The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival issued an apology after it approved an antisemitic juror, leading to the withdrawal of Israel’s Atlanta consulate as a sponsor of the event.
“We are sorry. Recent conversations within the Jewish community have made clear that the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival fell short in our internal processes regarding the recent jury matter,” reads a Feb. 22 statement from the festival sent to JNS. “We regret and share in the depth of concern expressed by members of our community and the distress it has caused.”
The annual festival, which opened this year in theaters on Feb. 18, has been marred by the festival’s appointment of Morehouse College senior Anwar Karim as a judge in the event’s human-rights category, several of which deal with Zionism or hot political issues within Israel.
A cinema, television and emerging media-studies major, as well as acting president of the Morehouse Muslim Student Association, Karim wore a green keffiyeh in the festival program, drawing the attention of the consulate.
Two days later, on Feb. 20, the consulate published a statement without directly naming Karim, citing antisemitic social-media posts and “substantial evidence of this person’s participation in at least one anti-Israel university encampment in Atlanta, putting Jewish students at risk and promoting dangerous misinformation about the war in Gaza started by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.”
Karim’s Instagram posts include numerous comparisons between Israel’s prosecution of the war against Hamas and the Nazi Holocaust.
His videos, which include his recited poetry, include lines about Israel such as “women, men and children being murdered just for sport, and “What’s a Zionist? A white supremacist trying to pose as a nomad.”
A separate video released in May 2024 by the Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations shows Karim reciting another poem about Israel, saying “these monsters remain unresponsive unless the money is talking” and “it’s like they pop champagne each time they erase a last name.”
‘Call them out’
While the festival continued to defend its selection of Karim in the immediate aftermath of the consulate’s withdrawal, its Feb. 22 statement acknowledges that “this situation has surfaced clear deficiencies, gaps and adherence issues in our existing organizational processes and policies, including those related to antisemitism, BDS and cultural boycotts.”
The festival added that “these shortcomings did not provide the clarity our community expects or that our organization needed to navigate this matter appropriately at a moment when clarity and trust matter deeply. We fully acknowledge and accept responsibility for that.”
While repeating its focus on cultural bridge-building, the festival said that “at the same time, ATL Jewish Film is, first and foremost, a Jewish institution, as well as a cultural one, and that identity shapes our responsibilities, especially in this moment. As a Jewish film festival, we have a responsibility, particularly at this fraught time, to stand firmly against antisemitism and to affirm the Jewish people’s right to self-determination.”
The festival added that it is taking steps toward clarifying its policies and decision-making protocols on cultural boycotts, antisemitism, anti-Zionist activity and organizational participation, and will share those revisions publicly. However, it said that for this year, “the jury process has concluded and cannot be revisited.”
Eitan Weiss, Israel’s consul general in Atlanta, said that the statement by the festival is “a good start” and that he will “go out against anyone who will promote antisemitism or anti-Zionism, and will call them out for what they are.”
On Feb. 23, leadership of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta published a community statement, saying they made it clear that “current and future funding” for the festival, “beyond already committed security support, will be contingent upon demonstrated follow-through, including clarified policies, strengthened vetting processes and consistent operationalization of those standards.”
