The Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg withdrew the room reservation for a lecture and book presentation titled Genocide in Gaza – A Political and Legal Analysis with authors Helga Baumgarten and Norman Paech. The cancellation happened only three days before the scheduled event, although it has been approved over a month ago. The decision for the cancellation came about after a public opposition from the student group AK Antisemitismus. The reading was subsequently relocated and held publicly in front of the city hall.

The Murder Capital’s concert at Gretchen was canceled after the band refused to remove a Palestinian flag they placed on stage during setup. While the venue cited a “no national flags” policy, the band stated that even a “Free Palestine” banner was not allowed as an alternative.

After being dropped from the Southside and Hurricane festivals, Kneecap's remaining shows at Huxleys Berlin, Live Music Hall Cologne, and Große Freiheit Hamburg were also canceled.

German festivals Hurricane and Southside removed Irish band Kneecap from their lineups after their Coachella performance, where they accused Israel of genocide and displayed the slogan "Fuck Israel, Free Palestine" on stage.

The invitation for Israeli-German philosopher Omri Boehm to speak at the Buchenwald memorial ceremony on April 6, 2025, was rescinded following pressure from Israeli officials. The Buchenwald Memorial confirmed that concerns over a potential conflict with the Israeli government led to the decision. The Israeli embassy strongly criticized Boehm’s views, accusing him of Holocaust relativization, while the memorial’s director insisted it was not a formal disinvitation and proposed rescheduling his lecture.

Berlin authorities called for the deportation of four foreign residents for pro-Palestine activism despite none of them having been convicted of any crimes. They were ordered to leave Germany by April 21, 2025, or face forcible deportation. The deportation orders, issued under German migration law, came despite internal objections from the head of Berlin’s state immigration agency, and were driven forward by political pressure.

Poesieschlacht and Manege Lintorf Silence Poet Hazuki Fukuda Over Palestine Solidarity

On March 12, 2025, I, Hazuki Fukuda, participated in a poetry slam organized by Poesieschlacht and Manege Lintorf in Ratingen. I read a poem in solidarity with Palestine and criticized Germany's arms deliveries to Israel.

After my performance, the organizer of Poesieschlacht approached me backstage and said that my chosen topic was too controversial and not suitable for an event held in a state-run institution. They requested that if I wanted to address political issues in the future, I submit my text beforehand so it could be “worked on” before the event.

Meanwhile, other white German participants were able to openly discuss political topics like feminism without being silenced.

Villa Stuck Postpones The Condition of No Following Intervention from the City of Munich

Shortly before it was to begin on March 5, 2025, The Condition of No: Talks on Boycott, Censorship and Protest in Germany, a series of talks, was cancelled by its organizers “due to an intervention by the City of Munich against the list of speakers.” The event was curated by Tania Bruguera, Florian Malzacher, and Roland Wenniger, and hosted by Villa Stuck in cooperation with INSTAR and The Art of Assembly.

According to on art magazine, “the city administration allegedly complained that one of the participants had signed a call as part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.” The magazine identifies the participant as the historian Aziz al-Asmeh, who had signed “a call by 400 philosophy professors for an academic and cultural boycott of Israel on October 31, 2023.” Bernd Kastner, writing for the Süddeutsche Zeitung, reports that the museum and the curators “did not want to accept this intervention and therefore cancelled the entire series.”

According to Kastner, Munich’s cultural department refuted that an intervention was made. Instead, “the department head, Anton Biebl, who was still in office at the time, had advised [Michael Buhrs, the director of Villa Stuck], ‘at [Buhrs’] request.’" Their discussion concerned “the process, possible press work, and the implementation of the discussion series," and the decision to cancel “was made ‘solely’ by the museum management.”

The Condition of No was eventually rescheduled to take place from May 3 to July 6, 2025. According to Villa Stuck, this follows “intensive consideration and following the conviction that the series of talks […] will open up a space for exchange and discussion.”

After pressure from Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) and Berlin Science Senator Ina Czyborra (SPD), FU Berlin canceled the event Conditions of Life Calculated to Destroy: Legal and Forensic Perspectives on the Ongoing Gaza Genocide with Francesca Albanese and Eyal Weitzmann due to the "current polarisation and the unpredictable security situation."

Lost Weekend Munich Cancels Watermelon Sessions Culture and Charity Event

On February 2, 2025, Watermelon Sessions was canceled by its hosting venue Lost Weekend, citing that the event’s name “carried symbolic meaning in a sensitive context.” Watermelon Sessions was planned as a cultural and charity event on February 15 and intended to raise funds for those in need in Congo, Palestine, and Sudan.

In an Instagram statement issued on February 2, Lost Weekend – a vegan café, bar, and live music venue in Munich – claimed that they were unaware of the symbolic meaning of the event’s name. They stated that, after “heartfelt feedback” and learning of the “unintended implications,” they “decided to cancel the event to ensure all perspectives are respected.” The venue emphasized its goals of creating “a safe, inclusive space for discussion” and of “fostering understanding rather than division,” noting that they do not “condone hate speech or harassment.”

Alberto Casas, an artist who helped promote Watermelon Sessions, responded to Lost Weekend’s statement on their Instagram. They called into question Lost Weekend’s sudden realisation of its “political stance,” pointing out that the event was clearly described as “a celebration of life, music, art, and international solidarity,” raising funds for “places that are currently suffering the most from exploitation and disregard by countries like Germany.”

Watermelon Sessions posted a statement on Instagram on February 15, stating that the cancellation came after Lost Weekend experienced “severe verbal attacks online.” They identified the inclusion of the word “Palestine” as the reason for the defamation and cancellation of the event, despite its humanitarian and artistic nature. After discussions with Lost Weekend following the cancellation, Watermelon Sessions asked the venue to make a public statement about the external pressure it faced – a request that remains unfulfilled.

The University of Munich canceled a lecture on colonialism, human rights and international law by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese that was organized by Decolonial Practices Group. The event was then moved to another location.

The Goethe University in Frankfurt denied the use of its premises for the conference Talking about (the Silencing of) Palestine following pressure from Hessen's Antisemitism Commissioner, Uwe Becker (CDU). Becker labeled the event a "traveling circus of known Israel-haters," particularly targeting the participation of Palestinian-American journalist Hebh Jamal, who was set to moderate two panels.

Künstler:innenhaus Bremen ended its collaboration with the Helsinki International Artist Program due to HIAP’s decsion to join the BDS Movement (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions).

House of Religions in Hanover Cancels Human Rights Day Forum

On December 9, 2024, the House of Religions canceled the 12th Hanover Human Rights Day Forum that was planned for December 10. This was after “concern and dismay” had been expressed by the House’s Jewish members following a recently published statement on the war in Gaza by co-organizer Amnesty International. Amnesty International had planned to have a member of the organisation give a lecture on the topic of forgotten wars and human rights.

Amnesty International identified the statement in question as its report titled ‘You Feel Like You Are Subhuman’: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza, published internationally on December 5, 2024. The report, based on on-site research, evaluation of images, videos, and satellite footage, and analysis of public statements concluded that Israel’s government, army, and authorities committed and continued to commit genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip following October 7, 2023. However, Amnesty International denied that this report was intended to be the topic of the forum.

According to a press release by the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover, Michael Fürst, President of the State Association of Jewish Communities in Lower Saxony, had sent a letter to the House of Religions saying that Amnesty International was currently acting in an anti-Israeli way, and had, in his opinion, a long history of antisemitism. He added that the violation of human rights against people in Israel from Arab countries was not discussed at all by Amnesty International.
In a statement on Instagram, Sören Rekel-Bludau, Press and Public Relations Officer from the House of Religions, stated that they “take such concerns seriously” and would not hold an event against the will of one of the religions they engage with. Amnesty International, in their statement from December 11, claimed that they firmly reject these serious accusations, emphasizing that antisemitism is in clear contradiction to human rights.

The House of Religions is an organization established in 2008 by people from seven different religions, with the purpose of promoting dialogue among the religions in Hanover. They announced a plan to organise a replacement event in the following year “with the aim of bringing all discussion partners to the table." Amnesty International has expressed their willingness to participate and to provide information about their human rights work on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as well as on human rights violations and crimes against international law in other regions and countries. There has been no replacement event to date.

An event series titled The Art of Memory in Times of Trauma and Grief, featuring films, lectures and discussions on memory, trauma, and repression, was abruptly and indefinitely "postponed" by the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig. The program included works by Kurdish and Palestinian artists, and critiques of rigid memory culture in Germany, particularly regarding Holocaust remembrance and Palestinian perspectives. In a statement from December 5th, Rothberg wrote: "A lecture that was part of a series organized to bring attention to the restriction of academic freedom and freedom of expression in Germany was instead itself restricted and used as an opportunity to defame, once again, Palestinian perspectives."

Urania Berlin canceled a planned event featuring French historian Vincent Lemire, who was set to present his graphic novel on Jerusalem's history. The cancellation came after politician Volker Beck withdrew his participation at short notice, citing Lemire's critique of France’s disregard for international law in relation to their refusal to arrest Israel's prime minister.

Five guests were refused entry to the event Boiler Room at ZOOM Frankfurt because two of them were wearing keffiyehs. The security staff from TK Security told them they could only enter without the keffiyehs, despite them having paid for tickets to the event.

Artist Frieda Toranzo Jaeger lost a $19,000 stipend and a planned exhibition at the Leopold Hoesch Museum after her support for Strike Germany came to light. The museum and foundation claimed the decision to cancel the collaboration was mutual, but Toranzo Jaeger disputed this, saying she was pressured into agreeing. The controversy arose after journalist Kito Nedo's inquiry about Toranzo Jaeger's political views and social media activity.

A number of German venues canceled on musician Bo Milli after she asked them about their response to Strike Germany's demands and said that she wanted to perform with a keffiyeh and a Palestinian flag.

altonale Hamburg canceled the exhibition HeART of Gaza in order not to be "politically instrumentalized." The exhibition was to showcase Palestinian children's drawings.

The Schelling Architecture Foundation rescinded its €10,000 theory prize from British artist James Bridle days before the award ceremony. The reason given was Bridle’s signing of an open letter in the online magazine Literary Hub, in which he pledged to boycott Israeli cultural institutions. The foundation stated that Bridle's signature "is directly at odds" with Germany’s history and the responsibilities resulting from that history.

The screening of Roadmap to Apartheid was postponed by the organizers as a precautionary measure after the venue, Grandhotel Cosmopolis, faced pressure from DIG Augsburg-Schwaben, including unfounded accusations of antisemitism and threats tied to city funding.

Kinowerkstatt St. Ingbert canceled a screening and discussion of the documentary No Other Land three days before the event due to its "one-sided perspective" and the "negative portrayal of the IDF and the settlers in the West Bank". After criticism, the board decided to re-enter the film into the program, screening it a week later than initially planned and without the discussion hosted by Students for Palestine Saar.

Apollo cinema Aachen canceled a Palestinian film series due to the alleged extremist and antisemitic affiliations of the Palestine Solidarity Group Aachen, who co-organized the series together with the Middle East Working Group. The Alliance Against Antisemitism Aachen had previously urged the cinema to cancel the series, conflating the group's anti-Zionism with antisemitism.

The public lecture Corrupt Republics: Oligarchy, War, and the Destruction of Nature by Prof. Dr. Camila Vergara, which was planned for November 20, 2024, at the Institute of Political Science at TU Darmstadt, was canceled due to her statements against apartheid in Israel and genocide in Gaza.

KaDeWe took keffiyehs off display in order to "clarify the background of the pattern thoroughly" after an article in the far-right blog NiUS labeled them as "Jew-hater scarfs" and a "symbol of eliminatory antisemitism."

The University of Freiburg canceled a screening of the film Concerning Violence organized by Students for Palestine and Free Congo, citing a supposed obligation to maintain political "neutrality," and used police force to clear the premises. The documentary explores decolonial struggles and a planned discussion was to link the film’s themes to Palestine.

Kultur- und Kreativpilot*innen Award Revoked from Cinelogue Following Dispute Over Palestine Solidarity Statement

In early July 2024, Kultur- und Kreativpilot*innen Deutschland reached out to us (Cinelogue) through Instagram, encouraging us to apply for their annual award, which recognizes creative companies or founders in Germany. Cinelogue is a curated streaming platform dedicated to cinema from the Global Majority, collaborative curation, and critical dialogue. We strictly refrain from working with the German government or state-funded institutions on a curatorial level. However, given our current financial situation, accepting an award that offers a year of free mentorship seemed like an option worth considering. Cinelogue has been operating under very precarious circumstances, with no funding for nearly two years, and we need any assistance available. After discussing with the core team, I decided to apply.

By mid-September, I was informed that Cinelogue had been selected for the award. The news was surprising, especially given Cinelogue’s political stance regarding Palestine. Despite conflicting feelings, I decided to accept the award along with the uncertainties on how to navigate it, acknowledging this internal conflict as part of our reality in Germany and realizing Cinelogue needed the mentorship support.

Then, on October 22, I received a call from the Kultur- und Kreativpilot*innen project manager, whom I had met during the jury rounds in early September. She explained that certain phrases in Cinelogue’s public statements had been found to violate the code of conduct of the u-institute, which manages the project. She asked if I could join a Zoom meeting the following day with two additional representatives from The Impact Company, serving as their awareness team. During the call, they told me that they have decided to revoke the award from Cinelogue. As a reason for their decision, they highlighted specific sentences in Cinelogue’s Palestine solidarity statement published on Instagram in early June – particularly those advocating for the abolition of Zionism and describing it as a continuation of colonialism – as being in conflict with the u-institut’s code of conduct due to what they viewed as discriminatory implications against a population or specific group of people.

I clarified that our statement targets an ideology rather than any specific population, explaining that Zionism represents a framework under which a genocide has been inflicted. Ultimately, I expressed that perhaps it was best to part ways, and that this was only a confirmation of my existing discomfort with accepting the award in the first place. A few days after the call, I requested a written explanation of their decision to withdraw the award but have not received a response.

City Government of Erfurt Cancels HeART of Gaza Children’s Art Exhibition.

On October 22, 2024, the art exhibition HeART of Gaza was cancelled by order of the city government of Erfurt for being “planned in cooperation with political initiatives.” The exhibition, which was scheduled to open in the pop-up store F11 on October 23, was supposed to show drawings by Palestinian children in which they describe their everyday lives in Gaza.
According to a press release on the official city portal of Erfurt published on October 23, the pop-up store is a “testing ground and laboratory for young companies, founders and anyone who wants to try out a commercial business idea.” It explained that the space was being used by the artist initiative JederKann to present and sell various “works of art” and “handicraft items.” The press release writes that as the city administration is “politically neutral” and the rental agreement prohibits the pop-up store from being used for political purposes, such a political exhibition as HeART of Gaza could not take place.
In an interview with MDR Thüringen, Steffen Linnert, Head of the Economic Department, added that HeART of Gaza was not organized by JederKann, but primarily by the pro-Palestinian groups Erfurt Unsilenced and Jena for Palestine, contravening the prohibition in the rental agreement on third parties using the exhibition space. In the same MDR article, the exhibition team denied that there were political messages in the drawings – rather, they depicted the everyday life of children in Gaza and intended to start conversations with visitors.
In an interview with Etos Media, Erfurt Unsilenced elaborated that some pictures had typical children’s motifs such as family and nature, while others showed houses being bombed. The project was “not political but cultural, as no speeches or lectures were planned.” The exhibition team noted that Ukrainian artists had exhibited in the pop-up store in February 2024, and this cancellation would probably not have happened if the drawings were made by Ukrainian children.
According to evangelisch.de, JederKann continued to occupy the pop-up store and sold its artworks and handicrafts, with the proceeds going towards the support of humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza. HeART of Gaza eventually exhibited on October 26 at Café Nomad in Erfurt, in support of the You Are Not Alone campaign led by Mohammad Timraz, which facilitates the provision of basic necessities and artistic spaces for children and families in Gaza.
The same exhibition, originally scheduled to open on November 20, 2024, at altonale Hamburg, was also canceled. In an Instagram story, altonale, a non-profit cultural organisation, stated that they do not share a “one-sided approach to the tragic conflict in Gaza.” They stated that the reason for the cancellation was to prevent the event from being politically instrumentalized.

