Int’l association releases report on cultural community's stance against Israeli genocide

By Ahmet Esad Sani

ISTANBUL (AA) - An Istanbul-based international association released a report Wednesday outlining the cultural and artistic community's stance against Israel’s onslaught against Palestinians.

Titled Cultural and Artistic Community's Stance Against Genocidal Israel (World and Türkiye), it was introduced by the Academics and Authors Association of Islamic Countries (AYBIR) at an event in the Turkish metropolis.

A panel addressing the cultural and artistic community's reaction to the Israeli genocide was held as part of the event, which was attended by many prominent names from the art and culture world.

Speaking at the panel, Palestinian-Dutch film director Hany Abu-Assad said he faced many difficulties before the Israel-Hamas war broke out on Oct. 7 last year but was allowed to work in Hollywood because he was not seen as a threat.

"As it turns out, the Zionists believed they could manage the situation. But after Oct. 7, they realized that the Palestinian cause was not a lost cause, not a dead cause, and still had living elements," said Abu-Assad.

"From the moment they felt that the intifada (Palestinian uprising) was not just rhetoric but a continuing, living and bloody resistance, they decided to stop all the work I was doing in Hollywood. They said, 'No Palestinian can talk about Palestine in Hollywood anymore,'" he noted.

"At first, I was indeed worried. But it is foreseen that Oct. 7 will turn into a revolutionary reality, much like the French Revolution. Maybe not immediately today, but in the coming decades.”

In his opening speech at the event, the report's author, Associate Professor Mustafa Aslan from Sakarya University, said that many members of the cultural and artistic community had faced sanctions for criticizing Israel.

"In the report, we tried to address how artists working in four main art fields, both in the world and in Türkiye, criticized or could not criticize Israel's genocidal stance,” Aslan said.

“We brought together works in the fields of literature, music, cinema and other arts," he added.

AYBIR’s president, Fatih Savasan, highlighted that there was a serious reaction against Israel in the art community worldwide.

“The cultural and artistic community does not need any reminders to react to what is happening in Gaza, because they know that everything did not start on Oct. 7,” said Savasan.

Translator and activist Aycin Kantoglu said: "Zionism's hand has now reached children. There was an old saying, 'The knife has reached the bone.' The knife has pierced through the children's bones.

“Now, in such a situation -- no matter what background you come from, what faith you belong to, what language, race or geography you live in -- looking at the killing of children from afar as if nothing has happened is not a state suitable to human nature," she said.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas.

Nearly 38,000 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and around 87,300 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Over eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz