Dieter Hallervorden posted a video and triggered widespread media coverage. He receives a lot of support online – but there are also allegations of anti-Semitism.
Actor and cabaret artist Dieter Hallervorden has responded to accusations of anti-Semitism because of his video about the war in Gaza. “I am immune from being pushed into this corner – just because I expressed criticism – of being an anti-Semite,” the 88-year-old told the German Press Agency. “I grew up as the grandson of a grandfather who saved a synagogue from being burned down and was bitterly punished for it.”
He described himself as a political person, but not as a Middle East expert. “I knew that of course I wouldn’t be met with love from all sides, but that didn’t matter to me.” He has nothing to blame himself for.
Hallervorden was at an event organized by the Federal Children’s Hospice Association, for which he has been an ambassador for years. “I cannot get involved in the children’s hospice here and refuse the call for help from children who die every day in the Gaza Strip.”
Apartheid, genocide and Hamas propaganda videos
In the three-minute video that Hallervorden posted on Instagram and Facebook on Tuesday, he speaks of apartheid and genocide in a poem in connection with Israel’s policy. He called for a ceasefire and the release of “all hostages.” He wrote the text together with the controversial songwriter and former Bundestag member of the Left, Diether Dehm. To support his statements, Hallervorden also used propaganda videos from Hamas and excerpts from the Qatari news channel Al-Jazeera. He described his video as a “call for peace.”
Specifically, he says about a father from Gaza whose child was killed: “Should I recommend that this father be as cool as a talk guest and just not miss a word that appears anti-Semitic?” He says about German politics: “They pledge allegiance to apartheid, from traffic lights to AfD.” The concept of apartheid is ideologically highly controversial in connection with Israel. He also criticizes arms deliveries to Israel and asks: “And that shouldn’t be genocide?”
Criticism from the German-Israeli Society
The President of the German-Israeli Society, Volker Beck, criticized Hallervorden on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday. He accused him of not leaving out any anti-Israel cliché in the video and of reversing the perpetrator and victim. Hallervorden also says in the video: “Atrocities usually have a history. And no one is born a terrorist.” When asked by the dpa, the Central Council of Jews initially did not want to comment on Hallervorden’s video. The video was also a topic in the House of Representatives on Thursday. Among other things, it was about whether Hallervorden would be invited to the next court festival.
A few weeks ago, the actor and Berlin theater director shared a post on Instagram in which he took a position against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and called on the German government to work towards an end to the war between Israel and Hamas.
On October 7th, the terrorist organization Hamas, which rules in the Gaza Strip, attacked Israel, massacred more than 1,200 people and kidnapped around 240 people as hostages. Israel then launched a war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. According to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, the number of deaths in Gaza recently rose to around 33,800.
Hallervorden is the director of the Schlosstheater in Berlin and has made a name for himself over the decades as a cabaret artist and actor in film and television. In the 1970s he became known for the series “Nonstop Nonsens”, and in 2014 he starred alongside Til Schweiger in the film “Honig im Kopf”.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