The Hochschule Rhein-Waal withdrew the room for a screening and discussion of the documentary Roadmap to Apartheid due to concerns about its "politically charged" nature. Green politician Olaf Plotke had previously sent a letter to the university labeling the event as "antisemitic."

Sorah & Spoke canceled a concert at Hafenklang Hamburg after the venue imposed anti-Palestinian restrictions on them, such as banning Palestinian flags during the concert and questioning the artists' solidarity with Palestine.

After pressure from the city, euro-scene Leipzig canceled the performance And Here I Come by the Freedom Theatre from the West Bank, which was to take place on November 6th and 7th. Leipzig's Department of Culture had initially announced that it would investigate a refund of a proportion of the festival's funding budget while Schauspielhaus Leipzig had considered canceling the rental agreement with euro-scene.

A public discussion titled "Poisoned debate – blocked paths: How we can stand together despite the Israel/Palestine conflict," which was planned for October 15 by Evangelische Stadtakademie München, was canceled at short notice by the Munich Dean's Office. The invited speakers were Fuad Hamdan, a Palestinian activist from Munich, and Gady Gronich, the managing director of the European Rabbinical Conference in Munich. The reason given was social media posts by Hamdan in which he compared Netanyahu to Hitler and Gaza to the Warsaw Ghetto and described the war in Gaza as a genocide. The cancellation stemmed from an email written by Volker Beck to the antisemitism commissioner of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). The decision was criticized by all invited speakers as well as the academy director Barbara Hepp.

Thomas Gerwers, chairman of the German Photographic Society's Art, Market, and Law Section, wrote a letter to Iranian-German photographer Shirin Abedi, accusing her of “political propaganda” for speaking up about Palestine and asking her to apologize for saying “Free Palestine” during her award acceptance speech.

WERK 2 sagte aus Angst, Fördergelder zu verlieren, eine Panel Diskussion zwischen Palästinenser:innen und jüdischen Israelis ab. Der Fokus der Veranstaltung sollte auf die Möglichkeiten einer Einstaatenlössung sowie Zukunftsvisionen für ein befreites Palästina liegen.

Die Heinrich-Böll-Stitftung beauftragete im Mai 2024 Tomer Dotan-Dreyfus einen Artikel über das Jüdischsein in Deutschland nach dem 7. Oktober zu schreiben. Er schrieb einen Text darüber, wie Deutschland die Meinungsvielfalt im Namen des Kampfes gegen Antisemitismus einschränkt. Die Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung weigerte sich, den Artikel zu veröffentlichen. Der Text wurde stattdessen am 9. Oktober von Analyse & Kritik veröffentlicht.

Ein zehnjähriger Fünftklässler wurde von seinem Lehrer gezwungen, sein Palästina-Fußballtrikot auszuziehen, obwohl der Junge sagte, dass er nichts unter dem Trikot trug. Der Lehrer entgegenete, von ihm aus könne er nackt dasitzen. Als der Junge weinend sein Shirt ausziehen wollte, gab ihm sein Mitschüler eine Strickjacke zum Überziehen.

Im Vorfeld des Living Resistance Festivals im September 2024 veröffentlichte Extinction Rebellion Deutschland eine Liste von Regeln. Diese beinhalteten unter anderem die Einhaltung der Arbeitsdefinition von Antisemitismus der IHRA, ein Verbot bestimmter pro-palästinensischer Slogans und Symbole, eine Entmutigung weißer Menschen eine Keffiyeh zu tragen sowie die Forderung an alle Beteiligten, das Extistensrecht Israels anzuerkennen.

After pressure from the City of Bochum, the cultural center Bahnhof Langendreer canceled an exhibition titled Guernica Gaza by the Palestinian artist Mohammed Al-Hawajri. The exhibition includes a work of the same name that was accused of antisemitism as part of documenta 15 in 2022. The basis of the accusations is that the work allegedly implies an equation of Israel with Nazi Germany by linking the attack on Guernica in the Spanish Civil War, in which the Nazi air force was involved, with Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. In a letter to Bahnhof Langendreer, Bochum's head of cultural affairs, Dietmar Dieckmann (SPD), referred to these accusations and declared that the planned exhibition would "encourage antisemitic resentment," urging the cultural center not to hold the exhibition. Members of the SPD and FDP in Bochum demanded cuts to state funding for the arts center if it did not cancel. Bahnhof Langendreer ultimately canceled the exhibition, stating that the public discussion surrounding the exhibition no longer served the original aim of “opening up spaces for discourse on the subject of the Middle East conflict.”

JETZT! Festival Disinvites Speaker Over His Position on Palestine

In July 2024, I was invited to participate in a discussion on mobility by Melanie Mohren and Bernhard Herbordt, the curators of the biennial art festival NOW! – Spaces for Action between Art and Society (JETZT! – Handlungsräume zwischen Kunst und Gesellschaft). Organized by KulturRegion Stuttgart, the festival takes place from September 21 until October 13, 2024.

On August 16, I received an email on behalf of the curators and the moderator, Michael Turinsky, about some concerns they had, and they invited me to an online meeting. During the meeting, they mentioned that their concerns were coming from my position regarding Palestine and an image with a red triangle they found on my Instagram. They were trying to convince me that when I attend the discussion, I should avoid mentioning Palestine because it might be off-topic, as the focus of the discussion is supposed to be on mobility and movement.

On September 4, I received an email from the curators in which they apologized about canceling their invitation because the managing director decided that they could not "present a position within the festival that is not clearly condemning the violence of Hamas on Oct 7th against Israeli civilians."

German Jazz Prize Disinvites New York Curator over her Palestine Solidarity

On July 8, 2024, I was invited to contribute to the next edition of the German Jazz Prize as an expert juror. I gratefully accepted, had an introductory meeting, and began compiling lists. On August 15, I was invited to "another brief Zoom call," which was held on August 22. The managing director, Katja Lucker, was on the call, and we began an unexpected and extensive discussion about my public support for Palestine and PACBI (Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel).

I responded to each of Lucker's many concerns: when she said she worried I could not be a neutral judge of Israeli musicians, I explained that PACBI does not apply to individuals, and mentioned excellent Israeli jazz artists living in NYC; when she said it was an antisemitic double-standard to criticize Israel more than, say, Russia, I explained that my priority as an American is to criticize the crimes being funded by my own government, and that I do so alongside many Jewish people; when she brought up negative anecdotes she had heard about BDS and PACBI, I said that I am not inclined to criticize the organizing tactics of people living under apartheid for decades, but can reassure her about my own positions. I confirmed that I do not support Hamas, adding that I was never asked if I supported the 9/11 terrorists when protesting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and reiterated that I'm focused on opposing the state-funded mass slaughter of civilians.

Lucker expressed her concern that other jury members and funding parties might take issue with my involvement, and I said I was happy to speak with anyone on the jury, advisory board, or even funding parties to ensure their comfort with my participation.

She eventually shared that she had previously been subjected to a BDS boycott for work in Tel Aviv; I told her that while direct partnerships like that one would certainly face boycotts, I would still not be affected because PACBI doesn’t apply to secondary boycotts. Lucker then heavily implied that they would work with me if I simply removed PACBI support from the top of my website, saying it would be different if I had simply signed something once, or made a post on social media.

She ultimately asked me to confirm that I would not remove PACBI links from my site; when I said that I would not, she said that we had "a problem," but that she would try to make some calls to other members of her organization and/or someone from cultural affairs responsible for their funding.

On August 30, Lucker wrote again to thank me for our conversation and say that they had made the difficult decision to stop our collaboration.

The Berlin district office of Lichtenberg canceled the group exhibition Of Love because some positions used the term "genocide in Gaza" without mentioning "the atrocities on October 7, 2023." The office simultaneously insisted that "the freedom of art is not up for discussion."

Palästina-Solidarität Köln was denied participation in Cologne Christopher Street Day because the organizers felt that the Palestine issue did not "fit into the overall picture." When the organizers were reminded of the year's theme of "Human Rights", and the fact that CSD is a demonstration, they offered a "compromise" and said that Palästina-Solidarität Köln could join the march, but without any reference to Palestine (no watermelons, keffiyehs or banners).

An attendee of the annual exhibition at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle had their keffiyeh ripped.

Mad and Disability Pride Parade Berlin Asks a Protester to Leave Over Palestine Scarf

On July 13, 2024, we, a group of disabled and chronically ill friends, attended the Mad and Disability Pride Parade in Berlin. Shortly after joining, one of us was approached by a coordinator ('Ordner*in') who told them to remove the Palestinian flag-patterned scarf hanging over their baby’s pram. The coordinator said flags were not allowed at the parade to ensure that everyone felt safe and welcome. Our friend refused to put the scarf away. When asked why, they replied, "Palestine Solidarity is Disability Justice," and the coordinator walked away.

About 20 minutes later, a group of around six coordinators approached our friend again, asking them to remove the scarf for the "safety and comfort" of “everyone.” Our friend explained that they would not remove the scarf and that by asking them to remove it, they were making us feel uncomfortable and unsafe. The coordinator introduced themself as the parade organizer and explained that they had a long collective decision-making process to agree on this matter. Our friend said that the parade was absolutely not representing "everyone" as they were claiming, and the organizers asked them to leave.

Some members of the organization team approached people wearing keffiyeh and asked them to put the keffiyehs away, explaining that it was their rule and they didn't want to have any problems with the police.

Later on, we heard from friends who were in another part of the parade that someone attacked them. They were holding a sign that read: "Russian war in Ukraine violently makes people disabled” and "queercrips for Palestine.” The attacker came very close to them and tried to take the poster away, shouting, "We said no flags and no political statements!" They explained that these slogans are part of Disability Justice. The attacker then left but watched them from a distance. During the parade, they saw many violent acts on crip comrades who were for Disability Justice.

Many comrades left early, feeling unsafe due to the oppressive control throughout the route. Towards the end of the route, a coordinator told them to move faster because they were near the police. When told it was ableist to ask disabled people to move faster, the coordinator, despite acknowledging that not everyone can walk fast, said they wanted to avoid problems with the police.

We all left the parade.

Archivio Conz Requests REPLICA to Remove Poems Expressing Peace and Solidarity with Palestinians

We regret to announce the cancellation of An Arrow Against the Tank, an intervention that was to take place on July 24 at Archivio Conz in Berlin. We, the artists involved in the project, Sicilian Antigroup: a translocal study, supported by the Italian Council (12th edition, 2023), decided to instead carry out an action of protest to demonstrate against the censorship we experienced from Archivio Conz. Our choice to organize a protest action was made based on the censorship by Archivio Conz against the political and cultural legacy of the Antigroup.

After a year of preparations and exchanges of information on the project, the Archivio team demanded that we censor an important part of the Antigroup's history. We were asked to remove any reference to the poems of peace and solidarity that Sicilian poets addressed to the Palestinian people 40 years ago. “So, dearest friends, only those poems and no others. Should you not agree, we cancel” was one of the vile phrases that were sent to us by email. This was an attempt to silence, without opportunity for dialogue, the voice of the Antigroup and, moreover, of all those who demand an end to the genocide. For these and other reasons, we have decided to discontinue our collaboration with Archivio Conz, so as not to be complicit in the cultural censorship policy that the West is guilty of.

Following the Sicilian Antigroup’s paths, we decided to plan an open reading in the square of Monbijoupark on the same date and time of the canceled event. The aim was to emphasize the potential revolutionary power of the small against the strong powers.

The moderator of an event at the University of Freiburg interrupted an audience member when he spoke about Palestine and asked him to leave the event. He faced immediate hostility from the audience, who shouted pro-Israel slogans and tried to physically take the microphone from him. Questions about the university's ties to investors in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank were dismissed, and attendees raising these concerns were forcibly removed by police.

Breminale canceled a gig by Shufa "for security reasons" due to their solidarity with Palestine, but then reinstated it an hour later.

Heinrich-Böll Stiftung published an article by Sarah El Bulbeisi on Germany's Palestinian community and their experiences as refugees on their website. They deleted the article after criticism from Zionists, but then re-published it again after criticism of the censorship.

Gymnasium Tiergarten Cancels the Ceremonial Awarding of Graduation Diplomas in Fear of Pro-Palestine Protests

In June 2024, Gymnasium Tiergarten, a high school in Berlin-Mitte, made the unprecedented decision to cancel its graduation ceremony that was planned for July 5, 2024, at Delphi Filmpalast as well as to inform the Berlin police of the cancellation. School administrators claimed to have learned from a "reliable source" that approximately 50 out of 120 students in a WhatsApp chat group had planned to use the event as a platform for pro-Palestinian protest.

In a letter sent to families of students, school leaders wrote that they had no choice but to cancel the event because they could not guarantee its safety. They expressed concerns about the risk of a school event being used to present unbalanced perspectives or becoming a platform for threats, insults, pressure, or danger.

School leaders declined to comment on the matter and referred press inquiries to the Berlin Senate Department for Education, Youth and Family. At the request of broadcast service rbb, a Department spokesperson said, "We received the information from the press and immediately forwarded it to the school supervisory authority. Our goal is to find a solution together with the school and to ensure that the presentation of the Abitur certificates takes place in an appropriate setting."

Berlin's Senator for Education Katharina Günther-Wünsch (CDU) publicly supported the cancellation: "I stand firmly by the side of the school management and the teaching staff in their decisions," she told the Berlin Tagesspiegel. "We will not tolerate any threats, expressions of hatred and anti-Semitic statements and will continue to take restrictive action together against any disturbances."

After backlash over the school's initial plan for graduates to pick up their certificates from the secretary's office, a replacement event was held on July 4, 2024, in the school’s auditorium. Students were handed their certificates in small, staggered groups under police surveillance, with around 40 officers stationed "preventively" in and around the school.

Eye4Palestine and other pro-Palestinian groups, in coordination with student representatives, organized a demonstration in front of Gymnasium Tiergarten on July 5 under the slogan "Stop Repression in Schools." In response, the school management declared the day a field trip day and sent all classes on excursions.

A guest was rejected at the entrance to Nina Queer's party Irrenhaus at Cassiopeia Berlin for wearing a keffiyeh. They told the person to hide it because Germans wouldn't understand that. The person left.

A visitor of Humboldt Forum was asked by security to remove a tote bag with Palestinian symbols (watermelon & fishnet design) or to leave. The Humboldt Forum later responded, saying that they "do not tolerate political symbols that trivialize violence or discriminate against groups of people. In our view, the melon on the bag is not such a symbol and should not have been flagged by security."

Daniel Shuminov was suspended from his duties as a guide and audience coordinator at the Historical Museum of Frankfurt am Main without explanation due to his role as a spokesperson for the Palestine Camp "Hind's Garden" at Goethe University Frankfurt.

DHL Closes Bubble’s Paketshop for Hanging Posters in Solidarity with Palestine

I am the business owner of Bubble, a non-binary inclusive CBD and coffee shop on Sonnenallee. I have been working with DHL running a parcel shop (Paketshop) since I opened. At the end of May and beginning of June 2024, I had a lot of antideutsch vandalism on my windows and around five Antideutsche came to my shop. In the same week, I got a call from DHL who confronted me for having political posters and told me that people complained.

A week later, on June 11, 2024, an official from DHL came from Hamburg, especially for me, and was disrespectful to me in front of one client and another person in the shop. He told me that my contract will be canceled, because people complain about my political posters and that DHL doesn't do politics. I am a non-binary person and said to him that DHL does do politics, because they have a rainbow flag on their Instagram.

