Politicians speak out on many issues. Sometimes, however, it is more significant on which issues they remain silent. This is even more true when it comes to Israel-related anti-Semitism.
It was just a week ago that Claudia Roth (The Greens), Minister of State for Culture, pithily emphasised in an interview with this newspaper: “I very clearly reject BDS.” She said that hatred of Israel in the cultural sector had to be countered with commitment.
But what does it look like when anti-Semitism is actually shown in Berlin’s cultural scene? The answer is as meaningful as it is shameful: the never-again invocations of the aforementioned politicians then promptly fall flat. And even worse: those who express anti-Semitism even receive public funding. The most recent example is the African Book Festival, which takes place in Berlin in August and receives 95,000 euros from the Capital Cultural Fund.
Mohamedou Ould Slahi Houbeini, of all people, was appointed its curator – a former Al-Qaida supporter and Guantanamo prisoner who is said to have renounced Islamism in the meantime. Obviously still present in abundance is his hatred of the Jewish state. Houbeini, who was born in Mauritania, likes to cover it up with anti-Semitic insinuations such as: Israel commits “ethnic cleansing” or is an “apartheid state” through and through.
Just imagine if a former right-wing radical artist from the American Midwest, who continues to agitate against Israel, became the curator of a state-supported festival in Germany: the outcry would be great! And rightly so. But it is a remarkable phenomenon: as soon as someone comes from the so-called Global South and belongs to the left, criticism is dispensed with.
Can there really be a discount on anti-Semitic attitudes as long as they come from a certain political or religious milieu? Will there be a continuation in Berlin in August of what we experienced for months at the documenta? The left in Germany should urgently reflect on these questions.
https://www.juedische-allgemeine.de/meinung/kulturrabatt-bei-antisemitismus/