioned by a French-German public broadcaster has been censored - because it wasn't "balanced."
Berliner-Zeitung's Götz Aly wrote last month:
The whole thing stinks to high heaven. The German-French TV channel Arte accepted a documentary project on "anti-Semitism in Europe" in April 2015 by a narrow majority. Joachim Schröder from the well-established film and television production company Preview Production (Munich) together with Sophie Hafner submitted it. The work was supervised by the Arte editorial team of Westdeutschen Rundfunk (WDR).
In December 2016, Sabine Rollberg, editor in charge, took over the film. Since then, Alain Le Diberder, Arte's program director, has prevented the 90-minute documentary from being aired. He referred to the "negative vote of the French members of the program committee" from the outset, and complained of a lack of "balance". A bizarre argument. Contrary to Le Diberder, I believe that anti-Semitism is not accessible to "balance" (...).
Meanwhile, I have reviewed the film. It draws its strength from intensive research and multiple perspectives. There is footage from right- and left-radical events in Germany and France, interviews with Protestant peace activists, sequences from within the European Parliament, rock concerts and rap videos. The film documents the corrupt, Hamas-controlled "self-administration" of Uno relief funds in Gaza. Le Diberder claims that the film lacks a "broad-based perspective".
The opposite is true. The authors also allow pragmatic students of the University of Gaza to speak, who find the ruling Hamas prescribed Jew hatred disgusting. The socialist mayor of a suburb of Paris sees himself in a lost position, left alone by the state in the struggle against militant Arab anti-Semitism. This causes his Jewish citizens to leave the community in droves, while the principles of the Republic evaporate.
The historian Michael Wolffsohn shares my positive impression of this documentary. But the responsible editor Rollberg could do nothing against the French opposition.
Thanks to its well-researched clarity the documentary provoked in fact, the secret anti-Semites who feel caught. Preventing the film at Arte or the program of the ARD is simply committing censorship - whether from indifference, cowardice or "anti-Zionist" resentment.The blog Tapfer im Nirgendwo reports:
This German article goes into much more detail both about the contents and the controversy. The French broadcaster was against the film from the start. But what is clear is that the TV network that commissioned the film only believes that right-wing antisemitism is permitted to be reported about - the left wing variety is simply off limits.After having seen the documentary I am surprised by the reasoning behind the WDR social media team’s refusal to include the documentary in its programming:„The film had only partially fulfilled the job requirements which were to highlight „anti-Semitism in Europe „. The WDR seconds ARTE’s criticism that the film doesn’t deliver what it was commissioned to cover.“The film provides very well what it was commissioned to investigate. It illuminates current anti-Semitism in Europe like no other documentary! The film presents European philosophers, composers and writers who had expressed themselves negatively towards Jews over the centuries. Christian writings are quoted which were used to propagate Jew hatred in Europe. Martin Luther, whose anti-Semitic writings were later referred to by the Nazis, is also portrayed. In the documentation, Julius Streicher, who expounded Nazi hatred toward Jews in his publication, Der Stürmer, justified the hatred with these words:„Anti-Semitic publications have existed in Germany for centuries. Dr. Martin Luther would certainly be sitting next to me in a court of law. In the book „The Jews and Their Lies,“ Dr. Martin Luther writes that the Jews are snakes, that their synagogues should be burned, and that the Jews should be exterminated.”How much medieval European Jew hatred exists today can be experienced in a speech Mahmud Abbas held on June 23, 2016 in front of the European Union Parliament.During the Plague, Christians accused the Jews of poisoning the water wells. Those accusations were not coincidental, since for centuries, Jews had been accused of subterfuge, sorcery and conspiracy against Christians. Because hygiene regulations anchored in Jewish custom, they were often less affected by epidemics than other urban populations. Instead of searching for the causes of infection and the advantages of clean water, Christians turned against the Jews. That was in the Middle Ages. Today, it’s not much different!On June 23, 2016, Mahmud Abbas was a guest of the European Parliament. In his speech he tested the Parliament as to its openness to anti-Jewish propaganda by reviving the medieval lie of well-poisoning whereby he claimed that there were certain rabbis who had wells poisoned. Abbas‘ allegation, of course, is a lie, as he himself admitted two days later. However, Abbas had gained certainty that Jew hatred is alive today in Europe. At the end of the speech, there was a standing ovation from members of the European Parliament.This hate is documented, but ARTE and the WDR refuse to show it. The documentation also shows New Right demonstrations, whereby the most evil conspiracy theories are decimated. The documentary makers were told that there is a secret power behind the United States of America, an American-Zionist world-conspiracy. Zionism is defined as a money-mafia which promotes and profits from worldwide suffering. One demonstrator even said, „Everything written in the Protocols of the Wise Men of Zion has so far been true. So even if the protocols are a fake, someone was still thinking pretty cool and was a good prophet!