One week later, I got a letter from DHL saying that the contract for my Paketshop will be canceled on September 30, 2024. However, they already disconnected me from the scanner machine three days later, so that there was no more possibility for me to log into the system. Then I got another letter saying that I have to give back the material (scanner and printer) by July 1, 2024 and that I would have to pay €630 if I don’t give it back.

I returned the material, but got another letter claiming that the pick-up of the material wasn’t possible and that I should now send it to them on my own expenses before July 16. Only when I showed them photos to prove that the pick-up was done, they told me to forget their last letter.

Das unabhängige, linke Frankfurter Zentrum ExZess sagte Studierenden der Goethe Universität Frankfurt a.M. die Nutzung seiner Räumlichkeiten unter der Bedingung zu, dass der palästinensisch-amerikanischen Aktivistin Hebh Jamal weder der Zutritt noch ein Redebeitrag gewährt würde. Die Studierenden lehnten das Angebot ab.

Ract!festival forderte Besucher:innen auf, während des Festivals keine Kufiyahs zu tragen um ein „weitgehend konfliktfreies Festival zu ermöglichen,“ obwohl das ursprünglich erlaubt war.

Kanzler Olaf Schulz warf Geraldine Rauch, Präsidentin der Technischen Universität (TU) Berlin, als Expertin aus seinem Zukunftsrat. Anlass hierfür waren Beschwerden der CDU und Springer-Presse über einen Post, den Rauch auf X favorisierte und der ein Bild Netanyahus mit Nazisymbolen assoziierte. Mitglieder des Akademischen Senats der TU und Politiker:innen auf Bundesebene forderten ihre Resignation als Präsidentin der TU.

Das Bildungsministerium befahl der HGW Leipzig, einer autonomen Studenteninitiative, die sich an der Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst (HGB) in Leipzig gegen die Belagerung Gazas organisierte, ihren Raum zu räumen. Diese Entscheidung folgte einem anonymen Brief von Studierenden die mehr „Neutralität“ am Campus forderten.

Halle-Wittenbergs Martin Luther Universität sagte einen Vortrag von Iris Hefets (Jüdische Stimme) zur Geschichte der deutschen „Staatsräson“ und deutsch-israelischen Beziehungen ab. Begründet wurde die Absage durch die „politische Neutralität“ der Universität sowie mit Antisemitismusvorwürfen gegen die jüdische Vortragende.

IU International University of Applied Sciences Removes an Interview with a Moroccan Activist for Alleged Antisemitism on Social Media

I am a Moroccan woman currently based in Morocco. I have been an activist for over ten years. In 2021, I was nominated for a fully funded scholarship for African Women in Tech along with ten other African women by IU International University of Applied Sciences (IU Internationale Hochschule), a private for-profit University of Applied Sciences based in Erfurt, Germany.

I am currently enrolled in their distance learning bachelor's program in English. In 2023, I had to go to Germany for a cross-cultural program. When the school learned about my trip, they invited me to visit the campus in Berlin and conducted some interviews with me in November 2023. During our conversation, we filmed a video and a writer was to write an article about me and my journey in activism and technology, in order to feature me in their social media and website.

On April 29, 2024, they published the video on YouTube, and the article was uploaded as a student spotlight on their blog on May 9. These were also shared on their LinkedIn a few days after that. I have been active on LinkedIn for years discussing different topics and social issues. The university had seen my profile multiple times before selecting me for the scholarship in 2021. Also, during the six months between creating the article, video, and the publication, the genocide was still ongoing, so I was actively sharing about the suffering of Palestinians since October 2023.

On June 6, I tried to access IU’s blog link but found that it didn't work. It turned out that all the posts, videos, and articles featuring me had been deleted without any notification. When I inquired about this the next morning, I didn't receive a reply until I copied the chancellor of the university and the scholarship authorities via email. In response, they apologized for not informing me promptly, stating that they had planned to inform me about the situation, but I had reached out to them first.

They alleged that I had shared LinkedIn posts that were considered antisemitic under German law. What's puzzling is that the person who reported my LinkedIn content is not affiliated with the university, which raises questions about why their opinion was taken into account without considering mine. Notably, the university's CEO and many other staff members interacted with my posts, with the CEO even commenting positively on an article I shared. Furthermore, the scholarship authorities have expressed pride in my work and have been following my progress since 2021, which suggests that they were aware of my activities. This makes it particularly perplexing that they only raised concerns about my posts after an unknown party brought them to their attention. Additionally, I found it unsettling that on the day my content was deleted, several university staff members viewed my LinkedIn profile multiple times, but no one contacted me directly. It's important to note that I was in Germany for a cross-cultural program and not for studies, as I am an online student based in my home country.

During my visit to Germany, I had the opportunity to speak at the German federal parliament about the ongoing genocide in Palestine and called for a ceasefire. However, despite my public activities, I had never been accused of being antisemitic until now. The fact that the accusations stem from an unidentified individual raises concerns about the lack of clear communication and respect.

It's worth mentioning that the contract I have with the university states that my thoughts and opinions are my own and should be accurately represented in any social media-related activity. It emphasizes the importance of protecting both myself and the organization's image or voice and confirms my right to individual autonomy and freedom of expression. But in their email so far, the university is still in denial that we have that consent.

This series of events made it clear to me that IU university only used me to promote their DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) agenda without offering sincere support.

Ein Mitglied des Landtags Baden-Württemberg forderte die Gewinnerin des Schüler:innenwettbewerbs Judith Scheytt und ihre:n Freund:in auf, ihre Kufiyahs für ein gemeinsames Foto mit der Landtagspräsidentin bei der Preisverleihung abzulegen. Scheytt wurde bei der Zeremonie im Namen des Landtags und des regionalen Zentrums für politische Bildung ein Preis für ihr politisches Engagement überreicht.

The University of Heidelberg canceled the event Palestinian Activism and (German) Media with activists Hebh Jamal and Mahmud Abu-Odeh that was to take place as part of the seminar #Islam: Religious Dynamics in Online Spaces claiming fear of "political agitation" by the speakers.

The Humboldt University insisted that the open event Being a Doctor where there are no more Hospitals, organized by Decolonise Charité, no longer be open to the public and refused entry to external participants. Additionally, they enforced that bags of all participants be checked by security for "spray paints/cans, colors, weapons including pocket knives, batons or objects that can be used as such."

Kirche von Unten Cancels Event by fluid.vision over Fundraising for Internationalist Queer Pride Berlin

On May 29, 2024, Kirche von Unten (KvU) canceled Fluidity, an event organized by queer collective fluid.vision that included a fundraiser for Internationalist Queer Pride (IQP) Berlin. Originally scheduled on June 2, 2024, the KvU decided it could not support a fundraiser for the IQP due to “the anti-Semitic incidents at IQP in the last three years” and “the cooperation [of the IQP] with groups such as ‘Palestine speaks’ and ‘Berlin against Pinkwashing.’”

In a statement on Facebook and Instagram posted on May 29, 2024 in English and German, the KvU stated they were “unable to agree with Fluid Vision [sic] on a different donation target or a common view of the issue.” They also highlighted that “statements such as ‘from river to the sea’” were unacceptable to them as they called into question Israel’s right to exist, “and in some cases for Israel to be wiped out.” They explained that “cooperation with groups that celebrate or justify the actions of Hamas is out of the question for us” and expressed their sympathy “with all victims of this conflict in Gaza and Israel.”

fluid.vision posted a response on Facebook and Instagram on May 30, 2024, where they highlighted the “last minute” cancellation, asserting that the KvU “knew about the Soli cause [sic] from the very beginning.” They expressed discontent with the KvU’s “intentional lack of communication, impossible ultimatums, last-minute cancellation, and defamation of [them] on their social media.”

Fluidity was finally held on June 2, 2024, at Lark, following a GoFundMe campaign to cover the additional venue costs. The event had two workshops on the topic of resistance – Organizing Queer Resistance from fluid.vision and IQP and Demo Rights and Repression Awareness – alongside DJ sets and performances.
Founded in 1987, KvU emerged from a church congress held alongside the official 1987 Protestant Church Congress in East Berlin and developed into one of the most important activity centers of left-wing opposition in the GDR. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall, KvU evolved into a political and social project. Describing itself as a "cross-generational leisure facility" and a "testing ground" for ideas, KvU claims to offer "space for political discourse” while rejecting “sexist, racist, anti-Semitic, fascist, homophobic and any kind of discriminatory behavior.”

fluid.vision is a queer collective with the goal of creating new rave experiences in Berlin. They place special emphasis on the creation of safe environments for LGBTQIA+, FLINTA, and BIPOC groups in Berlin by organizing events with queer DJs, artists, performers, and educators. According to fluid.vision, this cancellation was part of “a series of cancellations of cultural events even just remotely linked to Palestine.” They stated that with the drastically increasing repression from the government, “we need to stand together and create safer places for marginalized groups.”

After a pro-Palestinian performance by German-Palestinian drag queen Robyn Caskets for Düsseldorf pride at JugendKULTURcafé Franzmann, the performer received harsh backlash for using visuals that are also used by BDS. Another pro-Palestinian performance by drag queen Ms. AyRan was censored for not reflecting the political values of the venue.

Pianist Kelly Moran expressed her solidarity with Palestine and dedicated two pieces to the children in Gaza shortly before the end of her performance at Approximation Festival in Düsseldorf. According to Volker Bertelmann (curator of the festival, also known as Hauschka), she broke an agreement not to make a political statement on stage. He said that she "crossed a line" and that he would not invite her again.

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) requested an internal review of whether funding can be canceled for critical university lecturers. The explicit reason for the review was an open letter from university lecturers against the eviction of a temporary pro-Palestinian occupation of Berlin's Free University (FU) in which they spoke out against police violence and in support of freedom of assembly and freedom of expression at universities. The Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP), who had publicly criticized the open letter and questioned whether the lecturers "stand on the ground of the constitution," later claimed that she was unaware of the request to review the cancellation of funding and consequently retired her State Secretary, Sabine Döring (CDU), who initiated the review.

The University of Düsseldorf imposed severe restrictions on an event about the Nakba with Jules El-Khatib by requesting a security plan from the organizing student group Die Linke.SDS. In addition to asking them to preliminarily lay out how they would deal with criminal and/or antisemitic statements, the university demanded that they hire a professional security service for the event. Due to the student groups' lack of funds for a security service and the short notice of these requests, the event had to be canceled.

Stefanie Mackies (Die Linke) resigned from the Halle City Council after facing heavy criticism for her participation in a pro-Palestinian demonstration on April 30, 2024. She stated: "My solidarity with the people of Palestine and my political work on this issue are unwelcome in the current faction."

SO36 canceled the event War in Gaza – Peace Perspectives from the Region with Israeli and Palestinian speakers with short notice. The reason given was that they wanted to respect the Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah) and, therefore, refrain from discussing Israel in their venue on this day, despite the fact that the clash of dates had been pointed out by the organizers of the Interventionist Left from the outset.

The University of Göttingen banned the planned lecture Gaza: The ongoing genocide in the context of the Nakba with Wieland Hoban and Abu Hajar at Stadtlabor on short notice, citing "fire safety and security concerns."

Ahead of a gig by the techno-punk band Deli Girls at Leipzig's IfZ as part of TRIP Festival, the venue and festival staff expressed discomfort and passive-aggressive behavior towards the band's request to project pro-Palestine visuals during their set, asking "Free Palestine from what?" and pointing to the festival's no-flag policy. They ended up not projecting the visuals and Deli Girls thus played harsh noise instead of their own material as a form of protest.

An event titled Life, Death, Tragedy in Israel and Palestine with Jewish-American author Nathan Thrall was canceled last minute by the host Union International Club in Frankfurt without an official explanation. The panel, organized by Bard College Berlin, was then moved to an alternative location (medico-Haus) and took place on May 7, 2024.

HAU Disinvites Afghan Panelist After She Insists on Palestinian Representation at Feminist Festival.

In April 2024, I received an invitation from HAU to participate in the opening panel of the program, Patterns for Life – Feminist Cultural Techniques from Iran, Israel, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, and Tunisia.
The other panelist would be a well-known figure from Germany’s post-migrant scene with Turkish roots. I was to represent a diasporic perspective from Afghanistan. The discussion topic would be feminist cultural practices from our countries of origin.
It was acknowledged that there was a desire to discuss the genocide in Gaza, but it was emphasized that this could not be the sole focus. Upon further inquiry, it was revealed that a Palestinian artist had previously been approached but declined, because HAU couldn’t guarantee sufficient discussion about the genocide in Gaza.
I requested some time to consider and later stated that my participation would only be possible if at least one Palestinian or Arab artist was involved. This was to counteract the demonization and exclusion in the German art and cultural scene, which I feel strongly about.
In response, HAU stated that Palestinian perspectives were already included in the program and that the issue was curatorial, not political, with no political reasons against having a Palestinian panelist.
After insisting on my condition, I experienced ten days of silence before receiving a call about another matter, during which HAU casually mentioned that they had invited an Iranian artist who had now accepted, so my participation was no longer needed. The call ended without giving me a chance to respond.
In early June, the program went online with the opening panel. I initially chose not to go public but discussed my experience with friends. Friends and acquaintances noted that despite the program’s focus on feminist cultural practices, including those from Palestine, there were no Palestinian perspectives represented, and a film related to Palestine that was shown was directed by an Irish person.
HAU was unaware of the stir these discussions had caused until it faced confrontations by several friends and acquaintances about a prominent participant being funded by the Israeli government and the lack of Palestinian perspectives, despite claims to the contrary.
In response, HAU frantically tried to include a Palestinian participant, but all refused, as these efforts only came after HAU realized that those responsible would lose credibility with people who had more social capital and 'importance' than I did. Consequently, I also learned that well-known Palestinians were privately pressured to participate, and the term “ungratefulness” was mentioned because people did not accept the invitation, as the lack of credibility in HAU’s approach had become widely known.
After the scandal broke within the scene, the panel suddenly expanded to three participants, one with Egyptian roots. When several program participants, including the Irish director and the panelist of turkish descent, withdrew, HAU intensified efforts to find a Palestinian participant, but no one wanted to be tokenized post-scandal.
On June 19, 2024, HAU released a non-specific statement about participants withdrawing from the program without mentioning the reasons, and changed the program’s name, knowing that the bluff about Palestinian representation had been exposed.
Two key questions reveal HAU’s unreliability:

1. Why invite an artist if the invitation isn’t binding because a previously invited person accepted? This also overlooks how the program contributed to the invisibility of Afghans, often overshadowed by Iranians.
2. Why were there suddenly positions available for additional panelists, particularly of Arab or Palestinian origin, after the scandal became public?

Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg Changes Nationality of Palestinian Students to “Stateless” then Reverses Decision.

On April 26, 2024, 14 Palestinian students at Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg received an email from the Department of Student Affairs that their nationality entry must be changed to “stateless.” These students had entered “Palestinian Territories” as their nationality at enrollment.

In the email, the university informed the students that “due to the changes in the statistical requirements [as set out by the Law on Statistics for Higher Education], ‘Palestinian Territories’ may no longer be used as a nationality in the next official student registration, as this is not a clarified nationality. Instead, the information ‘stateless’ must be entered. We will make this change in our student information system in the next few days. We kindly ask for your understanding.”

On April 30, 2024, after receiving a considerable amount of external pressure about their email, the university’s rector, Prof. Jens Strackeljan, released a statement which announced that this decision had been reversed. The statement reads, “After receiving several inquiries and a subsequent repeated examination of the legislator’s requirements, this procedure turned out to be unnecessary at the present time and will therefore not be implemented. The students concerned will now be informed immediately. The University of Magdeburg sincerely apologizes to the students for the misinformation.” This statement was posted on the university’s social media channels.

