Florida Mayor Threatened Theater Showing Documentary on Palestine

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Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner threatened to shut down his town’s local cinema for showing a documentary about Palestine—but after public outrage and national attention, he’s backed down.

The academy award-winning film “No Other Land” follows a Palestinian village struggling to survive in the West Bank amid Israeli government and settler violence. Co-produced by Palestinians and Israelis, the film was an obvious choice for O Cinema, which prioritizes global, award-winning films.

Kareem Tabsch, co-founder of O Cinema, is a filmmaker who made an award-winning movie about Miami Beach’s historic Jewish community. He co-founded O Cinema to give his neighborhood access to independent films that would otherwise pass it by. Tabsch spoke to Mother Jones about the attack on his cinema and why it is bigger than his theater: “It’s about democracy. This is about freedom of expression without government interference.”

Meiner may have rescinded his proposal to evict and defund the cinema, but he still maintains that the documentary is propaganda and a public safety threat.

#miamibeach #palestine #freespeech

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