From the events of the Jewish Film Festival in Elsternwick, Melbourne, November 3, 2024 (Facebook)
On Monday, the Friends of Palestine Tasmanian group launched a campaign to exclude the Jewish National Fund from a film festival in Hobart, the largest city on the Australian island. The Tasmanian Times website quoted Friends of Palestine Tasmanian spokesperson Peta Fitzgibbon as saying, “Our aim is to make the International Jewish Film Festival free from… Apartheid By 2025.”
Fitzgibbon explained that “one of the main sponsors of the festival this year is the Australian Jewish National Fund,” noting that “the writer, physician and expert in the field of psychological trauma, Gabor Maté, who appeared in festival film ‘Doctor, Heal Yourself’, has publicly criticized the Jewish National Fund.” He described it as ‘criminal, colonial and racist’.
“Doctor, Treat Yourself” is a documentary about the life journey of Gabor Matei, one of the world’s most influential thinkers on addiction, trauma and childhood development, from his beginnings as a young dissident to a contemporary icon. He also talks about his difficult childhood in Hungary, his immigration to Canada, his experience as a journalist, and his early reputation as an oppositionist. He openly talks about his struggles with pain, his complex behavior, and his broken relationships.
In an interview earlier this year in Canada, Mattei described the JNF as “criminal, colonial and racist. Israel The so-called absentee property, the property of Palestinians who were evicted from their land and their homes, has been transferred to the Jewish National Fund for resale. “The Jewish National Fund is a criminal organization that receives stolen goods. “
“People in Hobart believe that racial and ethnic segregation has no place in Australian cinema and the arts in the 21st century,” continued Fitzgibbon.
She noted that the International Court of Justice issued a historic ruling on July 19 this year that Israel’s settlement and occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal. She said, “Israel’s discriminatory laws and policies against Palestinians violate the prohibition of apartheid, and Israeli occupation must end now.” Sanctions have been imposed on Israeli entities that violate the provision. and colonialism must not “It has a place in the Australian art world.”
Role of the Jewish National Fund
The Jewish National Fund is a Zionist institution founded in 1901 by Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern “political Zionism”. The fund describes itself as a non-governmental organization, which was founded “as a dream and a vision to re-establish a homeland in Israel for Jews everywhere.” Before the Nakba, the Fund played an important role in extending Jewish control over hundreds of thousands of Dunes After the Nakba, it continued to expropriate Palestinian land and take possession to the Jews under his famous slogan, “No land sales. because we already own the land.”
The Fund continued to finance the Israeli occupation army and support illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories The profession, and despite all this, is registered in Great Britain, the United States, and Israel as a charitable organization, where it receives tax-free donations that are used in building settlements.
