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ANTI-SEMITISM

Germany launches probe over Berlin film festival ‘anti-Semitism’ row

German officials will investigate how Berlin film festival winners were able to make "one-sided" comments condemning Israel's war in Gaza at the event's finale, a government spokeswoman said on Monday.

Published: 26 February 2024 14:51 CET
Berlinale
An award given at the Berlinale closing ceremony on Saturday. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/rbb/Gundula Krause | rbb - Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenbur

At Saturday’s awards ceremony, several winners were accused of making anti-Semitic remarks on stage in relation to Israel’s military assault, which began after an attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The Hamas attack on October 7 killed 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 29,782 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

US filmmaker Ben Russell, wearing a Palestinian scarf, accused Israel of committing “genocide” with its bombardment of the densely populated Gaza Strip.

Palestinian filmmaker Basel Adra said the Palestinian population were being “massacred” by Israel, to applause from the audience.

“It is unacceptable that… the terrorist attack by Hamas on 7 October was not mentioned,” government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann told a press briefing in Berlin on Monday.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz “agrees that such a one-sided stance cannot be allowed to stand”, she said.

READ ALSO: German Chancellor vows to tackle anti-Semitism

“In any debate on this topic, it is of course important to keep in mind the event that triggered this renewed escalation of the Middle East conflict — namely the Hamas attack on 7th October,” she said.

The culture minister and the Berlin mayor will review what happened and hold talks with the festival’s incoming director to ensure it does not happen in future, she said.

But Culture Minister Claudia Roth and mayor Kai Wegner have also found themselves in hot water over the ceremony.

A report in top tabloid Bild carried a picture it said showed the pair applauding Adra’s remarks.

Germany — influenced by its own dark history during World War II, when millions of Jews were killed by the Nazis — has steadfastly backed Israel following the October 7 attack.

The festival, known as the Berlinale, receives substantial government funding.

Asked whether the funding would now be reviewed, Hoffmann said the current focus was on ensuring such incidents were not repeated.

After controversy erupted at the weekend, the film festival put out a statement late on Sunday saying that winners’ remarks were “independent, individual opinions (which) in no way reflect the position of the festival”.

But, it added, “We understand the outrage, and that the statements of some of the award winners were perceived as too one-sided.”

Member comments

  1. The utter lack of any respect for the concept of freedom of speech or political thought by top politicians is so horrifying.

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GERMANY AND RUSSIA

Germany, Czech Republic accuse Russia of cyberattacks

Germany and the Czech Republic on Friday blamed Russia for a series of recent cyberattacks, prompting the European Union to warn Moscow of consequences over its "malicious behaviour in cyberspace".

Published: 4 May 2024 10:29 CEST
Germany, Czech Republic accuse Russia of cyberattacks

The accusations come at a time of strained relations between Moscow and the West following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the European Union’s support for Kyiv.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said a newly concluded government investigation found that a cyberattack targeting members of the Social Democratic Party had been carried out by a group known as APT28.

APT28 “is steered by the military intelligence service of Russia”, Baerbock told reporters during a visit to Australia.

“In other words, it was a state-sponsored Russian cyberattack on Germany and this is absolutely intolerable and unacceptable and will have consequences.”

APT28, also known as Fancy Bear, has been accused of dozens of cyberattacks in countries around the world. Russia denies being behind such actions.

The hacking attack on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD party was made public last year. Hackers exploited a previously unknown vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook to compromise e-mail accounts, according to Berlin.

Berlin on Friday summoned the acting charge d’affaires of the Russian embassy over the incident.

The Russian embassy in Germany said its envoy “categorically rejected the accusations that Russian state structures were involved in the given incident… as unsubstantiated and groundless”.

Arms, aerospace targeted: Berlin 

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the cyber campaign was orchestrated by Russia’s military intelligence service GRU and began in 2022. It also targeted German companies in the armaments and aerospace sectors, she said.

Such cyberattacks are “a threat to our democracy, national security and our free societies”, she told a joint news conference in Prague with her Czech counterpart Vit Rakusan.

“We are calling on Russia again to stop these activities,” Faeser added.

Czech government officials said some of its state institutions had also been the target of cyberattacks blamed on APT28, again by exploiting a weakness in Microsoft Outlook in 2023.

Czech Interior Minister Rakusan said his country’s infrastructure had recently experienced “higher dozens” of such attacks.

“The Czech Republic is a target. In the long term, it has been perceived by the Russian Federation as an enemy state,” he told reporters.

EU, NATO condemnation

The German and Czech findings triggered strong condemnation from the European Union.

“The malicious cyber campaign shows Russia’s continuous pattern of irresponsible behaviour in cyberspace, by targeting democratic institutions, government entities and critical infrastructure providers across the European Union and beyond,” EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said.

The EU would “make use of the full spectrum of measures to prevent, deter and respond to Russia’s malicious behaviour in cyberspace”, he added.

State institutions, agencies and entities in other member states including in Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia and Sweden had been targeted by APT28 in the past, the statement added.

The latest accusations come a day after NATO expressed “deep concern” over Russia’s “hybrid actions” including disinformation, sabotage and cyber interference.

The row also comes as millions of Europeans prepare to go to the polls for the European Parliament elections in June, and concerns about foreign meddling are running high.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told AFP that “pointing a finger publicly at a specific attacker is an important tool to protect national interests”.

One of the most high-profile incidents so far blamed on Fancy Bear was a cyberattack in 2015 that paralysed the computer network of the German lower house of parliament, the Bundestag. It forced the entire institution offline for days while it was fixed.

In 2020, the EU imposed sanctions on individuals and entities linked to the APT28 group over the incident.

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