Berlinale: Claudie Roth complains about “disgusting anti-Semitism”

After the scandal surrounding anti-Israel statements at the Berlinale Film Festival awards ceremony, Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens) accused parts of the political left of hatred of Jews. “There is this disgusting open anti-Semitism among left-wing radicals,” Roth said in a statement published on Friday (paid content). She called the award ceremony “unsuccessful and partly unbearable”. Roth was recently criticized for her handling of the incident.

Roth called the “low point” of the awards ceremony the appearance of US filmmaker Ben Russell, who accused Israel of genocide against the Palestinians. “Despite all sympathy for the suffering of civilians, this really has nothing to do with the situation in the Gaza Strip,” said Roth. “Russell’s performance was unbearable.”

Berlinale management for Claudia Roth in charge

Roth sees responsibility for the process as lying with the Berlinale management. “There should have been a completely different and better preparation on how to deal with relevant performances, how to not let it stand and who on the part of the Berlinale is doing it,” said Roth.

Roth defended her own passivity in the incident. “I have a very hard time with the idea that representatives of the federal and state governments, and thus the state, would intervene at an international film festival, a cultural event hosted by the Berlinale,” she said.

Roth’s predecessor Monika Grütters (CDU) as well as Bavaria’s Prime Minister and CSU leader Markus Söder attacked Roth sharply after the scandal. Grütters said that there was “room for interventions” at the gala – “no applause, heckling, leaving the hall, for example,” wrote Grütters in the “Bild” newspaper. Söder accused Roth of “droning silence.”