On May 30, 2024, a group of students identifying as Students for Palestine, Magdeburg conducted a flash mob at the university’s canteen, protesting “the inhumane war crimes of the Israeli state.” On the same day, the group released a six-point list of demands to the university’s administration via Instagram. The list includes “An official and comprehensive apology from the university administration to Palestinian students for the erroneous change in higher education statistics,” as well as “an explanation of the measures that will be taken to prevent such incidents in which students are marginalized and discriminated against in the future.” The university has not publicly responded to these demands.

S. Fischer Verlag, Lana Bastašić's former publisher, canceled her reading at the bookshop LeseGlück in Berlin without informing her. Bastašić had terminated her contracts with S. Fischer Verlag in January 2024 over their failure "to be vocal about the ongoing genocide happening in Gaza" and their silence "on the systemic and systematic censorship happening in Germany."

Kiel University canceled the room for an event with Wieland Hoban, chairman of Jewish Voice, on the topic "Palestine solidarity & repression" that was to take place on April 24. The event was organized by Students for Palestine Kiel, Solidarische Hilfe Kiel and DKP.

The managing director of Bennohaus Münster canceled an event with Wieland Hoban, chairman of Jewish Voice, on the topic "What is anti-Semitism?" that was to take place on April 26.

The district office Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg closed down the two girls* facilities Alia and Phantalisa over workers' social media activity and activism in solidarity with Palestinians.

The Cologne police destroy mural depicting the north of Gaza.

I made a mural for the north of Gaza at the legal graffiti site Hall of Fame at Geldernstraße/Parkgürtel in Cologne. There were quotes from murdered Palestinians from Gaza and Aaron Bushnell's last words written there, among other things. On April 12, 2024, around eight hours after the graffiti was completed, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Verfassungsschutz) came by. They could not find any “anti-constitutional” content and yet the Cologne police destroyed the mural by making the quotes and the QR code (with links to articles from German public media talking about the suffering in Gaza) unrecognizable.

The next day, our art was deliberately smeared. The Al-Shifa hospital as it looks now (after the third occupation) was made unrecognizable and the keffiyeh of a little boy was painted over. Afterwards, the Social Service of Catholic Men (Sozialdienst Katholischer Männer – SKM) put pressure on the MittwochsMaler (who made the legal graffiti site possible) and forced them to paint over our mural completely, even though they didn't want to. The MittwochsMaler were threatened with losing their jobs and their financial support. We were able to prevent this with a protest on April 18, 2024.

Alternatives Kultur Werk Bitterfeld disinvited the Scottish punk band Oi Polloi from a concert planned for April 27, 2024, due to the band's “criticism of Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip" and their "one-sided solidarity with Palestine which go beyond an appropriate criticism of Israel’s policies." Oi Polloi shared that the collective sent an “interrogation by email” questioning the use of the term "genocide" and the band’s stance on Hamas – but uninvited the band before receiving an answer. Some of the other bands for the planned evening canceled their participation.

German police switched off power at the venue holding the Palestine Congress when Salman Abu Sitta began speaking online and canceled the three-day conference. British-Palestinian speaker and doctor Ghassan Abu Sittah had earlier been denied entry into Germany to attend the event.

SWR dismisses Helen Fares from moderating the digital dialogue format MixTalk due to "her extreme political positions" after she posted a video on Instagram using the app "No Thanks" which helps identify products by companies that support Israel.

University of Cologne Disinvites Jewish-American Philosopher Nancy Fraser from Visiting Professorship Over Her Signing the Open Letter Philosophy for Palestine.

On April 5, 2024, the University of Cologne announced that its award of the Albertus Magnus Professorship to Nancy Fraser had been rescinded. The reason provided for this decision was that Prof. Fraser signed the open letter, Philosophy for Palestine, in November 2023, alongside over 400 philosophy professors from around the world. The letter expressed solidarity with Palestinians, condemned the massacres in Gaza perpetrated by Israeli forces, and called for an academic and cultural boycott of Israeli institutions.

Nancy Fraser is Professor of Political and Social Science and Professor of Philosophy at the New School in New York. She is widely considered as a successor to Hannah Arendt and one of the most important intellectuals of the present era.
In an interview with Jacobin, Fraser states, ”It is a clear violation of the university’s own stated policy as well as of the […] values of academic freedom, freedom of opinion, freedom of speech, and open discussion. Whatever complicated rationalizations are being given as to why this proceeding allegedly doesn’t violate those values ring hollow to me. This also sends a very strong signal to all people in the university and scholars around the world: if you dare, say, express certain views on certain political subjects, you will not be welcome here [in Germany]. It has a chilling effect on people’s freedom of political speech.”

Regarding the ongoing trend of censorship in Germany, she commented, “I also think that it’s so important that Germans understand something of the complexity and breadth of Judaism, its history, its perspective. They are sort of signing on with this idea of an unconditional pledge of allegiance to Israel, that that’s the German responsibility – unqualified support for the state of Israel. Given what Israel is currently up to, this is a betrayal of what I would call the most important and weighty aspects of Judaism as a history, a perspective, and a body of thought.”

The disinvitation faced immediate backlash from academics worldwide. Academics from German universities reacted with a statement published on the website Critical Theory in Berlin. It writes, “It is inconceivable how the university’s actions can be reconciled with the rector’s stated commitment to ‘further dialogue in relation to current and future developments in Israel and the Middle East,’ to the high value of academic freedom, and to international dialogue. If the University of Cologne takes this commitment seriously, it must immediately retract its retraction. We emphatically demand that it do so.”
On April 8, 2024, the University of Cologne published an addendum to its initial press release, asserting that “it is not about whether Ms. Fraser is given a platform at the University of Cologne or not. It has more to do with the fact that the Albertus Magnus Professorship is a special honor bestowed by the entire university [...] hence it is a question of presenting an award, and if this award is appropriate.”

A fundraising event for Palästina Kongress was canceled after the Berlin police put the location, Café MadaMe, under immense pressure.

Four of the eleven selected artists for Pussart's UNSICHTBAR exhibition at Humboldt University were pressured to leave after raising concerns about censorship related to Palestine. Humboldt University banned any "references to the Israel-Palestine conflict" and "the use of the word genocide," while Pussart's organizers refused to relocate the exhibition and pressured artists to comply with the university's restrictions.

UdK Berlin decided not to renew Tirdad Zolghadr's contract as a guest professor at its Graduate School, despite a previous verbal agreement that it would last until September 2025. This was decided in a vote that was subject to backroom pressure and bureaucratic trickery, presumably because of his support for the student protests against the genocide in Gaza. The university has not given any explanation for this.

A request from students to hold a Palestine solidarity concert at the leftist bar Leo:16 in Münster was left unanswered for weeks and finally rejected by the bar collective.

Berliner Sparkasse suspended the bank account of Jüdische Stimme and demanded they disclose the names of their members and addresses, without giving a reason why. A court decision later confirmed that these actions were illegal.

A performance artist was invited to participate in the MetaHub festival at the Jewish Museum Frankfurt. A week before the event, the museum removed the artist's performance from its online platforms without informing them. When questioned, the museum deemed the performance "inappropriate for their audiences" but still offered to host it. The artist refused to perform under these conditions. Later, it emerged that the museum made the decision based on an Instagram story in support of Palestine shared by the artist.

Yuval Carasso was beaten by police and faced either 25 days in prison or a fine of € 2,000 for "resisting arrest" after calling the brochure Mythos#Israel1948 anti-Palestinian propaganda during the launch event at Bajszel in September 2023. He was later found not guilty in court.

Enad Marouf, recipient of the Will Grohmann Prize, was treated disrespectfully during the award ceremony at Akademie der Künste after he spoke up against the systemic dehumanization of Palestinians and brought attention to “a plausible genocide” on stage.

RAA Berlin (Regional Centre for Education, Integration and Democracy) Fires Project Coordinator over Social Media Activities Critical of Israel.

The deputy project coordinator at RAA Berlin (Regional Centre for Education, Integration and Democracy) for the migrant project “Strong Together – for a Diverse and Democratic Youth” (“gemeinsam starkgemacht – für eine vielfältige und demokratische Jugend”) was fired due to pro-Palestinian and Israel-critical likes on X. Based on information provided by Eren Güvercin (founding member of Alhambra Gesellschaft e.V. and part of the FDP-affiliated association Liberale Vielfalt), WELT journalist Lennart Pfahler denounced him and one of his colleagues in an article on March 10, 2024, and reported the two to both their employer and the Berlin Senate.

The Federal Ministry for Family Affairs demanded a statement from the RAA, while Volker Beck, President of the German-Israeli Society, called for the dismissals. RAA Managing Director Katja Kinder told WELT that RAA stands by Israel’s right to exist, but that it does not comment on its employees’ private posts for labor law reasons. Immediately after the journalistic inquiry by the Springer press, RAA asked the project coordinator to deactivate his private X account, which he agreed to do. Nevertheless, the project coordinator was relieved of all his duties on March 18, 2024, and a termination agreement was drawn up with effect from June 30, 2024. His colleague’s contract was not extended prior to the inquiry by the Springer press.

During the two-week process, there were no substantial discussions with the project coordinator and he was not given any precise reasons for the dismissal. Several colleagues also testified that there was no open communication about the case and that there is a lack of transparency in the organization.

After pressure from DIG Heilbronn, VHS Heilbronn dropped out as co-organizer of a discussion with Israeli historian Moshe Zuckermann due to fear of criticism. The event took place at a different venue, organized by Heilbronn Peace Council on its own behalf.

Bretterbude canceled a gig by Yuna and obszolenz at ShadesOfTechno due to their solidarity with Palestine.

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation subjected Huda Fakhreddine, Associate Professor of Arabic literature at the University of Pennsylvania, to additional evaluations in the selection process for the Bessel Prize because of her publicly expressed solidarity with Palestine.

The venue for an event organized by Not in our name ASH was canceled just four days before the scheduled date due to intimidation by a group accusing the organizers of antisemitism. The event took place on March 3 at a different location.

After pressure from the BGA Oldenburg, the venue for the lecture What does Zionism have to do with the genocide in Gaza? by Wieland Hoban was canceled. The organizers decided to hold the event online via Instagram nonetheless.

Kunstverein Braunschweig Cancels Exhibition by Johanna Hedva Over Hedva’s Use of the Term Genocide in a Press Release.

On February 29, 2024, Kunstverein Braunschweig canceled the solo exhibition Are You Willing to Break It by Los Angeles/Berlin based artist Johanna Hedva, which was scheduled to take place from March 16 to June 2, 2024. On March 15, Hedva stated in an Instagram post that the exhibition was canceled not because of “capacity reasons,” as stated on the Kunstverein’s website, but due to Hedva’s support for a free Palestine.
Hedva voiced that following the call to strike against German cultural institutions, they “chose to have a conversation with the curator [Benedikt Johannes Seerieder] and [the] director of the Kunstverein [Jule Hillgärtner].” In this conversation, Seerieder and Hillgärtener had assured Hedva that they would support Hedva being “explicitly pro-Palestine in the exhibition.” However, when Hedva used the phrase “ongoing genocide” in a draft of the press release that was shared internally, the director suggested to change the word “genocide” to “wars.”
After Hedva had consequently amended it to “undeniable genocide,” the institution “ghosted” them for two weeks, then informed them of the cancellation “via an unsigned email” sent from the Kunstverein’s general email account. According to Hedva, the director did not know about this email being sent.
Hedva noted that the curator did not have his contract renewed, and left “abruptly in the middle of production.” taz reported that Hillgärtner also stepped down as the director of the Kunstverein in March, though she was to be dismissed by the Association’s board by the end of October 20242. Neither of them made an official comment regarding the press release, but had informed Hedva that the “unofficial reason” for the cancellation of their exhibition was due to their use of the term “undeniable genocide.”

SAVVY Contemporary Rejects Rapper Abu Hajar as Speaker for Palestinian Film Screening Over State Funding Concerns.

I was invited as a guest speaker at an event organized by Cinelogue and Savvy Contemporary as part of the Savvy program LET'S SIT DOWN TOGETHER AND TALK ABOUT A LITTLE CULTURE, which was to take place on February 22, 2024. Cinelogue’s aim for the event was to highlight Palestinian narratives outside of the Berlinale context. Following the initial agreement, Savvy informed Cinelogue, as relayed to me by a Savvy employee, that they perceived the program as "too focused on Palestine". They expressed concerns regarding potential repercussions from state funding.

Furthermore, Savvy stipulated that my name, as a rapper and activist, should not be included in any program materials. They also insisted that I could only attend as a member of the audience due to my boycott of the 2017 Pop-Kultur festival over its association with the Israeli Embassy. Consequently, my participation was effectively revoked due to my principled stance against performing under the sponsorship of a settler colonial state, a decision which contradicted Savvy's purported commitment to decolonization.

However, the staff at Cinelogue rejected these conditions, asserting that my inclusion was integral to the program's goal of amplifying pro-Palestine voices. Despite this, Savvy, represented by three members of its administration, as I was informed by one of their employees, adamantly refused my involvement. As a result, the event relocated to a different venue, Spore Initiative. I have requested a formal apology from Savvy for their actions, as I consider it crucial for psychological rectification. However, as of now, this has not been provided.

I don't view this cancellation simply as a matter of ‘not taking sides’ or being concerned about funding, but rather as a deliberate effort to silence the pro-Palestine perspective. Savvy's administration may emphasize the necessity to save their funds, leaving us, as artists who have spoken up for Palestine, to endure the financial and psychological repercussions of being canceled. This feels more like a punishment for boycotting the apartheid state than simply a concern over financial stability. Meanwhile, Savvy continues to promote itself as a bastion of decoloniality and a champion of marginalized voices.

Sweat Music canceled DJ Mama Snake's gig at the launch of Sweat Festival at Fridas Pier in Stuttgart, citing the artist's support for BDS and their statements regarding "the events in Israel" as the reason.

Hafenklang Hamburg cancels concert by GGGOLDDD for their signing of the letter "Musicians for Palestine".

We are GGGOLDDD, a Dutch band. We've toured Germany extensively since 2013. We are also signees of Musicians For Palestine, a letter which calls for a ceasefire. We were booked for a show on May 16, 2024, at Hafenklang in Hamburg, a venue we've played twice before. Due to the delicate situation in Germany and in order to avoid any surprises, we had our agent inform the venue that we have signed Musicians For Palestine. Upon receiving this information, the venue withdrew the booking on February 22, 2024, stating "I / we have decided against it. I'm sorry, but I think it would only lead to conflicts later on anyway, so it's better not to." This surprised us as there were other Musicians For Palestine-acts programmed on the same stage. Having realized this, they replied "[...] that means we'll have to look even more closely in the future," suggesting that it was a mistake that they booked any artists showing solidarity with Palestine and that they will refrain from doing so in the future.

CDU and SPD Advocate for Use of Brochures Distorting the Nakba to High School Students in Neukölln.

On February 21, 2024, the Neukölln district council (Bezirksverordnetenversammlung) passed a motion by CDU directing Neukölln high schools to use a brochure entitled The Myth of Israel 1948 (Mythos Israel#1948). The utilization of the brochure at schools was encouraged, though not required. The brochure had been written by an organization called Masiyot, which describes itself as an “association of Jews and non-Jews with and without a migration background.” On its website, Masiyot states that among its goals, its primary aim is to raise awareness of authoritarian ideologies.

The document contains five essays, each arguing that the existing claims about Israel are false. The brochure states, for example, that the claim that Israel is a settler colony, and a product of Western imperialism is a myth. It declares instead that Israel is anti-racist, anti-colonial, and an anti-fascist entity. Another of the contained essays refutes any claim that Israel was established on stolen Palestinian land: “So if an Arab landowner sold to the Zionists, the previous Arab tenants lost their right to the land, but they were not robbed. The map can therefore only provide information about Jewish property at that time.”

