Palestinian filmmaker backs out of festival panel after threats; right-wing activist thrown out for interrupting

After Palestinian filmmaker Rami Younis backed out of participating in a conference panel on freedom of speech due to threats, the man leading the charge against him is thrown out of the proceedings for interrupting.

Shai Glick, the head of the right-wing Betsalmo activist group, is ejected from the panel on the sidelines of the Jerusalem Film Festival for interrupting proceedings with shouting and yelling at the panelists.

The panel, titled “Freedom of Expression and Creativity in Israel Today,” was originally meant to include Younis, who organizers say dropped out due to fears following threats against him from right-wing figures, including demands from far-right Deputy Jerusalem Mayor Arieh King that he not be allowed to participate.

“Rami Younis called you a murderer,” Glick shouts as he is escorted out of the room at the Jerusalem Cinematheque by security.

King, who also shows up at the start of the panel, celebrates the fact that Younis did not ultimately participate, before also leaving the room.

Younis’s film, “Lyd”, about the expulsion of Palestinians in 1948 from the city in Israel today known as Lod, has been the subject of significant censorship efforts by Culture Minister Miki Zohar and other officials. Younis has said that Zionism is racism and previously called IDF soldiers “Nazis.”