Claire Denis, Robert Guédiguian, Cédric Kahn, André Téchiné, but also Aki Kaurismaki, Jia Zhangke and Apichatpong Weerasethakul: 31 professionals of the 7th art co-sign a column published by Libération on December 28 which demands a ceasefire in Gaza, the establishment of humanitarian corridors and the release of Hamas hostages.
“The terrible violence of October 7 plunged Israelis and Palestinians into a new episode of killing and cruelty. What is currently taking place in Gaza is a massacre of extreme proportions, which is killing thousands of women and children and destroying the minimum conditions of survival for an entire people. We demand an immediate end to the bombings on Gaza, the establishment of humanitarian corridors and material resources demanded by all international organizations and the release of the hostages,” write the filmmakers.
The text then cites at length a previous column published at the initiative of Israeli personalities in the aftermath of the Six-Day War. “Our right to defend ourselves against extermination does not give us the right to oppress others,” explained a dozen Israeli intellectuals in a text published in Haaretz in September 1967. “Occupation results in foreign domination. Foreign domination breeds resistance. Resistance leads to repression. Repression leads to terrorism and counter-terrorism. The victims of terrorism are generally innocent people. The control over the occupied territories will make us murderers and murdered. Let’s get out of the occupied territories now!”
In the column published by Libération, these words are today taken up by filmmakers like Abderrahmane Sissako, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Walter Salles, Laurent Cantet, Claire Simon, Corneliu Porumboiu, Ira Sachs, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, or Lav Diaz.