One essay argues that Israel’s culpability in the Nakba is a myth. The author of the essay, Shany Mor, states that the UN distorts the word’s meaning and labels the UN’s assessment as “one-sided.” Mor concludes: “The Arabs' rejection of partition and the subsequent wars against Israel and ultimately the entire region was the real catastrophe for the Palestinians.” Furthermore, the brochure adopts the definition of anti-Semitism from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) and not the definition of the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism recommended by international scholars.

According to rbb (Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg), the vote to promote the document, which occurred during a public meeting of the Neukölln district council, was met with immediate and vocal disapproval from multiple members of the attending public. These individuals were promptly banned from the premises.

The left-wing parliamentary group of Neukölln urged Berlin’s Center for Political Education (Berliner Landeszentrale für politische Bildung) to stop promoting the project and filed for an amendment of the motion, asking the district office to prevent the circulation of the brochure in Neukölln's schools. This amendment was rejected.

Director of Haus am Lützowplatz Rejects Mohammad Shawky Hassan's Installation Due to Red-Green-Black Color Palette and Arabic Typography

A few months ago, I was invited to participate in the group exhibition for the recipients of the Berlin Senat's work stipend in 2023, which will open on Friday, March 1, 2024, at n.b.k (Neuer Berliner Kunstverein) and Haus am Lützowplatz. However, on February 19, the work that I was hoping to show was rejected by the director of Haus am Lützowplatz.

The gallery director refused my proposal to paint parts of the wall in red, green and black, claiming that the budget was insufficient and time was running out, even though she was perfectly fine with my first proposal to paint all the walls in silver, a choice that would have cost more and taken more time. I repeatedly asked for the reason behind rejecting these particular colors and until today never received an answer to my question.

More importantly, when the director of HaL saw my sketch with the Arabic typography, which I shared with her voluntarily, she wrote back to me on the same day that she will not allow any wall writing whose content has not been communicated to her in advance and which "the majority of the public cannot recognise."

It is one thing to ask for a translation as part of a conversation about the entire work, which I would have gladly provided, and another thing to demand it as a condition for showing a work and submitting it for approval by HaL and its "cooperation partners", which I categorically refuse out of principle. It is even more alarming to specifically tell me that since this is a project funded by the Senat, "a German and English translation of the work is required."

It is indeed sad to disguise censorship and paranoia from Arabic language and specific colors for reasons we all know with the "responsibility to care for visitors" as well as to other artists in the exhibition, and to witness a moment when Arabic writing on a wall has become so disturbing, even when the work is a queer reading of Egyptian and Lebanese celebrity talk shows and my intention was to show the magnitude and the history of this format, framing my space entirely with TV show titles or phrases and songs that have been popularized through these shows.

This situation could have been avoided if the curator simply gave me a call and asked me what my text is about, but it seems that we have reached unprecedented levels of mistrust in this country. Having said that, I am still ready to defend every single word in my text and its relationship to my work, whether in this installation or in general.

It is indeed ironic and very sad that an untranslated Arabic text has become too much even for an exhibition titled A Home for Something Unknown.

Ende Gelände Berlin Cancels Concert by A Lake By The Mõõn due to their Social Media Posts.

Public Statement on Ende Gelände and their silencing and censorship of pro-Palestinian voices.

Ende Gelände Berlin decided to cancel my concert this Saturday, February 24 2024, at their solidarity party at K9 in Berlin due to my posts on Instagram about Palestine.

This is yet another act of silencing and censorship, this time coming from the German far left climate movement. As a migrant artist and activist, I will never let tactics of repression and censorship stop me. This only makes me fiercer and firmer in organizing collectively to end both the occupation of Palestine and the global extractivist apparatus.

It is crystal clear that Germany is complicit in yet another genocide, this time against Palestinians. What’s more disturbing is the use of their past crimes against humanity to justify their complicity in this genocide, and we see this reflected across all of Germany’s political spectrum.

I was to perform a live set at the Ende Gelände solidarity party because I have been trying to get involved in the group and have great admiration for them. As an activist, I salute and share their mission and tactics of mass civil disobedience and sabotage to bring down fossil capitalism. But how is it possible to achieve such a transformation without a decolonial approach? Worldwide we are seeing the same plan from our governments to tackle the climate crisis: extractivism, fascism, increased militarism, increased border violence, neo-liberal politics and imperialism.

Antenne Münster censored a radio show featuring Palästina Antikolonial.

The University of Passau canceled an event by Combatants for Peace following immense pressure from the German-Israeli Society and the Israeli right-wing organization Im Tirtzu. Prior to this, the organizers were threatened that the event would be canceled if they did not accept the speakers proposed by these groups.

After a speaker raised concerns during a panel at ICIC2024 about participating in the conference due to the call for a strike against Germany, a complaint was made to the conference organizers and they were told to refrain from “making divisive statements that can or have caused harm in our community.” The members of the panel on African perspectives on intimacy consequently withdrew. ICIC2024 published a statement in response.

The location of the event Wie kann Palästina befreit werden was canceled.

Humboldt University Berlin sends student council members to pro-Palestinian student meeting

We, the members of NotInOurName HU, booked a room on campus through the student council RefRat (Referent*innenrat, legally AstA) for an open meeting on Wednesday, February 14. Two days before the meeting, we received a booking confirmation from a HU staff member. The confirmation included a request to stick to the wording in our room application, which was supposedly “much more neutral” than our Instagram post promoting the event. Later on, we received an email from RefRat, in which they asked us to ensure that there was no room for anti-Semitic statements, specifically those that “relativise the attack on Lahav Shapira” or “trivialize the Shoa”. They later informed us that two of their members would join the meeting.

We arrived in the room and were confronted with the following situation:
Four members of RefRat were waiting for us, stating that the university required them to be present in order for the meeting to take place. They said they would only stay in the background. Also, a staff member monitored those who entered. Later, a security person arrived, and started turning people away at the door saying it was a closed meeting, which was not the case.

When the meeting began, we asked the members of RefRat to introduce themselves and join the discussion actively, which they did. It was revealed that the Praesidium had told the RefRat members that they are responsible for “the entire content and the execution” of the meeting. They had also required the RefRat to attend the meeting due to “security concerns”. Both of these orders are unprecedented. The RefRat members expressed their discomfort and criticized the approach and demands of the Praesidium.

Due to the multiple layers of surveillance at the meeting, we were unable to facilitate a safer space for students and academics in solidarity with Palestine. Despite the free speech the university supposedly fosters, we were faced with a hostile environment, and attempts at censorship. Our meeting was put under general suspicion of inciting anti-Semitism and violence. Although the climate of suspicion and criminalisation was primarily created by the university administration, the members of the RefRat went along with their unreasonable requests and failed to acknowledge how their own statements and presence at our meeting enforced the university’s repressive censorship mechanisms.

We denounce the university’s weaponization of a student body against us to censor and police our meeting. The HU Praesidium’s threat to hold RefRat accountable for the content and execution of our meeting hindered the creation of a safer space on our terms and pushed the members of RefRat into the inappropriate position of judging and censoring a topic they are not expert in. We strongly refute the narrative that security was called ‘for our protection’. We instead affirm that the university’s policing does not keep us safe from racist attacks, but rather acts as a tool to intimidate voices in solidarity with Palestine, as well as obstruct our reclamation of space on campus.

As a group, the RefRat is positioned explicitly to represent and support students, and not the university administration. Instead of choosing to align themselves with a rhetoric that puts Palestinian solidarity under general suspicion of anti-Semitism, we would have expected them to inform us transparently of the university’s surveillance strategy from the beginning.

Update: After we've called RefRat out on this on our Instagram, they scheduled a meeting with our members, in which they apologized and emphasized their role in advocating for students’ rights and freedom of speech.

The Hamburger Bahnhof canceled the final day of the 100-hour-long performative reading of Hannah Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism after a group of activists peacefully disrupted the event on Saturday evening in protest against the presence of Mirjam Wenzel, director of the Jewish Museum Frankfurt, known for her Zionist stance. Hamburger Bahnhof accused the acitivists of violence and hate speech in their subsequent statement. Some of the activists were criminalized and reported to the police as a consequence of that framing.

The University of Mainz accused Linke Liste and SDS of antisemitism after an event where they labeled Israel's attacks on Palestinian civilians as genocide. Consequently, the university banned both student groups from hosting future events and using university rooms.

Charges of incitement to hatred were raised after Jüdische Allgemeine framed Kaya Yanar's YouTube video about Israel's crimes and lies as antisemitic.

A bot called Rose, created by Solidarische Föderation (a leftist networking center for Telegram group admins), automatically removes pro-Palestinian users from leftist Telegram groups.

Juamana Manna's application for the extension of her guest professorship was rejected following unfounded accusations of antisemitism made by the German press.

Artists Banu Cennetoğlu and Pilvi Takala decided to cancel their solo exhibitions planned for March and June 2024 after n.b.k. refused their artistic intervention, which was supposed to address the ongoing genocide in Palestine.

Transmediale did not allow participants of the panel Anti-Colonial Tech through Resistance and Discomforts to explicitly express their solidarity with Palestine. In consequence, the panelists withdrew.

The city of Munich withdrew €6,500 in funding for the Munich Peace Conference at the last minute. The Greens specifically pointed to the "one-sided" views of speakers Yanis Varoufakis and Clare Daly, who hold pro-Palestinian positions.

Syndikat-Kollektiv canceled the venue for a healthcare workers' meeting scheduled in Berlin on February 3 after learning that Palestine Speaks mobilized for the event.

Evangelische Akademie Frankfurt Removes Recording of Dialogue Event with Combatants for Peace for “Antisemitic Narratives”

On January 24, 2024, the Evangelische Akademie Frankfurt (Evangelical Academy of Frankfurt) hosted an event titled “Paths to Peace for Israel and Palestine” which took the form of a discussion with Osama Elewat and Rotem Levin, two members of Combatants for Peace (CFP). CFP is an award-winning organization made up of Palestinians and Israelis who are “working together through non-violent means to promote peace.” The event was live streamed and a recording was initially made available. This was soon taken down, however, by the academy.

In a public statement on January 31, 2024, the academy cited “justified criticism” that the event “served antisemitic narratives that cannot be left uncommented upon.” They explained that they took down the video to “prevent the antisemitic narratives, motifs and positions contained therein from being further disseminated.” A co-organiser of the event, Rheinmetall-Entwaffnen RheinMain, expressed “astonishment” at their reasoning, stating that “the accusation of antisemitism against the friends of Combatants for Peace is unspeakable and, moreover, threatening for the two, who are returning to Israel.” Rheinmetall-Entwaffnen also cited a response from the academy in which the academy specified their reason to delete the video with "statements by Osama Elewat and Rotem Levin, who characterize the state of Israel as an apartheid state against which resistance is necessary."

Rheinmetall-Entwaffnen RheinMain has provided an English transcript and a German translation of the event, where Osama and Rotem shared their personal histories as a Palestinian and an Israeli. During the discussion, Osama defined his living situation as follows: When someone living five minutes away from me has different rights, different laws, and different nationalities – all the rights, and I don’t – this is apartheid.” An audience member expressed shock at the use of this term, which they saw as creating “incredible reluctance and no sensitivity during conversations for each other and with each other,” and asked for more “sensitive language.”

In defending the term apartheid, Rotem then remarked that it was used by various human rights organizations, and, after listing the infrastructure, freedom and rights that he has as an Israeli which are unavailable to Palestinians like Osama, said that he “agree[s] with them 100%.” He then emphasized the need to “call things by their names,” even at the risk of being labeled antisemitic, as a step towards acknowledging what is happening, in order to “correct” it and achieve “freedom, justice, equality and safety for everyone.”

The event Talking about Palestine ("Über Palästina sprechen") was canceled by two venues.

The University of Freiburg revoked the room for a screening of Not Just Your Picture – The Story of the Kilani Family, which was organized by the Fachschaft Islamwissenschaft. The documentary tells the story of two German-Palestinian siblings whose father was killed by an Israeli airstrike during attacks on Gaza in 2014. The screening was to be followed by a discussion with Ramsis Kilani, one of the two siblings.

An unknown museum expressed their shock about a post by Johanna Tagada Hoffbeck on her Instagram, which shows a badge with the words "Free Palestine." They criticized the artist's political statement in what they consider to be "a non-political" field, added that they can only support "Free Palestine from Hamas," and expressed their skepticism about their collaboration. As a result, Tagada Hoffbeck decided to cancel her upcoming solo exhibition at the museum.

DJ Fár's set at T-Keller was interrupted by a white German man for playing a song by Sorah titled "Palestine Will Be Free"

Jazz Against The Machine Festival Disinvites and then Reinvites Angelica Summer to a Panel on Music and Politics

Written on 26.01.2024: I got invited to speak at a panel on Music and politics – our responsibility as musicians as part of the Jazz Against The Machine festival at Artheater on February 1, 2024. I was delighted to speak on this topic. My music and art have always been political and I have always been proud of speaking up for human rights issues.

You should know how political I am, especially if you have seen my art – my YouTube channel is filled with songs criticizing the government, my concerts with The Strawberry Finns have always included improvisations and comments on the current political situation.

I was being told I would be the only openly queer person on the panel and that the focus should be on AfD. I pointed out that AfD isn't the only political topic – that it includes in itself CDU, CSU, FDP and The Greens, the policy of the German government and, obviously, Palestine and Israel. I was being told that this matter would be discussed with the team and they would get back to me.

Within a few days I was told that they were worried that this topic needs its separate panel, that there is no time to organize such and that they didn't want the topic to be sweeped under the rug in this panel, since the focus was different. But this explanation simply makes no sense to me. I'm afraid something horrible and really scary is happening to artists in Germany right now. We're seeing censorship disguised as political debates and as 'democracy'. Having cute, safe, sterile political debates about politics in music, intentionally focusing only on AfD, damages the real discussion about racism, Palestine and German policies, especially the new law for deportations of migrants voted by The Ampel coalition.

We need real, serious, heavy debates about politics and music, about racism and freedom of speech. I'm boycotting Jazz Against The Machine and so should you, because to me it's not against the machine. It's a part of the machine.

Update on 28.01.2024: I had a phone conversation with one of the organizers of the panel. It turns out the reason I was disinvited was that there was pressure from a member of HfMT (Hochschule für Musik und Theater) who said if a pro-Palestine person would be invited, so should a pro-Israel person be invited. The organizers didn’t comply. They invited me again and suggested we stick to the original idea of the panel with the possibility of mentioning Palestine, but I declined the offer. I suggested that I give my place to someone else and that they invite Faed Shadid, a Palestinian musician who’s also a student from HfMT.

In the end they did take my suggestion into consideration. They invited the Palestinian music student from HfMT to speak on the topic with the other participants at the panel.

Performance artist Laurie Anderson renounces professorship at Folkwang University as a result of debate on her political stance

On April 1, 2024, Laurie Anderson was due to take up the Pina Bausch Professorship at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen. Anderson decided to withdraw from the professorship due to pressure from the university regarding her political views.

Laurie Anderson, born 1947 in Illinois/USA, is an interdisciplinary performance artist and musician of international renown. On January 11, 2024, the Folkwang University Essen announced that Anderson had been appointed to the Pina Bausch Visiting Professorship for the summer semester 2024. The interdisciplinary professorship was established in the winter semester 2022/23 and is a cooperation between the university and the Pina Bausch Foundation. Laurie Anderson would have been the second appointment following Marina Abramović.

