In Germany, Jewish Israelis who seek to challenge the Zionist narrative are now effectively considered antisemitic.
About a year ago, a dozen Jewish Israeli artists and scholars living in Berlin started a program called The School for Unlearning Zionism as a “space for joint learning and internal, Jewish-Israeli self-negotiation with the Zionist story.” The project has advertised daily virtual events throughout October with both Israeli and Palestinian speakers, from historian Ilan Pappé on “Zionism as Settler Colonialism,” to Palestinian policy analysts Marwa Fatafta and Salem Barahmeh on “The Second Intifada, Oslo and what comes next.”
In addition to the lectures, which according to organizers have had between 25 to 80 participants, the initiative has set up film screenings and an art installation at the Weissensee Kunsthochschule, an art college in Berlin. But on Oct. 8, just days into the program, the university administration abruptly retracted the meager funding for the program — symbolic fees of 100 euros for each speaker — and took the page on its site down, without even notifying the organizers.
“I was very surprised the university leadership took action without speaking to me and without looking into the matter and speaking to anyone in the program about the art installation,” said Professor Mathias Jud, a visiting professor at the art school who has been overseeing the work of several Jewish Israeli students researching the concept of “unlearning Zionism.”
The university’s response was prompted by an email it received on Oct. 7, which was viewed by +972, from Frederik Schindler, a journalist with the conservative Die Welt daily. Schindler turned to the university for comment about the program with the claim that it has ties to the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. He specifically named four Jewish Israelis on the speaker list as supporters of BDS, which is considered antisemitic in Germany.
In the email, Schindler also quoted two tweets highly critical of the event, including one from Volker Beck, a hardline pro-Israel politician in Germany who served as an MP in the Bundestag till 2017. Beck argued that the event can go on, but not with federal money.
In May 2019, the German government passed a resolution that deems support for BDS antisemitic, very literally because of its association in German collective memory with the Nazi-era boycott of Jewish businesses. It includes language about denying state funds to those who question Israel’s right to exist and support or actively call for a boycott of Israel.
While the resolution is not legally binding, activism or dialogue around boycotting Israel — or even challenging the Israeli government line — are considered taboo in Germany, at least in public institutions. Last June, the president of the Jewish Museum in Berlin was forced to step down after tweeting about a letter by Israeli academics who reject the equation of BDS with antisemitism.