Government threatens Israeli cinema institute over films critical of IDF

A threat by the government to cut funding to a leading film institution is intensifying concerns over harm to the country’s cultural fabric by the most far-right government in Israel’s history.

The attack on the Tel Aviv Cinameteque for hosting a human rights film festival stands out as one of the more audacious and damaging moves during the morphing of Israel into a more authoritarian country underway since the Netanyahu government was elected two years ago.

In a letter to finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, Culture Minister Miki Zohar wrote that the Tel Aviv Cinameteque’s “Solidarity Festival” which ran from December 5-10, had shown films that “are against the state of Israel” and which “disparage the soldiers of the Israel Defense Force.” Zohar expects Smotrich to determine whether the festival violated funding laws.

Screening such films in an institution funded by the government “is problematic and deviates from legitimate and reasonable freedom of expression,” Zohar wrote. It was the first government step against the festival since it was established in 2011.

The coalition, dominated by ultranationalist and anti-Arab politicians, argues it is making Israel more democratic by acting in accordance with the will of the majority that elected it. It depicts its targets as elitists bent on preserving their privileges and power at the expense of the nation.

However, during Israel’s ongoing state of war, the coalition is pushing a flurry of antidemocratic bills, including one designed to restrict academic speech ostensibly for security reasons, and another that would effectively impinge on voting among Palestinian citizens of Israel and decrease their Knesset representation, thereby perpetuating the rule of the hard Right.

In film, the government’s threatening posture towards work raising questions about Israel’s foundation, or probing Palestinian dispossession or alleged army violations is already deterring filmmakers and supervisors from choosing critical or controversial topics. The reason is simple: in Israel the government, not private investors, provides the funding for films.