On January 23, the blog Ruhrbarone published an article accusing Anderson of having close ties to BDS and emphasizing that she had signed the "Letter against Apartheid" in 2021. The blog is known, among other things, for triggering debates around accusations of anti-Semitism, defamation and the associated silencing in the cultural sector as well as for publishing inflammatory anti-Palestine posts ("Transform Gaza to Garzweiler"). The letter cited in the article was written by Palestinian artists, writers and their allies; in light of the violence against Palestinians in May 2021, it called for a ceasefire, an end to violence and an end to global support for Israel and the Israeli military.

For their article, Ruhrbarone also requested a statement from the Ministry for Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. According to the article, the response from a spokesperson stated that the freedom of art and science is a "higher good", which is why they refrain from "controlling the opinions of artists and scholars", but that Anderson had "nevertheless" been asked by the university to explain “whether she would stand by her comments even after the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023 and whether she would express the same views today".

On January 26, the university finally published a press release announcing Anderson's withdrawal from the professorship. According to the university: “It has now become apparent that, in 2021, Laurie Anderson publicly supported the Palestinian artists’ ‘Letter Against Apartheid’ appeal, which, among other things, takes up calls for boycotts by the anti-Israel BDS movement. The university engaged in talks with Laurie Anderson and the Pina Bausch Foundation to discuss the extent to which Anderson would be able to carry out her planned artistic project at the Folkwang University of the Arts and ensure uninterrupted, focused work at this time."

Anderson consequently decided not to enter into a debate about her political stance, but to withdraw from the professorship as a result: “For me the question isn’t whether my political opinions have shifted. The real question is this: Why is this question being asked in the first place? Based on this situation I withdraw from the project”, according to the same press release. Anderson told the NYT what she learned from the situation was that she did not want this kind of sponsorship: “If I’d known they were going to ask things like that, I never would have accepted that job in the first place.”

As of the current writing, the professorship has not yet been filled.

Region Hannover postponed the regional women's New Year's reception and disinvited the Jewish speaker Emilia Roig due to her "anti-Israel stance."

German police summoned researcher Taqadum Al-Khatib for interrogation after he published a post on his X account stating that "Surviving a Holocaust doesn't give you the right to enact another."

The University of Münster postponed a screening of the documentary Roadmap to Apartheid (2012) after pressure from the Young Forum of the German-Israeli Society Council. They rescheduled the screening to take place on February 5 in the presence of state security. The students thus occupied a room in the university to screen the film independently on January 31. Ultimately, the rescheduled screening was also canceled.

German police excluded protesters in solidarity with Palestine from an anti-AfD protest organized by Fridays for Future Germany. Afterwards, FFF deleted comments on Instagram that were critical of the anti-Palestinian racism during the protest.

Historian Jürgen Zimmerer refused an interview with radioeins Die Profis on the topic "Why the war in German South West Africa remains relevant for later history" because the moderator insisted not to talk about Namibia's position on South Africa's lawsuit against Israel in the preliminary discussion, stating it was antisemitic.

Bundeskunsthalle Bonn installed signs next to Daniela Ortiz's artwork The ABC of Racist Europe framing it as "antisemitic." They further organized an event on January 17, 2024, discussing the alleged antisemitism without any communication with the artist.

On October 16, Städtepartnerschaftsverein Köln-Bethlehem postponed Palästina Filmtage Köln, rescheduling the festival to take place from January 13 to 16 with a revised program. Notably, the film Tantura was removed from the lineup and there have been complaints on social media about a perceived one-sided selection in favor of Israeli perspectives.

A Muslim student was attacked by a group of white students who accused her of antisemitism, presuming she was behind the broadcast of a recording highlighting the situation in Gaza. The students called the police, who responded with racist and violent behavior towards her. Additionally, the university banned her from entering the premises (Hausverbot).

A student was banned from the University of Cologne for two days for sharing an Instagram story with the slogan "from the river to the sea". The ban was later overturned in court.

Karlsruhe University of Arts banned visiting professor Adam Broomberg from teaching after pressure from the German government and right wing press in reaction to Broomberg's anti-Zionist posts on social media.

A professor of museology emailed students saying anyone critical of Israel will be excluded from his courses.

Meet Your Neighbours Disinvites Palestinian-Syrian Poet Ramy Al-Asheq due to his pro-Palestinian Social Media Posts

On December 21, 2023, Palestinian-Syrian poet, journalist and curator Ramy Al-Asheq was disinvited from an evening of the Meet Your Neighbours series due to his pro-Palestinian social media posts.

Organized by a group of Munich-based cultural workers, Meet Your Neighbours’ self-proclaimed aim is to facilitate encounters and introduce artists who have come to Germany from war or crisis zones.

The organizers had initially invited Al-Asheq on December 13 to an evening of reading and discussion "in the view of the war in the Middle East." The other invitees were authors Lena Gorelik, Joana Osman and Dana von Suffrin. The event was to take place on February 9, 2024, in Munich.

Eight days later, the organizers sent Al-Asheq a follow-up email stating, "Unfortunately we have to withdraw our invitation to you. Only now have we become aware of what you have been posting on social media since October 7th. Some of it is disturbing to us and hard to accept, especially as we are not at all pursuing such a confrontational approach with our literature series. That's why we currently see no basis for a public joint event." They added, “We hope that perhaps in the future, under less difficult circumstances, it will again be possible to have as constructive and open discussions with you as we had some years ago when we first met.”

On December 22, following the cancellation, Al-Asheq wrote in a social media post: "Day after day, we have been denied our basic right to express our opinions, to tell the stories of our beloved ones who are facing one of the most horrific crimes in our time."

FU Berlin used armed police to forcibly evict a non-violent, pro-Palestinian occupation of a lecture hall by a group of students.

Talks by holocaust survivor Marione Ingram were 'postponed' by BERTINI award due to her protesting with a sign reading "Stop Genocide in Gaza". She was supposed to address students receiving awards recognizing their commitment to social justice activism.

Staatsoper Hannover Bans Colin Self from Saying "Genocide" and "Apartheid" on Stage and Orders Removal of "FREE GAZA" Sticker

In Dezember 2023, I was told by the administration team of the Staatsoper Hannover that I would have to remove or cover a sticker on my computer reading “FREE GAZA,” because they feared bad faith actors in the audience would distribute a photo or video of it, causing a press scandal.

When I told them I was not okay with covering the sticker, and that it has been on my computer and visible onstage for a reason long before October 7, they doubled down and said they wanted to protect me as the artist for people to focus on the art and not on my sticker, although the work itself is dealing exactly with these same subjects. After I sent a follow-up email and we had a Zoom meeting about it, the team reiterated that this was about press, optics and the fragility of politics at this moment.

I told them that this is the problem itself: institutions themselves are too afraid to platform any criticism of Israel because they will be canceled and defunded – a silencing that then transfers as this silencing of the artist. I was also told weeks prior to this event that I was not allowed to say the words “genocide” or “apartheid” onstage because one of the organizers didn't believe what was happening in Gaza was apartheid or genocide (yet).

After a post critical of Israel on X, Moheb Shafaqyar, under pressure from the SPD faction, announced his resignation as deputy BVV chairman of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg.

Heinrich Böll Foundation and City of Bremen cancel Award Ceremony of Hannah Arendt Prize to Masha Gessen

On December 13, 2023, the Heinrich Böll Foundation Berlin and the Heinrich Böll Foundation Bremen canceled the award ceremony of the Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought to this year’s laureate Masha Gessen. Gessen, born in 1967 in Moscow as a descendant of Jewish Holocaust survivors, is a journalist and writer based in New York. The prize is awarded by the Bremen-based Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought and relies on a cooperation with the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the government of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, who jointly grant the annual prize money of €10,000.

The cause of the cancellation was an essay by Gessen published in the New Yorker on 9 December, in which they compare the situation in Gaza to that of Jewish ghettos in occupied Europe: “[...] Presumably, the more fitting term “ghetto” would have drawn fire for comparing the predicament of besieged Gazans to that of ghettoized Jews. It also would have given us the language to describe what is happening in Gaza now. The ghetto is being liquidated.”

In an open letter published on December 13, 2023, the German-Israeli Society Bremen/Unterweser demanded the suspension of the award to Gessen. Honoring Gessen, it wrote, would be “contrary to the resolute stance needed against growing anti-Semitism” and that Gessen’s thinking was “in clear contrast to the thinking of Hannah Arendt.” The Heinrich Böll Foundations stated similar reasons for their desire to cancel the award. Gessen, they wrote, implies “that Israel’s goal is to liquidate Gaza like a Nazi ghetto. This statement is not an offer for open discussion, and it does not help to understand the conflict in the Middle East. This statement is not acceptable to us and we reject it.” Previously the government of the City of Bremen had withdrawn from the award ceremony, meaning that the town hall was no longer available as a venue for the ceremony, which would have been attended by several hundred guests.

The Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought association said it regretted the cancellations and still stood behind awarding the prize to Gessen. Due to the lack of a suitable space, the association ended up holding the award ceremony in a private house with a very small number of guests.

On December 18, 2023, at short notice, a panel discussion with Masha Gessen and the board of the Heinrich Böll Foundation took place at the foundation’s offices in Berlin. There, Gessen emphasized that the invitation from the foundation had initially been intended as a private discussion. A public discussion was held instead at Gessen’s suggestion and Gessen thanked the foundation for making the public discussion possible. In this discussion, as well as in interviews, Gessen defended their comparison: “The biggest difference between Gaza and the Jewish ghettos in Nazi occupied Europe is that the Gazans are still alive and the world still has the opportunity to do something about it.” Gessen criticized the entire process leading to the cancellation of the award ceremony: “This was an attempt of silencing that failed. I’m glad it failed.” The case has attracted a great deal of international attention.

Mykki Blanco was disinvited from a festival over her support for Palestine.

BMZ and Federal Foreign Office terminated cooperation with six Palestinian NGOs under the pretext that, according to Israeli accusations, they are front organizations of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and have diverted aid funds to them. There was no evidence for these allegations.

Ulrich Rüdiger, rector of RWTH Aachen, canceled a lecture on police killings by Phoebe Walton from Forensis / Forensic Architecture on the grounds of an “imminent security threat.” Forensic Architecture is a research firm that investigates human rights concerns worldwide and has published reports on Israeli state violence. The event nonetheless took place unofficially via Zoom, organized by a group of students without the university's involvement.

Sophiensæle placed employee Dusty Whistles on leave following her pro-Palestinian intervention on December 7 during the Trust the Process festival.

KLAENG Jazz Collective Cancels Festival Performance by Aya Metwalli and the Band Calamita because of their Support for Palestine

On December 1, 2023, KLAENG Jazz Collective Cologne canceled a joint performance by Aya Metwalli and the band Calamita that was to take place as part of the KLAENG Festival in March 2024. This decision was made after the musicians’ disclosure of their pro-Palestine stance.

Following the invitation to perform songs from their album Al Saher at the KLAENG Festival 2024, Aya Metwalli informed the organizers about their pro-Palestine stance in an email on November 15. In the email, Metawalli wrote that they condemned the ongoing genocide and were vocal about it on their social media. She also mentioned that two of the band’s members got several cancellations in Germany so far, due to their political stance.

The KLAENG Jazz Collective responded on December 1, citing, “It is a challenging time, and our aim with our festival is to create an open and neutral space – a place where everyone feels invited and comfortable. Within the collective, we have discussed the situation extensively. We are big fans of your music and could not imagine anything better than having you at our festival. Unfortunately, due to the circumstances and the delicate situation, we have to reluctantly cancel.”

Calamita is a trio comprising Lebanese musicians Sharif Sehnaoui, Tony Elieh and Malek Rizkallah. Aya Metwalli is an Egyptian vocalist currently based in Bern. Their joint album Al Saher is a blend between free jazz, improvisation and punk rock.

FMP1’s (Franz-Mehring Platz 1) in Berlin introduced a room-booking policy that restricts groups from using its spaces for discussions that oppose the two-state solution or challenge Israel's right to exist.

Fridays for Future Germany Excludes Climate Justice Activist Elisa Baş after Springer Media Hate Campaign

In December 2023, the German branch of global youth climate movement Fridays for Future excluded climate justice activist Elisa Baş after she was subjected to a hate campaign by Springer media in October due to her solidarity with Palestine. The 22-year-old student from Hamburg has been active in the climate justice movement for three years and was a spokesperson for FFF Germany.

The hate campaign began after Baş reacted to a guest commentary published in BILD on October 14 by Josef Schuster, president of the Zentralrat der Juden. Under the headline The Barbarians Are Among Us, Schuster wrote that those who celebrated “the bloodthirsty barbarism of Hamas terror on German streets” were “barbarians” and “something must be done” about them. Baş shared the article on Instagram alongside a comment made by another person: “There is a pogrom mood against Palestinians in Germany and Schuster is fueling it.” In response, BILD and other Springer media outlets publicized multiple agitations against Baş claiming that she “placed the Jewish people in the vicinity of the Nazis” and labeling her an antisemite. Two Green Party politicians also criticized Baş publicly and demanded FFF Germany distance themselves from Baş’s allegedly antisemitic statements.

In an interview with MERATV in December 2023, Baş shared that she had been excluded from FFF Germany after the hate campaign. She also stated that repressing pro-Palestinian voices is not a new phenomenon in FFF Germany: “They get silenced, are thrown out of the movement. If they can’t be thrown out, they are mistreated to the extent that they leave on their own.” This more indirect form of exclusion includes taking people off of assignments, not forwarding public and press tasks to elected spokespeople. She pointed out that “for many climate justice activists, the fight for Palestinian liberation is inseparable from the fight for climate justice” and emphasized how essential and long established an anti-imperialist, anti-colonial and internationalist approach has been in the international context — FFF International being just one of many examples.

An article titled Why won't my German friends speak out against Israel's war crimes in Gaza? An outsider's perplexed perspective by Nadja Vancauwenberghe was written for taz, but its publication was canceled.

The NRW police handed out brochures to schools encouraging educators to file a complaint if a student says Israel is committing genocide, makes a Holocaust comparison, or uses the slogan "from the river to the sea."

John Keane Resigns as Fellow of the WZB Following Post on X

On November 28, 2023, John Keane, Professor of Politics at the University of Sydney, resigned as a professorial fellow of the WZB Berlin Social Science Center (Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung) via an open letter posted on the social media platform X. This action was prompted by an email sent by Jutta Allmendinger, president of the WZB, on November 21, 2023, which he posted alongside his letter.

In her email, Allmendinger referred to Keane’s October 7 post on X in which – according to Allmendinger – Hamas flags were depicted. After stating that he “must be aware” of Hamas’s status as a terrorist organization that had “murdered 1,400 Israeli civilians in the most barbaric way on the very day of [his] post,” she wrote that the post and an open letter to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sydney sent on November 6 “can only be understood as support for HAMAS and their actions.” After highlighting that this support “contradicts the values of the WZB” and is “possibly a criminal offense in Germany,” she asked: “Do you support the attacks on Israel on October 7? What is the meaning of your uncommented tweet of the flags of Hamas on the day of the attacks?” She closed by stating that if his explanation did not “amount to a condemnation of the cruel terrorist attack by Hamas,” his fellowship status with the WZB would be revoked.

In his response, Keane confirmed his resignation from the WZB after being associated with the center for 25 years, and emphasized that he condemns “all acts of violence.” He also highlighted that her questions were “self-answering allegations” that were “neither substantiated nor true.” He noted that at the time of his post on October 7, no news of the murder of 1,400 Israeli civilians had yet been released, and that the green flags depicted were not exclusive to Hamas. Additionally, he stressed that her “one-sided preoccupation with Hamas and official state-sanctioned definitions of 'terrorism' is deeply prejudiced” and asked why her “letter [is] silent about such vile matters as non-stop aerial bombardment, settler violence, the ruthless and reckless destruction of hospitals, schools, mosques, churches and universities, and crazed Israeli plans for the forcible removal of millions of people from their ancient homelands.” He also stated that she had “too hastily or willfully misread” his open letter to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sydney.

