German foundation boycotts author for criticizing Israel’s Gaza attacks

By Anadolu staff

BERLIN (AA) - Germany’s Heinrich Boll Foundation came under criticism on Thursday for withdrawing from an award ceremony due to the awardee’s critical comments about Israel’s Gaza attacks.

The foundation, which is affiliated with the co-ruling The Greens party, has announced that it will not take part on Friday in the Hannah Arendt Award ceremony, which it has co-sponsored for many years.

The decision came after several Israeli lobby groups criticized this year’s awardee, prominent author Masha Gessen, for saying that Gaza has become “like a Jewish ghetto in an Eastern European country occupied by Nazi Germany.”

Following Heinrich Boll Foundation’s boycott, the event scheduled for Friday has been cancelled, and organizers said an award ceremony and symposium in honor of Masha Gessen will take place “in a smaller setting” on Saturday.

Samantha Rose Hill, who wrote several books on Hannah Arendt, sharply criticized Heinrich Boll Foundation’s decision.

“The Heinrich Boll Foundation refusing to show courage by complying with Germany's anti-democratic policies that govern what can be said about Israel,” she said on social media.

“[This] is an affront to the legacy of Hannah Arendt, a Jewish German woman who fled the Nazis. Who believed all people had a right to exist freely,” she added.

Sean Currie, a political activist, also slammed the Heinrich Boll Foundation’s boycott.

“Shame on you Heinrich Boll Foundation,” he said on X, adding: “The German Green Party foundation is withdrawing the Hannah Arendt prize from being awarded to Masha Gessen because of an essay Masha wrote about Gaza. Masha is a Jew whose grandfather was murdered by the Nazis.”