Edinburgh Film Festival returns 300 pounds to Israeli gov’t following protest

by on May 15, 2009 9
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I went to the Telluride Film Festival two years back and the Israeli consulate was thanked in the program. I wonder if it was for as small a sum as this. The Scottish Palestine Solidarity Committee flipped out when they heard that the Edinburgh International Film Festival had accepted a L300 gift from the Israeli Embassy, with Gaza in ruins. The festival regrets accepting the gift. Tomorrow's protest of the festival has been cancelled!

About Philip Weiss

Philip Weiss is Founder and Co-Editor of Mondoweiss.net.
Posted in BDS, Beyondoweiss

{ 9 comments... read them below or add one }

  1. Citizen says:
    May 16, 2009 at 10:39 am

    EFF response was that it seeks only to enhance culture and art; it takes donations from many governments, is apolitical. Today there are big demonstrations regarding Gaza, which you will not likely see in the MSM: http://stopwar.org.uk/content/view/1179/1/

  2. RowanBerkeley says:
    May 16, 2009 at 11:59 am

    Nice, and you're quite right, I didn't even know it was happening. I need to visit stopwar.org.uk more often, obviously.

  3. Colin_Murray says:
    May 16, 2009 at 1:55 pm

    I guess the Israeli government will have to up the ante if they wish to ingratiate themselves with that segment of 'opinion makers'.

  4. 5 dancing shlomos says:
    May 16, 2009 at 5:21 pm

    must have been desperate.why would any organization accept 300 pounds or any amount of manure. typical israeli gift is manure.

  5. Idrees says:
    May 16, 2009 at 5:41 pm

    Actually this is the second year running that the SPSC has succeeded in getting the Edinburgh Film Festival to back down. Initially they had refused with a pro forma response about not discriminating against anyone who donates, and how politics and culture are separate spheres etc. SPSC has also succeeded in the past in getting keynoters at the JNF's annual galas to withdraw.

  6. Idrees says:
    May 16, 2009 at 5:47 pm

    Yeah, that's what the response was. It isn't any more. As noted above, the EIFF has changed its mind. "Ginnie Atkinson, Managing Director of the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) has confirmed that EIFF will not be taking Israeli Embassy money to help fund the 2009 film festival. Atkinson was unwilling to admit EIFF was influenced by Scottish PSC, or by the protest emails the EIFF has received since Tuesday, and said that the decision was “a natural conclusion to having realised that we had made a mistake in the first place”. Their decision follows the Scottish PSC call earlier today for a protest outside the Filmhouse in Edinburgh where the EIFF is based. Mention of the Israeli Embassy on the EIFF’s ‘Honour Board’ was removed after Atkinson and the EIFF admitted that “it was a mistake to accept the £300 from the Israeli Embassy”."

  7. RowanBerkeley says:
    May 17, 2009 at 6:21 am

    Liverpool cuts funding for festival that includes 'anti-Semitic' play Cnaan Liphshiz, Haaretz, May 17 2009 The city of Liverpool decided last week to cut funding for a cultural festival featuring the highly controversial play "Seven Jewish Children." The move came after the festival's producers rejected the inclusion of a response piece. Since its February debut, Jewish leaders have condemned "Seven Jewish Children" as anti-Semitic. The play is said to tie the Nazi murder of Jews during the Holocaust with the killing of Palestinians in Gaza by Israel. It also depicts an Israeli's decision to tell a child not to feel sorry for dead Palestinians. The play by Caryl Churchill – an accomplished English dramatist and patron of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign – is scheduled to be performed at the city-funded Writing on the Wall Festival in Liverpool on Tuesday, followed by a fund-raiser for Palestinian causes. The city said it will halt funding for the festival after the organizers rejected to include a response play to "Seven Jewish Children," entitled "Seven Other Children" by Richard Stirling of Evergreen Theatrical Productions. Stirling's play uses the same format as Churchill's, but attempts to "help give more context to the debate," as he told Haaretz Saturday. This includes references to the decision by Arab nations and ordinary Palestinians to wage war against Israel in 1948 and in 1967. In explaining the rejection of Stirling's play, the festival's development coordinator Madeline Heneghan said: "The program is planned months in advance." The request was "unrealistic at this point", she added. The request to stage "Seven Other Children" came from Jonathan Hoffman, co-vice chair of the Zionist Federation, after a festival spokesman told the Jewish Telegraph that organizations wishing to have a "profile" would be welcome at the event's "open" evening. Stirling – who like Churchill is not Jewish – said: "I would've preferred my play to run alongside 'Seven Jewish Children' rather than having funding cut. I understand there's too little notice, but in light of the public controversy that 'Seven Jewish Children' has aroused, I'd be surprised had the programmers not expected some kind of comeback." He also said that by not allowing a response piece, the organizers had adopted an attitude which was "at best incautious and at worst severely one-sided." Hoffman said that "Seven Other Children" "has given us the political ammunition to take on 'Seven Jewish Children' wherever it is performed." Proceeds from "Seven Other Children" will go to OneVoice, a nonprofit committed to a two-state solution while "ensuring Israel's safety and security." Asked how he feels about his play being used for political purposes, Stirling said: "I am glad certain elements of the Jewish or Israeli community take interest in my piece, but I myself did not start it for the Zionist Federation." Stirling also noted that Churchill is quoted by the Jewish Chronicle and other media as defining her play as "not just a theater event, it is a political event." Hoffman told Haaretz that "the existence of 'Seven Other Children' was key to Liverpool Council's decision on funding 'Writing On The Wall' and will make other city administrations and funding bodies think hard about sponsoring 'Seven Jewish Children' without a performance of 'Seven Other Children.'"

  8. Colin_Murray says:
    May 17, 2009 at 1:50 pm

    These kind of events depend on donations, and everyone who gives has an agenda which is usually PR. Companies give to events and expect their names to be associated with it. I generally ignore advertising because I find it so annoying, but Puma helped sponsor the Word Cup so I give them my business. They supported something important to me. I think this is a pretty common pattern. The difference with the Israeli government donation, which was essentially made with money borrowed by the American government with the interest and principal of which paid by unwitting American taxpayers, was meant to prop up the Israeli image as damage control for the Gaza attack and other crimes associated with colonization. It did not have a high enough level of support amongst the event's organizers and other patrons to overcome negative publicity initiated by those opposed to Israel government policies. The process worked exactly like it should have. The Edinburgh Film Festival handled the issue in a fair and civilized way, and don't see anything at all wrong with them accepting other donations.

  9. val pepper says:
    May 22, 2009 at 11:27 pm

    Racist festival. Cultural execution. Next time invite Saudi and Iranian filmmakers. May be they will screen something on public beheading and stoning. Well, today antisemitism, tomorrow – sharia law. Have balls to post it on your anti Israeli site? Next time we'll talk on British terrorism and Mike's place bombing in TA in 2003: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike%27s_Place

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