A Berlin festival celebrating Palestinian culture was canceled after the Israeli Embassy in the German capital raised concerns that the event’s organizers had displayed an inverted red triangle, a Hamas symbol, in its marketing materials, German media reported last week.
The festival, titled “Palestine in Berlin,” was scheduled to take place on Jan. 24-25 in the borough of Reinickendorf.
The district office told Bild that after it “had become aware of the use of prohibited symbols (red triangle) in advance during the examination of the event, the organizer [cultural and sports club] Salam prohibits the performance of the event.”
Salam receives public funding that will amount to some $100,000 in 2026, according to Bild.
The red triangle is a symbol used by the terror group Hamas to mark Israel Defense Forces soldiers that it killed during the two-year war in Gaza.
Israel’s embassy brought the matter to the attention of local authorities after arguing that a festival flyer serves as “a dog whistle for antisemites.”
Ein mit Mitteln des Berliner Senats gefördertes palästinensisches Kulturfest illustriert seinen Flyer mit dem umgedrehten roten Hamas-Dreieck. Das ist seit zwei Jahren das Symbol des Judenmords auf Social Media.
— Botschaft Israel (@IsraelinGermany) January 19, 2026
Es fällt schwer, dies anders als eine dogwhistle für Antisemiten zu… pic.twitter.com/yJoxdQvgs7
Tweeting in German on Jan. 19, it said: “A Palestinian cultural festival funded by means of the Berlin Senate illustrates its flyer with the inverted red Hamas triangle. For two years now, this has been the symbol of the Jewish genocide on social media.
“It is hard to interpret this as anything other than a dog whistle for antisemites. If it [were] merely ... a case of botched graphic design, then the organizers are surely prepared to publicly distance themselves from Hamas’s terror. For that is incompatible with both integration in Germany and state funding.”
