German foundation cancels award for journalist who compared Gaza to Nazi-era Jewish ghetto

Foundation says essay’s implication that Israel aimed to ‘liquidate Gaza like a Nazi ghetto’ is unacceptable

A German foundation has decided to retract its prestigious political thinking prize from a prominent Russian-American journalist after the writer compared Gaza with a Jewish ghetto in Nazi-occupied Europe.

The decision came in the wake of a contentious essay penned by Masha Gessen which the German foundation deemed “unacceptable”.

The award ceremony, originally scheduled for Friday, will not proceed as planned after withdrawal of support by the Heinrich Boll Foundation (HBS), associated with the Green Party.

The HBS, in coordination with the Senate in Bremen, the northern port city slated to host the ceremony, announced its decision to withdraw support, leading to the unexpected cancellation.

The German newspaper Die Zeit reported that the Hannah Arendt Prize for political thought is still slated to be presented to Gessen. However, the ceremony’s dynamics have undergone a significant shift, now scheduled for Saturday instead of the initially planned Friday. It remains uncertain at the moment whether Gessen will attend the ceremony, who will present it, or what they will be presenting and whether other guests still plan to attend.

Her essay titled “In the shadow of the Holocaust: How the politics of memory in Europe obscures what we see in Israel and Gaza today” was published on 9 December in the New Yorker.

HBS said Gessen was implying through her essay that Israel aimed to “liquidate Gaza like a Nazi ghetto”, adding that “this statement is unacceptable to us and we reject it”.

Gessen, known for their critical stance on Germany’s support of Israel, contends that criticism of Israel should not be equated with antisemitism. The move has sparked debates about free expression, the memory of Hannah Arendt, and the complex dynamics surrounding criticism of Israel in Germany.

Meanwhile, the German-Israeli Society Bremen said in a statement: “The recent remarks made by Masha Gessen in an essay in the New Yorker have made it clear that this would be a tribute to a person whose thinking stands in stark contrast to Hannah Arendt’s thinking. Such an honour would run counter to the necessary resolute stance against growing anti-Semitism.”

Russian authorities added Gessen to a wanted list, initiating a criminal case against them for allegedly disseminating false information about the Russian army.