“The Protocols of the Wise Men of Zion is an anti-Semitic treatise that was popular among the Nazis and is still referred to in the Hamas Charter whereby Article 7 calls for the extermination of the entire Jewish people. It is therefore not surprising that the film makers bumped into Fuad Afane, who shouted into the microphone that he is „an avowed anti-Zionist”.The documentation concerns itself with the connections between German and Palestinian nationalist movements whereby amazing parallels are presented. Mohammed Amin al-Husseini, Mufti of Jerusalem, who was ideologically and financially supported by Adolf Hitler, is portrayed in the film. Mohammed Amin al-Husseini created a Bosnian-Islamic unit within the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS. He arranged for the extradition of several thousand Jews to the German Reich. He also aided Radio Zesen, a German Reich radio station, designed to spread the Nazi ideology into the Arab world.When the filmmakers visited the Gaza Strip to see whether there were still traces of German initiated anti-Semitism, they made a terrifying discovery: Jew hatred in the Gaza Strip and in the Palestinian autonomy areas is being funded by Germany and Europe. That is probably the most frightening discovery presented in the documentary! Money from “Bread for the World”, “Misereor” and the European Union is being used to finance Jew hatred in the Middle East. The documentary also relates how funds from Europe and the United Nations are used to abuse Arab children by forcing them to function as human shields. Images from Gaza – never having been shown before on public television – are particularly important in this context. It’s a scandal that those images are still being withheld from viewers, mainly because the documentary shows how Jürgen Todenhöfer, a Middle East reporter popular with public broadcasters, is biased in reporting on Gaza, indeed he is a drama queen of propaganda.The documentation also deals with Palestinians and Arabs who are being threatened by Europeans if they refuse to work against Israel. It is one of the most difficult moments in the documentation to listen to an Arab Palestinian who lives in peace with Jews and relates how his life has been made into a hell by Europeans because of his refusal to hate Israel.The following excuses made by public television staff are without substance:“The film is a provocation!“
“The film pours oil into the fire!“
„The film shouldn’t be shown because of terrorism.“
“The film is anti-Protestant, anti-Muslim and pro-Israeli.“
„The film is biased.“No, the film is not anti-Protestant and not anti-Muslim. The documentary even supports Muslims and Christians who want to live in peace with Jews. No, the film doesn’t pour oil into the fire; it only reveals a view which has been hitherto consistently concealed from the public. It is true, however, that the film is uncompromising. Yes, the documentation denounces Jew hatred. But, such a condemnation can’t be twisted into a reproach. That’s absurd!The documentary „Chosen and Excluded – Jew Hatred in Europe“ shows in ninety minutes how Jew hatred had set foot in Europe, was brutalized by Luther and justified by philosophers, writers and composers, and finally transformed by the Nazis into industrial mass murder. The documentary shows how this hatred has been exported to the Arab world and is now returning to Europe in the form of a brutal criticism of Israel, funded by European organizations, no longer hesitant to persecute and murder. After seeing the documentation, one understands the conclusion that the Arabs in Europe would never have been opposed to the Jews, had they not been convinced that it was their duty to show solidarity with their brothers in faith in Palestine. „But they were told that it’s necessary.“The hateful propagandists are people from Europe: Christians of „Bread for the World“ and „Misereor“, left- and rightwing activists, and European Union politicians, But also journalists and editors from the public broadcasting corporations do their part. The documentation illustrates how public television stations reporting on Israel is biased in such a manner that anti-Semitism is fueled. In “I accuse” I documented the long list of failings of public television reporting on Israel.Then it truly gets delicate: A public broadcaster commissioned a documentary about anti-Semitism in Europe. In the documentation it becomes clear that the manner of reporting on Israel by public broadcasting stations is also partly responsible for the explosive Jew hatred. So, what do they do? They decide the documentation hasn’t delivered what it was supposed to.It could just be silent embarrassment. Nevertheless, that’s nothing less than a public broadcasting scandal!
(h/t JW, New Antisemite)