05 Sep 2022; MEMO: In one of the largest protests against Israeli apartheid, more than 300 filmmakers signed a petition in which they refuse to cooperate with the Shomron Film Fund. Oscar-nominated filmmakers were amongst the signatories who slammed the fund as being "part of the apartheid mechanism". Shomron is the Hebrew word for Samaria – which is the Biblical name of the occupied West Bank.
Founded by controversial former Minister of Culture Miri Regev, the fund distributes grants exclusively to Jews in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. With the government grant denied to non-Jews, it is one of the clearest examples of Israel's many racist policies which every major human rights group has concluded amounts to the crime of apartheid.
The signatories pledged that they will not seek funding from, nor cooperate with the Shomron Film Fund following its inaugural film festival in the occupied West Bank in July, the signatories said that "Israeli Cinema Will Not Be Instrumentalized to Whitewash the Occupation." The statement was sparked by the stormy controversy that erupted after the Samaria Film Festival was held for the first time about two months ago, in the illegal West Bank settlement of Ariel, in the presence of a number of leading Israeli cinema figures.
The group, which includes Israeli and international filmmakers, said that the fund was "part and parcel of the mechanisms of apartheid." They dismissed its claim to be in support of diversity and pluralism. "The term 'diversity' becomes devoid of meaning when in practice it obfuscates systematic violence and serious violations of human rights," said the letter.
"The Shomron Fund is not a pluralistic fund — it is part and parcel of the mechanisms of apartheid [**open to one ethnic group (Jews) and closed to another (Palestinians) living in the same geopolitical area (the occupied West Bank).]" the letter continued.
The signatories urged filmmakers to "draw a red line" in rejecting Israel's ongoing occupation and annexation of Palestinian territory. They argued that the inaugural festival and the fund "is not a love of culture but a politic aimed at erasing the green line and the distinction between military and civilian regimes."
"We call upon the Israeli Academy of Film and Television, its leadership and members at large, not to turn Israeli cinema into yet another instrument in the oppression of the Palestinian people," the letter concluded.
A counter campaign in support of the apartheid funding system saw some 50 Israeli TV personalities and filmmakers sign a letter backing the Shomron Film Fund. "We see the fund as a new home for creativity, welcome its establishment and believe it will provide fertile soil for important voices in Israeli cinema," said the letter.
The group claimed to "encourage freedom of expression and creation for Israeli citizens without reference to religion, race, gender, political affiliation or place of residence," values which appear to be completely at odds with the racist practice of the fund they gave their full backing. "The State of Israel is a complex mosaic that requires dialogue among all its parts, and not boycotts," the signatories supporting the Shomron Fund added.
