HOT DOCS, JUST SAY NO! TO BRAND ISRAEL AND ISRAELI DELEGATION

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is “North America’s largest documentary festival, conference and market”. As part of its 2012 Festival, Hot Docs is hosting official delegations from a number of countries and regions including Israel, which has a long history of violating Palestinian human rights and international law.

As part of the global movement in support of the rights of Palestinian people, we call on Hot Docs to end its collaboration with Israeli state sponsored institutions. The festival’s celebration of this delegation as an achievement for the progressive arts and film community does not erase Israel’s systematic and ongoing violations of human rights and international law. In the last year alone these have included:

* Ethnic Displacement Policies: 222 Palestinian homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem demolished in 2011 by Israel, displacing 1,094 people including 609 children under the age of 18.

* Military killings: 115 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in 2011,a full three years after the Israeli assault on Gaza in 2008-09 when Israeli forces killed 1,390 Palestinians.

* Imprisonment and Collective Punishment: 4,386 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, including 320 held without trial in Administrative Detention, and 473 prisoners and their families currently affected by an absolute ban, in place since 2007, on all visits to prisoners from Gaza.

* Increased Illegal Settlement Activity: Approval for construction of 1,100 settlement homes in September, 2011 and approval of three settlement outposts just yesterday. The Secretary General of the United Nations reiterated yesterday that “all settlement activity is illegal under international law.”.

Hosting Israeli state-supported delegations is an act of whitewashing, not an occasion for cultural celebration. Israel’s state funded rebranding campaign deliberately attempts to “show Israel’s prettier face” as a means to hide these ugly facts. It involves pursuing partners to create venues that shift the focus from six decades of Israel’s deadly violations of international law to Israel’s achievements in medicine, science and culture.

Hot Docs’ 2012 delegation is implicated in Israel’s rebranding campaign, and it represents a troubling continuation of the festival’s institutional cooperation with Israeli state-funded organisations. In 2005 Hot Docs hosted “Spotlight on Israel”, a program which received direct sponsorship from Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Consulate General of Israel in Toronto. And in 2011 Hot Docs sent an official delegation to Tel Aviv to participate in a co-production forum funded by the Israeli Film Council and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Despite Hot Docs statement that they “cannot endorse or oppose any one political position or cause”, their exchange of official delegations with Israel means they have effectively “taken sides”. Likewise, they have taken sides by ignoring the call to boycott Israeli state funded co-production organizations issued by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) in 2009 following Israel’s deadly war crimes in Gaza.

This complicity has not gone unnoticed. Members of the Palestinian community, filmmakers and the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid met with Hot Docs last year to ask that the festival respect the cultural boycott of Israel by ceasing to work with institutions supported by the Israeli state. And in a letter to Hot Docs opposing its 2011 delegation to Israel, 51 members of the film and arts community stated that “this trend of promoting Israel puts progressive filmmakers and artists who support Hot Docs in an increasingly compromised position.”

We are not calling for a boycott of Hot Docs, because we believe that Hot Docs can achieve its goal of supporting documentary filmmakers and expanding its co-production relationships without supporting Israel and other oppressive states responsible for human rights violations. As supporters of Hot Docs’ progressive ideals and of Palestinian human rights, we once again call upon the festival to end its collaboration and choose not to work with institutions sponsored by the Israeli state.
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ONE MINUTE ACTION IN FIVE EASY STEPS

STEP 1: Cut and paste into subject line: “Hot Docs, Just Say No! to Israeli delegation

STEP 2: Cut and paste into body of e-mail (modify as you wish):

To the Co-Chairs of Hot Docs Board of Directors,

As a long-standing supporter of Hot Docs and a supporter for Palestinian human rights, I am writing to express my concern about your ongoing partnerships with Israeli state-sponsored institutions.

I understand that Hot Docs has invited an official Israeli delegation as part of this year’s International Co-Production Day, and that you sent an official delegation to Tel Aviv last year to participate in a co-production forum funded by the Israeli Film Council and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Last year 51 members of the film and arts community wrote to you stating their concern that “this trend of promoting Israel puts progressive filmmakers and artists who support Hot Docs in an increasingly compromised position.” As a member of the broader community who supports progressive venues for documentary film-making and cultural production, I share their concerns.

For all of these reasons I am asking that you reconsider your partnerships with Israeli state-sponsored institutions in the future, until Israel stops its violation of Palestinian human rights and conforms to international law.

Sincerely,

Name, Affiliation, City, Country

STEP 3: Cut and paste addresses for Hot Docs Co-Chairs and Chris McDonald, Executive Director into To: line of your e-mail:

cmcdonald@hotdocs.ca

cochairs@hotdocs.ca

info@hotdocs.ca

STEP 4: Cut and paste CAIA into “Bcc” line:

endapartheid@riseup.net

STEP 5: press Send

For more information on this issue email endapartheid@riseup.net

Press Release
February 14, 2012
Minister Jason Kenney Decides to Stop Funding for a
Settlement Program Administered by Palestine House

Earlier this month, Mr. Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration, and Multiculturalism, decided not to renew a contribution agreement between Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and Palestine House Cultural and Educational Centre (Palestine House). As a result Palestine House will no longer provide settlement services or language instruction to newcomer Canadians. Mr. Kenny did not provide any convincing explanation for his decision.

Palestine House has been providing CIC funded settlement and language instruction services to Canadian immigrants of all walks of life for nearly two decades. The dedicated teachers, settlement workers, childcare workers, and administrative staff have served the community of newcomer Canadians with integrity, professionalism, and compassion. Mr. Kenney’s decision mostly hurts those newcomer Canadians who will no longer be able to rely on Palestine House services to help them integrate successfully into Canadian society.

The decision is not based on the efficacy of the services provided. It is part of a concerted effort, if not a campaign, led by Mr. Kenney and the Conservative Government, of targeting Canadian organizations that act or speak in support of the basic human rights of the Palestinian people. In this silencing campaign any group that speaks favourably of Palestinians or their rights is automatically tagged as a supporter of extremism.

“It was made clear in correspondence to Minister Kenney that Palestine House categorically denounces all forms of terrorism or extremism. Our positions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are in line with universal values of human rights as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In fact, they are very close to the positions of the Government as stated on its website” Mr. Samir Jabbour, a spokesperson on behalf of Palestine House said.

He added: “Once again, Minister Kenny and the Harper Government prove to Canadians that they are solely led by their ideological biases. Rule of ideology, not the rule of law, is the actual policy that this Government follows.”

Palestine House is the largest organization representing Palestinian Canadians in Canada. It has repeatedly expressed support for the Palestinian people and all oppressed peoples of the world, including Canada’s First Nations.

“This decision which has left about ­­20 people jobless is motivated by discrimination. Despite the damage done to newcomer Canadians by this misguided decision, we are unwavering in our position in support of the Palestinian people and their human rights. Mr. Kenney and his decision will never silence us or stop us from serving our community” added the spokesperson.

We urge Minister Kenney to reconsider his decision and urge all concerned Canadians that support Palestine House to freely express support for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to make their views known to Minister Kenney directly and through their local MPs

For Further information please contact: Palestine House at 905 270 3622 ext. 221
Palestine House
3195 Erindale Station Road
Mississauga, Ontario
Canada, L5C 1Y5
www.palestinehouse.com
905 270 3622

The eighth annual Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is taking place in Toronto from March 5 – 11, 2012.

IAW 2012 Toronto events:First launched in Toronto in 2005, IAW has grown to become one of the most important global events in the Palestine solidarity calendar. Last year, 97 cities around the world participated in the week’s activities.