In a WZB statement dated November 30, 2023, Allmendinger reiterated the “real possibility that he condoned these attacks, in particular as [his] post remained online even as the full extent of the atrocities emerged.” She also restated the need to be “clear and unambiguous that the WZB does not condone Hamas’s horrific actions in any way.”

The City of Bochum Withdraws the Peter Weiss Prize From Writer Sharon Dodua Otoo for Alleged Support of BDS

On November 28, 2023, the city of Bochum withdrew the Peter Weiss Prize from British-German writer Sharon Dodua Otoo after members of the jury became aware of her alleged support for BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions).

After being nominated by the city of Bochum on November 10, Otoo was due to receive the literary award, including €15,000 prize money, in March 2024. After the blog Ruhrbarone published a report on November 27 accusing Otoo of anti-Semitism based on her signing a petition by the initiative Artists for Palestine UK in 2015 however, the jury announced the suspension of the prize. In this petition, artists pledged to “accept neither professional invitations to Israel, nor funding from any institutions linked to its government until it complies with international law and universal principles of human rights.” The blog denounced the initiative as being affiliated to the BDS movement and therefore anti-Semitic. BDS is a transnational campaign that calls for a boycott of the state of Israel and Israeli products due to its occupation and oppression of Palestinians. In Germany, a resolution by the Bundestag was passed in May 2019 condemning their arguments and methods as anti-Semitic. The resolution is not legally binding and has been widely criticized for stigmatizing pro-Palestinian advocacy and movements.

A day after the announcement, Otoo distanced herself from the petition in an official statement. “To find the truth, you have to discuss. Art and culture play an important role in this. We must have room for dissent in order to struggle together for understanding. That’s why I’m grateful when people point out my mistakes. [...] I would no longer sign such an appeal today [...] and, with the support of a lawyer, I am trying to remove my name from the list.” She also wrote that she will not, in any case, accept the prize: “I do not want the jury, the city of Bochum or the name of Peter Weiss to be associated with the accusations against me and the debate that has been triggered.” She suggested suspending the prize for this year and donating the prize money to a charitable organization such as Gesellschaft im Wandel, which promotes dialogue on the Middle East conflict in German schools. This proposal has been accepted by the jury.

Kultur im Trafo and München ist bunt! Attempt to Cancel a Talk by Jewish Israeli Historian Ilan Pappé for Alleged Hatred against Jews

On November 25, 2023, the supporting association of the Munich community center Kultur im Trafo tried and failed to cancel a talk by Jewish Israeli historian Ilan Pappé on November 27. The event was organized by the Salam Shalom working group Palestine-Israel, the Jewish-Palestinian dialogue group, and Women in Black. Titled Palestine – Israel: What next?, the talk gave an overview of the political situation in Palestine-Israel 75 years after the founding of Israel and the Nakba, and Pappé discussed the ethnic cleansing of Palestine as well as European, and particularly German, policies regarding the State of Israel.

Two days before the event, Leo Agerer, vice chairman of the Kultur im Trafo sponsoring association and CSU city councilor, terminated Salam Shalom’s contract for the use of the space via email citing a “fear that the speaker (or participants of the event) would violate criminal law [...] incite hatred against Jews [... and] disseminate anti-Semitic stereotypes.” The next day, the association München ist bunt! called for a protest against the talk. In a social media post on November 26 with the headline “Protest against anti-Semitic conspiracy theories” they claimed that the event would “question or even deny Israel’s right to exist [...], make crude Nazi comparisons and propagate aggressive, Israel-related anti-Semitism.”

The organizers refuted these accusations and took the matter to court. On November 27, the district court ruled in their favor via a temporary injunction, stating that the termination of the contract was void and that the community center must make the hall available that same night. According to junge Welt, a handful of people showed up to protest in front of the packed community center.

Saarland Museum canceled an exhibition by Candice Breitz after her allegedly "controversial statements" on Gaza war.

WDR retracted a previously published text in its children's magazine on the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict after facing criticism and accusations of being "one-sided."

Biennale für Aktuelle Fotografie Canceled Due to Alleged Antisemitic Social Media Posts by Bangladeshi Curator Shahidul Alam

On November 21, 2023, managing director, Yasmin Meinicke, and the board of the Biennale für aktuelle Fotografie canceled its tenth edition of the photography exhibition, together with authorities from the German cities of Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, and Heidelberg, where the event was to take place in March 2024. The reason was that one of its co-curators, Shahidul Alam, criticized the Israeli military offensive in Gaza on social media.

On his Facebook page, Dhaka-based photojournalist Alam shared posts which called for a ceasefire in Gaza (Nov 15, 2023) and an article covering a lawsuit filed by three Palestinian rights groups with the International Criminal Court (ICC), urging the body to investigate Israel for acts amounting to “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity”, including “genocide” (Nov 9, 2023). According to the Biennale’s press release, Alam’s posts “have given a platform to content that can be read as anti-Semitic and anti-Semitic content.” The press release specifically mentioned “an uncommented interview by Shahidul Alam with the Palestinian ambassador to Bangladesh, a comparison of the current war with the Holocaust and accusations of genocide by the state of Israel against the Palestinian population in Gaza.”

In the statement, the Biennale Board and management as well as the Cultural Departments of the organizing cities of Mannheim, Heidelberg and Ludwigshafen wrote that they sought dialogues with Alam and the festival’s other curators, Bangladeshi photographers Tanzim Wahab and Munem Wasif. The reason was to “sensitize the curators to Germany’s special historical responsibility for the state of Israel and its right to exist”; however, Alam continued to post pro-Palestinian content because he “sees himself as an activist and demands freedom of expression.” The Biennale was canceled following Wahab and Wasif confirming that they would not participate in the Biennale without Alam.

The Biennale’s main sponsor, BASF SE, is the largest chemical producer in the world. It was reconstituted in the 1950s from the corporation IG Farben which played a central role in the Nazi war economy and is widely known for having produced Zyklon B, the toxic pesticide used by the Nazis during the Holocaust.

The 2024 Biennale would have been the first edition with no European curators. In a co-signed statement by the curators following the Biennale’s cancellation, published by Art Asia Pacific, the curators stated that “Our difference of perspective–shaped by our colonial past–in reading history and its contemporary fallouts is seen as a reason to educate or ‘sensitise’ us. We were invited to curate the Biennale because they claimed they wanted our voice, and our perspective on how we see the world. But in a moment of crisis, it has appeared that our voices were only invited on their terms, subservient to their conditions.” Their statement was accompanied by two separate statements from the two curatorial advisors of the Biennale, Yasmine Eid Sabbagh and Tanvi Mishra, which respectively highlighted “the incapacity of Germany and its institutions to deal with its own past, to deal with conflict, and to question its self-awarded chronic superiority and entitlement” and expressed “full solidarity” with all three curators.

International Short Film Festival Oberhausen Cancels Theme Program by Curators Brett Kashmere and Astria Suparak

On November 20, 2023, curators Brett Kashmere and Astria Suparak published a statement regarding the cancellation of their theme program The Game is Not the Thing: Sport and the Moving Image from Pre-Cinema to Post-Internet for the 70th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, which was revoked by the festival director Lars Henrik Gass.

The cancellation occurred in response to the curators signing an open letter published on November 1, which was signed by more than 1,900 international artists and cultural workers. The letter was issued in response to a Facebook post published on the festival’s official account on October 20, signed by Gass. In the post, he encouraged others to join a rally in support of Israel and wrote, “Show the world that the Neukölln Hamas friends and Jew haters are in the minority.” Seeking accountability from the institution and its director, the open letter expressed concerns with the use of the festival’s platform for Gass’s own political agenda and the inflammatory nature of his language “that serves to dehumanize and stigmatize Palestinians and anyone showing solidarity with their survival.”

In a follow-up statement on November 3, Gass deflects responsibility for his rhetoric, asserting, “My intention was not to stigmatise the Palestinian population in general, neither in Germany nor abroad. I regret that this impression was created. [...] Our Festival remains a place of free thought and discussion, from which no one should feel excluded because of their political views or cultural background.” Dissatisfied with the insufficiency in addressing the primary concerns raised in the letter, Kashmere and Suparak wrote in their statement following the cancellation, “We are dismayed and saddened by the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen’s inability to adequately respond to what we believe is a reasonable request from the global film community [...]. Maligning Palestinians as ‘friends’ to terrorists is Islamophobic. We cannot stand for these harmful, racist statements. We believe cultural institutions and their leaders must be accountable to the communities that they represent and act on behalf of. Film festivals are not neutral.”

They further pointed out that prior to the cancellation of their program, Gass had told them that their invitation of an Arab artist would not be honored by Gass, and thus by the festival, because the artist had signed a BDS statement. Additionally, Gass claimed that the artist, whom he personally does not know, lacked the "necessary distance to Hamas."

Kashmere and Suparak had invested nearly a year and a half in preparing eight film screening and performance programs, a panel discussion and potential gallery installations. Gass is currently withholding a payment for the work that was submitted prior to the cancellation of the program.

Berlin Senate Cuts Funding for Cultural Center Oyoun Over Alleged “Hidden Antisemitism”

On November 20, 2023 the Berlin Senate for Culture announced that the funding for Oyoun will be discontinued by the end of this year.

Founded in 2020 as a state-funded project and run by a mostly marginalized crew, Oyoun (Kultur NeuDenken) has been providing an intersectional platform for migrant, decolonial and queer*feminist arts and culture in Berlin. In the last months, the Senate had put pressure on Oyoun to cancel the event organized by Jüdische Stimme (Jewish Voice for Just Peace in the Middle East) that was to be held on November 4th. Jüdische Stimme is a Jewish organization in Germany dedicated to just and lasting peace between Palestine and Israel. Marking their 20th anniversary and “in the shadow of October 7th, the continuous bombings in Gaza and the horrific numbers of the deaths of civilians,” this event was meant to be an evening of “mourning and hope.” There would be speeches, music, traditional food of Jewish mourning ritual Shiva and exhibition of Palestinian and Israeli artists.

In response to the Senate’s demand, Oyoun expressed its stance in an open statement: “In the face of the grief and sorrow they are currently going through after losing loved ones to the widely condemned brutal murders committed by the terrorist organization Hamas as well as by the right-wing Israeli government, we will not bow to the pressure exerted by the Senate. This event will take place on November 4th and provide a shared space of grief and allow their important work to be continued at this critical time.” The statement also emphasized Oyoun’s role as a cultural institution: “As a cultural organization in a democratic state like Germany, it is our duty to foster transnational solidarity beyond borders, beyond race, ethnicity, religion and nationality and to ensure that artistic freedom and freedom of speech are protected, promoted and upheld, especially under the most critical circumstances. [...] Stop the war. End the occupation. Protect civilians on all sides.”

Although the event could take place as planned, Oyoun had to face serious repercussions. On October 31st, Susanna Kahlefeld, an MP of the Green Party, appealed to cease the funding for Oyoun, accusing it for its “antisemitic manner” and “victim-blaming.” On the following day, the Senator for Culture Joe Chialo (CDU) announced that he would review the request to quickly take action. The AfD party expressed gratitude for his prompt reaction. On November 10th, Oyoun published an open letter: “The cancellation of Oyoun’s funding would mark the end of freedom of speech and artistic freedom in Germany. [...] We call on the Senate to grant further funding to Oyoun and protect migrant, queer*feminist and Jewish life in Germany. Oyoun must stay. Especially in Germany. Especially now.”
On November 20th, the Senate announced that the funding for Oyoun will be discontinued by the end of this year, accusing Oyoun for its “hidden antisemitism”. Oyoun, who had their four-year project funding for 2022-2025 (Konzeptförderung) confirmed by the previous Senate, posted on its Instagram on the following day saying, “Oyoun’s funding will be cut, and the space will be shut – next month.”

ARD Removes Annemarie Jacir’s Palestinian Film Wajib from Their Program

Broadcasting network ARD called off the airing of the acclaimed Palestinian film Wajib – The Wedding Invitation (2017) by Annemarie Jacir, which was scheduled to be shown on November 19, 2023. Furthermore, the film will not be made available in ARD's media library. Wajib is a comedic drama that depicts a Palestinian father and his estranged son as they deliver wedding invitations in Nazareth.

Responding to a request from SPIEGEL, the ARD program management declared that in light of the recent events in the Middle East, they “currently do not consider it to be properly placed in the program, as it could be misunderstood due to its narrative perspective.” While the film’s political backdrop is subtly woven into the narrative, offering a glimpse into the daily reality of Palestinians living in the Israeli state, its storyline does not advocate violence or promote any form of antisemitism.

Palestinian-American director Annemarie Jacir sharply criticized the decision: “At this dark moment in history, it is shameful that ARD would choose to suppress independent voices instead of offering a space where we can share our stories, our culture and our dreams. It is the opposite of everything a free world should be.”

The film’s German co-producer, Titus Kreyenberg, expressed his dismay in an interview with Deadline, stating, “This film is about dialogue, a dialogue between a father and son. Cinema can help dialogue.” Christian Granderath, head of the department for television film, feature film and theater at Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) and co-financier of the film, considers the cancellation of the film "wrong and unjustified with regard to the freedom of art." He underscores the importance of enriching discourse by incorporating Palestinian perspectives.

TransCentury Festival Cancels Concert by Lankum due to the Group’s Support for Palestine

On November 19, 2023, TransCentury canceled a concert by the Irish folk group Lankum that was to take place that same night at UT Connewitz, Leipzig.

The festival announced the cancellation on Instagram: “Lankum represents a political stance that we as a venue and festival do not represent. In consultation with the artists, we have agreed to cancel the concert.” Shortly after, the festival’s Instagram has been changed to private and follow requests have been denied.

Lankum had been vocal about their support for the Palestinian people and calls for a ceasefire. They are scheduled to play at Gig For Gaza on November 28 in Dublin, a concert organized by Irish Artists For Palestine to raise awareness and funds for Medical Aid for Palestinians.

Ahead of the upcoming concert, Lankum issued a statement that reads, “Like most people of sound mind and reason around the globe, we are heartbroken and shocked to see the indiscriminate murder of children and civilians happening for the past few weeks. This, on top of decades of oppression, persecution and dehumanisation is something we can only struggle to comprehend. That is why we are very proud to raise our voices in solidarity with the people of Palestine. It's the very very least we can do."

The motion "Peace and justice for Gaza" was excluded from discussion and voting by procedural trickery.

A concert by Israeli performance artist Liad Kantorowicz was allowed by Club Eschschloraque in Berlin on the condition that she sing but not speak. The concert went ahead, albeit with restrictions on artistic freedom.

Indian poet and critic Ranjit Hoskoté, a member of the documenta curator commission, was targeted by a smear campaign for signing a BDS letter in 2019, leading to his resignation. The rest of the documenta 16 selection committee collectively resigned shortly thereafter.

Deborah Feldman was disinvited from an RBB Radioshow.

Deborah Feldman was disinvited from a reading at Schloss Elmau.

Die Zeit canceled the publication of a longform interview with Feldman.

Deborah Feldman was disinvited from an event at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Three concerts that were planned for 2024 were canceled because of the artist's support for BDS. One of the concerts by Karkhana was canceled by ACHT BRÜCKEN Festival.

The University of Regensburg rescinded its invitation to Vincent Bevins to give the keynote address at an interdisciplinary conference and present his new book, due to his pro-Palestinian posts on social media.

Museum Folkwang Cancels Part of an Exhibition on Afrofuturism over Curator Anaïs Duplan’s Pro-Palestinian Social Media Posts

On November 13, 2023, Museum Folkwang in Essen canceled ’Afrofuturism’, a section curated by Anaïs Duplan as a part of the exhibition We is Future. Visions of New Communities, which opened on November 24. The reason given was his pro-Palestine social media posts.

