A dozen film-makers and artists have withdrawn their work from the world’s largest documentary festival after its organisers strongly condemned the use of the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” at an opening-night protest.
During a speech by the artistic director of the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), Orwa Nyrabia, at the start of the event last Thursday, three activists took to the stage holding a sign with the slogan, which some say is a call for a secular state in historic Palestine but which others note is used by radical Islamist groups to promote the eradication of Israel.