Miami Beach mayor also proposes withdrawing grant after O Cinema screened Palestinian-focused film No Other Land
Joseph Gedeon at The Guardian:
The mayor of Miami Beach is attempting to evict an independent cinema from city-owned property after it screened No Other Land, the film about Palestinian displacement in the West Bank that just won the Oscar for best documentary. Steven Meiner’s proposal would terminate O Cinema’s lease and withdraw $40,000 in promised grant funding. In a newsletter sent to residents on Tuesday, Meiner condemned the film as “a false one-sided propaganda attack on the Jewish people that is not consistent with the values of our City and residents”. Meiner had previously urged the O Cinema to cancel scheduled screenings of the documentary, citing criticism from Israeli and German officials. According to the mayor’s newsletter, O Cinema’s CEO, Vivian Marthell, allegedly agreed to withdraw the film from programming, citing “concerns of antisemitic rhetoric”, but Meiner claimed she reversed her decision the following day. The screenings sold out and the cinema added additional dates in March. “Our decision to screen NO OTHER LAND is not a declaration of political alignment. It is, however, a bold reaffirmation of our fundamental belief that every voice deserves to be heard,” Marthell told the Miami Herald. The documentary, which won the Academy Award for best documentary feature last week, follows the destruction of Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank and chronicles the unlikely friendship between a Palestinian activist, Basel Adra, and an Israeli journalist, Yuval Abraham, who co-directed the film. Abraham responded to the Guardian’s reporting on Meiner’s efforts on Thursday, writing: “Banning a film only makes people more determined to see it.” “Once you witness Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Masafer Yatta it becomes impossible to justify it, and that’s why the mayor is so afraid of our film,” Abraham said in a post on social media.
Tensions over free speech and Palestinian activism nationwide have been further heightened this week after Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia student activist and green-card holder who helped lead the Palestinian solidarity movement during the college encampments last year, was detained by immigration authorities. The US president, Donald Trump, has alleged without evidence that Khalil has links to “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity”.
Miami Beach, Florida Mayor Steven Meiner’s threat to evict O Cinema for showing No Other Land is a gross attack on the freedom of speech that is part of a disturbing trend of silencing pro-Palestinian speech.
See Also:
Miami New Times: Miami Beach Mayor's Threat to Shut Down O Cinema: How Did We Get Here?