Museum director Peter Gorschlüter informed Duplan of the cancellation via email, deeming Duplan’s posts “unacceptable” for not acknowledging the Hamas attack on Israel and characterizing the Israeli military operation in Gaza as genocide. Gorschlüter further referenced a post shared by Duplan on November 10 that supported the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, citing the (disputed and legally not binding) BDS resolution of the German Bundestag from 2019.

The museum drew the following conclusions: “With publishing the statements on your instagram channel you have put us in the situation that the museum might be considered to support antisemitic tendencies and voices that question the very right of existence of the state Israel. This stands against the special responsibility of Germany and its commitment to Israel which are both fundamental for us. Therefore we have decided to suspend our collaboration with immediate effect.“

Gorschlüter finished the email by emphasizing the importance of Afrofuturism to the overall exhibition and expressed the museum’s desire to feature several individual artworks from the canceled section in another section dedicated to contemporary art. Most of the artists refused and have asked the museum to return their works.

Duplan and his studio team members, Zoë Butler and Folaṣade Adesanya, had worked on the curatorial concept for over a year, and, at the time of the cancellation, Adesanya had already arrived in Essen for the installation of the exhibition. In an interview with Hyperallergic, Butler explains “As a team, our position on freeing Palestine is also tied to our relationship to Afrofuturism.” Duplan adds “We all work on a project called the Center for Afrofuturist Studies, and we have literally disinvited guests for antisemitic statements. [...] I think the lack of conversation and lack of any effort to really frame a dialogue around antisemitism, around Israel, and around Palestine feels really repressive.”

Thamil V. Ananthavinayagan's chapter for a book on decolonial jurisprudence and practice in Germany was rejected by Decolonize Berlin for its discussion of Germany's culpability in the ongoing genocide against Palestinians.

A guest was asked to remove a keffiyeh in the club or leave the venue due to a complaint from another guest who claimed to feel "unsafe" in the presence of her scarf.

Pixel Grain Postpones Exhibition by Photographer Raphaël Malik on Muslim Life in Berlin "Due to the Political Situation in the Middle East"

On November 11, 2023, Raphaël Malik published a screenshot on Instagram of an email from Pixel Grain informing him that the planned exhibition of his photo series on Muslim life in Berlin would be postponed. The exhibitor writes: "Due to the current political situation in the Middle East, [...] we have decided that we do not wish to show the work at this time." Pixel Grain is a print service provider with a showroom in Berlin-Mitte. Ten works by Berlin photographer Malik were supposed to be shown there, including some in which keffiyeh is worn by the people depicted.

Pixel Grain claimed they were aware that Malik shows Muslim life in Berlin in his series and that it has "absolutely nothing to do" with the current political situation. Nevertheless, they "do not currently want to show a one-sided presentation of Muslim life in an exhibition without a corresponding counterpoint, such as Jewish life in Berlin". According to Pixel Grain, this decision was made in order to avoid conflicts.

Managing Director Robert Jarmatz confirmed the authenticity of the message to the German Press Agency (dpa) the following week and emphasized that no work contract or picture selection had yet been made. Furthermore, they argued the exhibition had not been canceled, but merely postponed. In response to dpa’s inquiry, Raphaël Malik wrote that there was no need for counterparts to present a work that "has no claim other than to show culture, aesthetics and a part of Berlin." He explained further to COSMO: "This is a reaction to the high public pressure that has arisen from fear. Fear that is being stirred up about Islam. There is simply too much confusion and too much generalization."

From December 14, 2023, Malik's series will be shown under the title Deutşch at the project space OPEN Berlin. In the announcement of December 8, the new exhibitor refers to the previous cancellation and emphasizes: "We have decided to show Malik's works at OPEN because we believe that it is precisely now that we should present diverse transnational artistic positions [...]." Deutşch marks the first solo exhibition of the Berlin-born artist with Turkish-German roots.

Deutschlandfunk Kultur disinvited Iris Hefets from a radio discussion about the war in Gaza.

The World Day of Prayer committee in Germany censored specific materials planned for the World Day of Prayer in 2024, including a cover image created by artist Halima Aziz. The artwork, titled Praying Palestinian Women, depicts three Palestinian women wearing jewelry shaped like keys around their necks and ears. Initially created for global distribution, the image aimed to elevate the voices of Palestinian women during the World Day of Prayer and was selected by the international committee to represent the event's theme. However, the German committee deemed the image antisemitic and accused Halima Aziz of failing to distance herself from Hamas. Other countries kept using the original material and image.

University of Marburg denied access to a room for a lecture about antisemitism due to the pro-Palestine stance of organizers.

Anthropologist Ghassan Hage reported on X on November 8 that he was nominated for a German scholarship/award, but the nominators were asked to comment on his "BDS sympathies" and the committee questioned his eligibility.

Volksbühne Berlin disinvites former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn from Europa den Räten conference over pro-Palestinian advocacy

On November 7, 2023, the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz disinvited Jeremy Corbyn, the former leader of the British Labour Party and human rights activist, from speaking at a conference organized by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation in cooperation with the Volksbühne. The conference, Europa den Räten, took place from November 8 to November 10, 2023 and aimed to be a “major consultation on the burning questions of the present,” spanning the rise of fascism, social justice and colonial history, where “activists, social critics, politicians and all interested parties will have their say.”

The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation has had a longstanding relationship with Jeremy Corbyn as an important representative of the left in the UK and worldwide, and had invited him to speak about the relations between Europe and the Latin American left. However, the Volksbühne asked the Foundation to withdraw Corbyn’s invitation a day before the conference began, citing “statements [he made] in the past,” a request which the Foundation accepted. The statements in question were not specified. Lena Fuchs, press spokeswoman for the Volksbühne, remarked, "Due to Jeremy Corbyn's current stance on the Middle East conflict, we have decided not to offer him a public space at the Volksbühne."

On October 8, 2023, when Corbyn was asked by a correspondent from Channel 4 News if he condemned Hamas, he replied, “I don’t support any attacks, therefore I criticize them all.” He added that he was in favor of peace and wanted Israel’s occupation of Palestine to end.

Lord Mayor of Munich Cancels Interfaith Community Prayer for Peace after Volker Beck’s Criticism of the Muslim Council

On November 6, 2023, the Munich Forum for Islam (Münchner Forum für Islam, MFI) announced the cancellation of an interfaith community prayer for peace with Jewish and Muslim participants that had been planned for that same day, in coordination with Munich’s Lord Mayor, Dieter Reiter (SPD). The event was an initiative of Munich imams, meant to “stand as a sign for peace and justice in the Middle East, and for unity in our own country,” Benjamin Idriz, head of the MFI and imam of the Penzberg Mosque, said in the announcement the preceding Friday. In addition to prayers from Imam Idriz and from Rabbi Jan Guggenheim, representatives of the Evangelical and Catholic churches were set to offer prayers. Speeches were planned from Lord Mayor Reiter, and from Sokol Lamaj of the Muslim Council of Munich (Muslimrat München).

The Jüdische Allgemeine newspaper harshly criticized the event on November 5 in an article that termed it an “interdenominational prayer with Islamists” and referred to accusations from 2018 that the Muslim Council of Munich was linked to extremist groups. In the same context, the head of the German-Israeli Society Volker Beck “warned” Reiter not to participate in or endorse the event: “I consider the prayer for peace in this configuration to be an event that only serves to promote and protect Islamist, Hamas-trivializing views.” Reiter withdrew his endorsement, “nevertheless” appealing “to all Munich residents to remain peaceful and not to give in to hatred and agitation.”

The MFI’s press release, titled ‘Unfortunate Cancellation of the Prayer for Peace,’ noted that the organizers’ intention to affirm the possibility of religious coexistence had been thwarted by the withdrawal, on short notice, of Jewish, Evangelical, and Catholic participants. “We had dearly hoped that all responsible parties in our city would have wanted to take the outstretched hand and send a clear signal for togetherness,” the MFI wrote. “When, if not now, must we muster all our strength to respect, appreciate and accept one another?! To experience the impossibility of this in Munich is very painful, and not just for Muslims.”
Palestine Speaks and Jewish Voice for Just Peace in the Middle East brought charges against Volker Beck in February 2024 for "advocating, trivialising, condoning or denying genocide" and "supporting collective punishment of an entire population through starvation". Beck called the claims “nonsense” and told Reuters, “There is no genocide in Gaza and I do not advocate genocide.”

Audience Members Attending Mykki Blanco Concert at Silent Green Told to Remove Keffiyeh upon Entry

On November 4, 2023, audience members attending a concert by Mykki Blanco were told to remove their keffiyehs before entering the venue at Silent Green, Berlin. The concert was part of Pitchfork Music Festival Berlin 2023, where “innovators, upcoming stars and cult figures have been gathered to celebrate Berlin's status as one of the most important cities for underground culture.” The evening featured performances by Blanco and two other artists, MorMor and MAVI.

In a statement posted on its official Instagram account on November 6, 2023, Silent Green acknowledged that the incident occurred. It explained that an agreement had been made with event organizers to prohibit flags inside the venue, and security staff were briefed on that policy. However, Silent Green noted that no directive had been given to ban keffiyehs or other items of clothing. It described the actions of security staff as the result of "miscommunication and inadequate supervision," and said it "strongly condemns the fact that a group of visitors were asked to take off their scarves and T-shirts at the entrance and were also forbidden to put them in their own bags.”

Despite this acknowledgement, Silent Green did not explain their decision to ban flags specifically for this event, as this has not been their consistent practice in the past. For example, a Ukraine fundraising concert hosted by Silent Green in 2022 featured a Ukrainian flag in its marketing materials, suggesting a welcoming stance toward such symbols.

Following the concert at Silent Green, a defamatory article about Mykki Blanco was published in taz on November 9, 2023. This article, which claimed that “Blanco indirectly calls on the audience for Israel-hate,” described how Blanco expressed frustration over her inability to speak freely during the concert and the constraints of performing in Germany. Blanco emphasized the need for the German audience to voice what she herself is not permitted to say.

Mainz 05 Football Club Terminates Anwar El Ghazi's Contract Over Pro-Palestinian Social Media Posts

On November 3, 2023, the German football club Mainz 05 terminated the contract of Dutch football player Anwar El Ghazi over pro-Palestinian social media posts. On October 17th, El Ghazi was suspended by the club because of his since-deleted posts on Instagram, which contained amongst others the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” The club called his posts intolerable: “Mainz 05 respects the fact that there are different perspectives on the decades-long, complex conflict in the Middle East. However, we as a club distance ourselves from the contents of the posts, which do not align with the values of the club.”

On October 30th, the club announced that it lifted El Ghazi’s suspension after he allegedly distanced himself from his posts and expressed remorse for his action to the board of the club. Two days later, however, El Ghazi posted on his Instagram that the statement was published without his permission: “I do not regret or have any remorse for my position. I do not distance myself from what I said and I stand, today and always until my last breath, for humanity and the oppressed. [...] I am against war and violence. I am against the killing of all innocent civilians. I am against all forms of discrimination. I am against Islamophobia. I am against anti-Semitism. I am against genocide. I am against apartheid. I am against occupation. I am against oppression. [...] I and we as a world cannot conscionably remain silent.” He finished the post by calling for an end to the killing in Gaza. The club terminated El Ghazi’s contract on November 3rd, two days after his post.

Prior to the termination, El Ghazi was accused by German prosecutors for “disturbing public peace by condoning criminal acts in conjunction with incitement to hatred”. He wrote in a post a day after the termination: “The loss of my livelihood is nothing when compared to the hell being unleashed on the innocent and vulnerable in Gaza.“ El Ghazi has now filed a lawsuit against his former club for unfair dismissal. His lawyer stated "In this new post, I do not see any expression that is not covered by freedom of speech".

HÖR censored pro-Palestine clothing worn by two performers.

President of the University of Kassel Abruptly Ends Memorial Ceremony Held on Campus for a Student Killed in Gaza

On November 2, 2023, a group of students at the University of Kassel held a memorial ceremony for fellow student Yousef Shaban, who was killed on October 24 in Gaza by Israeli airstrikes. The ceremony was abruptly interrupted and ended by the university president.

The ceremony, where around 150 people gathered, was initially approved by Prof. Dr. Ute Clement, the university president. She permitted the event, however, under the condition that “it would not become a political rally”. Throughout the ceremony police were present. The students took off their Kufiyas and put Palestinian flags away after Clement asked them to. Her attempts to keep the ceremony apolitical escalated when one of the students began a speech in English, naming Israel as the perpetrator of Shaban’s death and talking about the responsibility of the imperial and colonial system.

Clement tried to stop the speech but the student continued by criticizing the university for not taking a stance on the massacre in Gaza and for hindering academic freedom by interrupting the speech. Clement disappeared and then returned when Brigitte Domes, chairperson of German-Palestinian Society, was giving a speech. The university president turned the mic off while Domes was quoting Jewish journalist Amira Hass from her open letter addressed to chancellor Olaf Scholz. In this letter, Hass criticized the German government for its “unconditional support of Israel, which occupies and colonizes”. Despite students' complaints, Clement ended the event at this point.

Mustfa Saleh, from university group Unidiversität and organizer of the event, expressed his disappointment: “We’ve lost a friend. [...] Yousef Shaban didn’t die from a natural catastrophe. We need to talk about the backgrounds.” Another group member, Wissam Fakher, pointed to a pro-Israel event that happened a few days prior to the ceremony in which Israeli flags were allowed to be hung and materials were handed out, which claimed the Nakba didn’t happen. “Those actions were not criminalized but rather supported by the university. We solely demand that every student at the University of Kassel has the right to freely express their political opinion.” The university posted a statement later that day, stating their “trust had been abused” by the organizers.

Yousef Shaban was killed at the age of 33 along with his wife and one of his three children. His other two children are known to be in hospital. A recent graduate of Electrical Communication Engineering, he was visiting Gaza to bring his wife and children to Germany after he received a job offer as an engineer this summer.

German government cuts funding to Centre for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance (CEWLA) after the chair calls for a ceasefire and support for BDS

In the beginning of November 2023, the German government cut funding to the Centre for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance (CEWLA). This decision was made after Azza Soliman, the chair of CEWLA and an awarded human rights lawyer, signed a statement on October 24. The statement called for a ceasefire, an end to Israel's assault on Gaza, as well as support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign, and was signed by 254 international non-governmental organizations. The German government had originally approved funding for the program supporting women survivors of trafficking on the grounds of shared feminist values.

As the reason for withholding the funding, the German embassy stated, “One of our criteria for official funding is that organizations must not affiliate with the BDS movement or otherwise call for boycott against Israel.”

Soliman strongly criticized the choice to halt the funding for the anti-human-trafficking project. ​​In an interview with Mada Masr, she said, “We are in a decadent and critical historical stage in which the masks are falling off the faces of all supporters of human rights.” She added that the German government is displaying “double standards” and is “whitewashing” its history by disregarding Palestinian suffering.

Filmmaker Faces Backlash from DOKUARTS Film Festival Berlin for Signing an Open Letter

I received this aggressive and disturbing email (see below) from Andreas Lewin, the director of DOKUARTS, a film festival in Berlin where I showed my film in October 2023. His email is in response to a letter I signed along with over 1,000 other filmmakers, curators, and artists to Oberhausen Film Festival stating that we as artists would not be aligned with the Zionist statements made by the festival and its director Lars Gass.

The email was titled "Your campaign against Lars Gass":

Hi Amber,

I am deeply irritated and horrified that you signed a petition against our much respected colleague Lars Hendrik Gass.

What do you know about the German/Neukölln situation in the aftermath of the terror attacks? Are you supporting BDS? Then I should have never invited you.

I will be more careful in the future.

Best
Andreas