June 20, 2017
For Immediate Release
Contact: Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett
(603) 226-3636
Lantos Foundation Welcomes Airing of Documentary Exposing Inconvenient Truths About Anti-Semitism in Europe
Calls on German Television Channel Not to Attempt to Discredit this Important Film
The Lantos Foundation is pleased that Germany’s Channel 1 has responded to growing criticism and has agreed to air an important documentary film that exposes some powerful truths about the prevalence and nature anti-Semitism in Europe.
The acclaimed documentary, “Chosen and Excluded - Jew Hatred in Europe,” was commissioned and approved by the German public broadcaster WDR. The film illuminates the inconvenient truth that a significant component of the anti-Semitism in Europe is driven by rabid anti-Zionist and anti-Israel sentiment, much of it coming from the political left and from immigrant Muslim communities.
Initially, the documentary was censored for daring to tell these uncomfortable truths and there was an effort to keep the film from seeing the light of day. The German newspaper Bild obtained a pirated copy of the film and made it available on its website for 24 hours. As criticism over the effort to censor the film has mounted, Channel 1 has agreed to air the program on Wednesday, June 21st at 10:15 pm.
Lantos Foundation President, Katrina Lantos Swett, whose father Tom Lantos was the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to the U.S. Congress, said:
“The sad reality is that most contemporary European anti-Semitism seeks to masquerade as legitimate criticism of Israel. However, it is easily unmasked as the same old ugly racism and Jew hatred. This is unmistakably evidenced through its attempted demonization and de-legitimization of the Jewish state and the outrageous double standard that is consistently applied only to Israel.”
Lantos Swett continued:
“This ugly anti-Semitism that is stalking much of Europe must be exposed, called out, and confronted.”
According to news reports, the screening of the documentary will be followed by a panel discussion addressing alleged “shortcomings” of the documentary. The filmmakers, Joachim Schroder and Sophie Hafner, have expressed concerns that this post broadcast panel will be stacked with critics who will attempt to put the film itself on trial in an effort to “whitewash” the initial decision to suppress the documentary.
The Lantos Foundation calls upon the German Broadcaster Channel 1 to guarantee that this will not be a “stacked tribunal” by including the filmmakers on the panel and ensuring that the other participants will represent a balanced cross section of participants.
As Lantos Swett said:
“Unless German television wants to ignite another round of outrage and criticism, they must invite the documentary filmmakers to be part of the proposed panel discussion and they must include critics as well as supporters of the film. Above all, they must include representatives of the Jewish community who clearly have the most authoritative and authentic understanding of the problem of anti-Semitism in Europe.”