Claudia Roth, who served as Commissioner for Culture and the Media (2021-2025) under German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government, walked back her criticism of anti-Israel remarks made by the filmmakers of “No Other Land,” at a 2024 awards ceremony, during a Nov. 4 German-language podcast.
Roth, 71, said she regretted her criticism against the documentary’s co-directors, calling her remarks a “huge mistake” and a “great stupidity,” in an interview with the podcast “Jung & Naiv” (“Young & Naïve”), a German national public-service broadcaster, Deutschlandfunk, reported on Nov. 6.
Roth, who is a member of Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, for the Alliance 90/The Greens party, often referred to as the Greens, blamed the Central Council of German Jewry, the principal umbrella organization representing Jewish communities in Germany, along with other parties, for pressuring her to make her criticisms. “She said she was too weak or overwhelmed in that situation,” Deutschlandfunk reported.
At the 74th Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) in February 2024, the documentary film “No Other Land” won two major awards. (In 2025, it would win the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.) The film is about Masafer Yatta, a collection of illegal Arab settlements built on land Israel had declared a military zone. Israeli politicians and Israel supporters criticized the film as one-sided.
Two of the four co-directors, Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham, (who, together with Rachel Szor, another of the film’s co-directors, is behind the controversial 2026 documentary “Naza”), used their award speeches to make political statements. Adra said it was difficult for him to celebrate his film’s success while people in Gaza were “being slaughtered and massacred.” He called on Germany to stop arms exports to Israel. Abraham said that in Israel a “situation of apartheid” existed.
German politicians criticized their comments at the time. Joseph Chialo, Berlin’s State Minister for Culture and Social Cohesion, posted to X: “This year’s award ceremony of the Berlinale was marked by self-righteous anti-Israeli propaganda that has no place on the stages of Berlin.” Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner posted to X: “The full responsibility for the deep suffering in Israel and the Gaza Strip lies with Hamas.” Social Democrats spokesperson Melanie Kuhnemann-Grunow said, “The Berlinale has suffered damage—whether this can be healed remains to be seen,” ScreenDaily reported.
The Berlinale, which together with Cannes and Venice is one of Europe’s three biggest film festivals, received about €12.9 million (~$14.4 million) in German state funding in 2024, The Guardian reported.
At the Feb. 24, 2024, event, Roth could be seen applauding the filmmakers’ comments. She later insisted she was only clapping for Avraham’s speech and not Adra’s.
During last Wednesday’s podcast, she took back that criticism.
In a statement to “Stern” magazine, a source close to the Central Council of Jews in Germany said that Roth “apparently considers any means justified in her fight against political irrelevance.” This includes “the invention of a Jewish conspiracy.” The source said it was time for Roth to retire, Deutschlandfunk reported.
