►Join the Thunderclap: Cartoons on the Bay, UNICEF and RaiTV, Don't reward Israel!
To the attention of:
Luigi Gubitosi, General Director, RAI
Costanza Esclapon, President, RAICom
Roberto Genovesi, Director, Cartoons on the Bay
Giacomo Guerrera, President, Unicef Italia
Anthony Lake, Executive Director, Unicef
Bruno Bozzetto, Honarary President, Asifa-Italia
Maurizio Forestieri, President, Asifa-Italia
Ed Desroches, President, Asifa
We recently learned that this year Israel will be guest country featured at 'Cartoons on the Bay', the television animation festival organized by Italian state television RAI April 16-18 in Venice, Italy. Israel is also scheduled to receive the festival’s Pulcinella Award 2015.[1] At the presentation, Israeli ambassador Naor Gilon commended the choice, while Constanza Esclapon, president of RaiCom, praised Israel for being a beacon of innovation in the field of animation.[2]
The celebration of Israel at a festival centered on animation for children seems, at the very least, highly inappropriate, given the repressive and discriminatory policies it imposes on Palestinian children. According to data from the Israeli organization B'Tselem and the UN, since 2000, 1,941 Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli military forces.[3]
Due to Israel’s military occupation, Palestinian children are forced to live in intolerable conditions, face enormous difficulties in access to education and are subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment in Israeli prisons.
UNICEF, among the festival’s sponsors, has repeatedly documented the “systematic and widespread” abuse of Palestinian children in the Israeli military detention system.[4]
Palestinian children are arrested by the hundreds every year, for the most part during night raids, and subjected to atrocious experiences after arrest.
According to Defence for Children International-Palestine, from 2000 to 2013, more than 8,000 Palestinian children have been detained by Israel.[5] In the year 2014 alone, 1,266 Palestinian children were arrested and there are currently more than 200 in prison.[6] Palestinian children are usually accused of throwing stones, a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison under Israeli military law. However, often children are imprisoned without charge.
During interrogations, which are almost always without the presence of parents or attorneys, and detention, Israel constantly works to break the psychological and physical balance of Palestinian children via physical and verbal abuse. By targeting children, Israel is destroying the ability not only of new generations to continue the struggle, but also that of mothers and fathers, intimidated by the possibility of their children suffering violence and abuse. Arresting children also serves to collect information on activists and leaders of the resistance. In fact, according to testimony gathered by Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations, ill-treatment and torture are used routinely to obtain information.[7]
We therefore ask what criteria was used as a basis for inviting Israel as "guest country" to a festival of animation for children, when it has shown that it has absolutely no regard or respect for Palestinian youth and children?
And how can Israel be welcomed at a festival in which the theme is "nature and food", just as in the case of Expo2015, when its ongoing land confiscation and expansion of illegal settlements, uprooting of olive trees, killing and theft of livestock and pillage of resources leaves the Palestinian people in the occupied territories with no possibilities of carrying on their lives?
We believe that a country that systematically tramples human rights deserves no awards.
We therefore call on RAI not to honor Israel as a "guest country" of the festival and to withdraw the Pulcinella Award 2015 for Israel.
We also call on Unicef, in light of its stated commitment to the rights and wellbeing of children, and on the International Animated Film Association (ASIFA), which sees the art of animation "as an instrument of peace and dialogue between peoples", to withdraw their sponsorship from 'Cartoons on the Bay' as long as the festival continues to celebrate Israel.
Thank you for your attention.
BDS Italy
www.bdsitalia.org
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BDS Italia is a movement supporting boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel, comprised of associations and groups throughout Italy, who endorse the 2005 call from Palestinian civil society and work to promote BDS campaigns and initiatives locally and nationally.
Note:
[1] http://www.cartoonsbay.com/festival_paese/
[2] http://www.adnkronos.com/intrattenimento/spettacolo/2015/03/31/cartoons-the-bay-torna-venezia-compie-anni-ospita-israele_Bldaml7WeStCt507h1GLeN.html
[3] http://www.btselem.org/statistics/fatalities/before-cast-lead/by-date-of-event
http://www.btselem.org/statistics/fatalities/during-cast-lead/by-date-of-event
http://www.btselem.org/statistics/fatalities/after-cast-lead/by-date-of-event
http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/annual_humanitarian_overview_2014_english_final.pdf
[4] http://www.unicef.org/oPt/UNICEF_oPt_Children_in_Israeli_Military_Detention_Observations_and_Recommendations_-_6_March_2013.pdf
[5] http://www.dci-palestine.org/sites/default/files/report_doc_solitary_confinement_report_2013_final_29apr2014.pdf
[6] http://samidoun.ca/2014/12/6059-palestinians-arrested-in-2014-by-israeli-forces-including-1266-children/
[7] http://nena-news.globalist.it/Detail_News_Display?ID=71544