France/Germany: Arte TV channel censors documentary on antisemitism

Via Berliner Zeitung (Götz Aly):

Translated (to the best of my abilities, not being familiar with the German language) with the help of Google translate:

The whole thing stinks to high heaven. The German-French TV channel Arte accepted a documentary project on "anti-Semitism in Europe" in April 2015 by a narrow majority. Joachim Schröder from the well-established film and television production company Preview Production (Munich) together with Sophie Hafner submitted it. The work was supervised by the Arte editorial team of Westdeutschen Rundfunk (WDR). 

In December 2016, Sabine Rollberg, editor in charge, took over the film. Since then, Alain Le Diberder, Arte's program director, has prevented the 90-minute documentary from being aired. He referred to the "negative vote of the French members of the program committee" from the outset, and complained of a lack of "balance". A bizarre argument. Contrary to Le Diberder, I believe that anti-Semitism is not accessible to "balance" (...). 

Meanwhile, I have reviewed the film. It draws its strength from intensive research and multiple perspectives. There is footage from right- and left-radical events in Germany and France, interviews with Protestant peace activists, sequences from within the European Parliament, rock concerts and rap videos. The film documents the corrupt, Hamas-controlled "self-administration" of Uno relief funds in Gaza. Le Diberder claims that the film lacks a "broad-based perspective". 

The opposite is true. The authors also allow pragmatic students of the University of Gaza to speak, who find the ruling Hamas prescribed Jew hatred disgusting. The socialist mayor of a suburb of Paris sees himself in a lost position, left alone by the state in the struggle against militant Arab anti-Semitism. This causes his Jewish citizens to leave the community in droves, while the principles of the Republic evaporate. 

"The film is a provocation" 

The historian Michael Wolffsohn shares my positive impression of this documentary. But the responsible editor Rollberg could do nothing against the French opposition.

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