Anti-Israel and anti-Semitic statements went unchallenged at the Berlinale awards ceremony. Since then, the cultural scene has been discussed. Berlin’s responsible senator Joe Chialo wants to use funding as a means of pressure.
After the incidents at the Berlinale awards ceremony, Berlin’s Senator for Culture Joe Chialo (CDU) once again discussed the introduction of an anti-Semitism clause for cultural funding. In the ARD Tagesthemen on Monday evening, Chialo said that he was working across the Senate on a legal regulation “so that those who are anti-Semitic but also behave in other discriminatory ways no longer receive money from the state.”
Taxpayers’ financial resources should not benefit “those who are trying to undermine democracy,” said Chialo. Dialogue is needed on the one hand and clear rules on the other. Chialo only had to withdraw his first attempt at an anti-discrimination clause in January after legal concerns. He wanted to make cultural funding dependent on a commitment to anti-Semitism, but he was then accused of an attack on freedom of expression.
Chialo was not surprised by the incidents at the Berlinale awards, when some anti-Israel positions were presented on stage without being contradicted and were met with applause. But he also doesn’t want to generalize, said the Senator for Culture. There are also many cultural institutions that take a stand against anti-Semitism.
During the Berlinale awards ceremony, the Israeli state was heavily criticized by several cultural figures, including American director Ben Russell, who accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza. Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham spoke of “apartheid” in the West Bank and called on Germany to stop supplying weapons to Israel.
The comments at the awards ceremony went unanswered and were met with applause. Cultural workers also positioned themselves in the conflict non-verbally, for example with badges. The moderator of the gala did not classify the statements, for example by referring to the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7th.
“In the cultural scene – especially at events like this – we have an audience that is perhaps not quite as diverse as one would like to see, where not all different perspectives on a topic are represented but where like-minded people meet, which leads to these things remain unchallenged,” said Chialo. He found it to be a “stressful situation”.
Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) also sees the events as a threat to the Berlinale institution. This had “suffered serious damage,” Buschmann told the Funke media group on Tuesday.
He also commented on possible consequences, but remained vague: Buschmann said that criminal law was well positioned to punish anti-Semitic statements. Slogans like “Free Palestine – from the river to the sea” could be understood as approval of the killings that Hamas committed in Israel on October 7th. “Rewarding and endorsing crimes is a criminal offense,” said Buschmann. When asked about the specific Berlinale incident, however, he said that the criminal law assessment of the statements was a matter for the responsible (Berlin) authorities and courts.
On Monday, State Senator for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens) and Berlin’s Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) announced that they wanted to work through the incidents with each other and with the new Berlinale management.