Is the Berlin Film Festival's leadership in trouble over anti-Israel speech?

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech to the Israeli parliament is making a lot of front pages. The Indian PM is on a two-day diplomatic visit aiming to strengthen trade and defence ties. Modi told lawmakers in Jerusalem that India stands "firmly with Israel" after Hamas-led October 7 attacks. He did not explicitly mention the tens of thousands of Gazans killed since then. The PM did say however that India backs the Gaza peace plan, the Deccan Chronicle reports. He began his speech by affirming that India's connection to this land was written in blood and sacrifice. Modi reminded lawmakers that 4,000 Indian soldiers died in the region during the World War I. The Indian Express headlines on his words "blood and sacrifice." An opinion writer for The Hindu notes that Modi's visit comes just after India signed a joint declaration at the UN criticising Israel's actions in the West Bank. The writer says Modi's objective will be to boost India's trade ties with Israel while also balancing West Bank tensions.

In the Israeli press, The Jerusalem Post analyses one particular phrase uttered by Modi in his speech. He ended with a phrase in Hebrew, saying "Long live the Israeli people". The writer notes that this phrase would never have been spoken by India's founding father Mahatma Gandhi or Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister after India's independence. Both were firmly against Zionism, so the fact that Modi concluded with this phrase is all the more significant. Modi's visit has indeed been extremely controversial back home. The Indian Telegraph reports that opposition leader Rahul Gandhi from the Indian National Congress criticised the PM's visit to Israel, as did the communist party. India's official stance has always been to back Palestinian independence and a two-state solution. The communist party says Modi's visit was a betrayal of that cause.

Moving on to another controversy, the Berlin Film Festival wrapped up last weekend – but comments by an award-winning director about Israel have prompted questions over the festival's future leadership. The Guardian reports that Germany's federal government commissioner for culture and media convened an emergency meeting with a state-owned company that manages the festival to debate its future direction. At Saturday's closing ceremony, Syrian-Palestinian director Abdallah al-Khatib accused Germany of being complicit in what he called Israel's genocide of Gaza. His comments prompted a walkout by Germany's environment minister. As the Guardian explains, the Berlinale sees itself as an overtly political film festival. However, the war in Gaza has been a point of contention – with international artists rubbing up against a strong pro-Israel consensus among the political authorities who fund the festival. German paper Bild reports that the government intends to dismiss Tricia Tuttle, the American director of the festival, over Saturday's night controversy. The conservative daily calls al-Khatib's speech "a hate speech against Israel and Germany". It alleges that the government wants a fresh start after the festival's grand stage was "repeatedly misused for blatant anti-Semitism and propaganda". 

Finally, a survey of teens shows that superheroes are no longer in fashion! Gizmodo reports that Gen Z and Alpha were surveyed over what kinds of male representations they want to see in the media and their responses were unwavering. They want less emotionally stunted superheroes and more emotionally sensitive males on screen. The teens surveyed favour male characters who express their feelings, men taking care of others, fathers enjoying parenting and men seeking help or mental health care. Superhero fatigue is well and truly present!

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