Düsseldorf Art Academy rejects Jewish groups’ bid to stop event with Palestinian artist
The academy declined to cancel a student-run event following objections raised by Jewish organizations.
Law and Crime
The Düsseldorf Art Academy in Germany has rejected a request by a collection of Jewish groups to cancel a film screening with Palestinian artist Basma al-Sharif.
The academy, in a statement carried by German arts and culture magazine Monopol, condemned Hamas and said antisemitism and questioning Israel's right to exist “have no place at the academy.” But it rejected the request from the Network of Jewish University Lecturers and two other Jewish organizations to cancel the event.
"As the Düsseldorf Art Academy, we therefore enable student initiatives to create a space for discourse through their own events. This also applies when dealing with controversial topics,” the university said in its statement.
It said the invitation to al-Sharif offered to her on her “extensive international exhibition activity, festival appearances and awards."
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The university is slated to show two films by al-Sharif as part of an internal, student-organized event in its lecture hall, according to the university’s website.
“The event is aimed exclusively at students, teachers and staff of the Düsseldorf Art Academy and does not represent an institutional positioning of the Düsseldorf Art Academy,” the event listing reads. “Anti-Semitic, racist or criminally relevant statements will not be tolerated.”
The Jewish groups had sent an open letter to Düsseldorf Art Academy management Thursday to express “deep concern” about the planned event.
“Basma al-Sharif's public appearances are characterized by the trivialization of terrorism and Israel-related antisemitism,” the Jewish groups claimed.
The groups alleged that social media posts by the artist have referenced the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and legitimized violence against the Israeli military as "self-defense." The PFLP is a secular Palestinian nationalist group that has advocated for armed resistance against Israel occupation and for the establishment of a single democratic Palestinian state.
“Artistic reputation cannot serve as a license to disseminate or frame content that fuels antisemitic sentiment, relativizes terrorist violence, or delegitimizes Israel's right to exist,” the Jewish groups said.
“Student moderation cannot neutralize the political implications of an invitation if key red lines – such as a clear demarcation from antisemitism, glorification of terrorism, and the delegitimization of Israel – are not clearly and bindingly established beforehand.”
The Jewish groups said the invitation “sends a fatal signal of normalization” of what it views as antisemitism.
“We therefore appeal to you to cancel the planned event in order to avoid further damaging the already shaken trust of the Jewish community in public institutions,” they said.
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