Netflix defends its decision to remove Palestinian films from platform

When Netflix announced recently that 19 films about Palestinians would be leaving the platform soon, it was blasted by those who saw the move as a signal that it did not support Palestinians.

Freedom Forward, an organization based in San Francisco, released an open letter as well as a petition, asking for an explanation from the international streamer on why these films would no longer be on the platform.  

According to Deadline, these films were licensed by Front Row Filmed Entertainment, a Dubai company. They include Elia Suleiman’s Divine Intervention (which won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival) and Annemarie Jacir’s Salt of This Sea.

Netflix responded to Deadline by saying, “We launched this licensed collection of films in 2021 for three years. Those licenses have now expired. As always, we continue to invest in a wide variety of quality films and TV shows to meet our members’ needs, and celebrate voices from around the world.”

Social media users blame Jews

This explanation wasn’t enough to satisfy many social-media users who read a deeper meaning in the films being removed. An X user called brian s echoed the sentiments of many by tweeting, “Zionist Jews are busy taking control of most media and entertainment sites. @netflix proves to be a tool of Zionist antisemitism : deleting Palestinian content”

Others canceled their Netflix subscriptions.

At the same time that Netflix has been criticized about these Palestinian films, it has steadily been increasing its offerings of Arab and Muslim films. There are dozens of Egyptian films available, as well as feature films from Saudia Arabia, such as Basma, about a young Saudi woman who returns to Jedda after studying abroad, and Barakh Meets Barakh, a Saudi rom-com about an independent young woman who is a social-media influencer who gets involved with a guy from a rich, conservative family. There are also reality series, such as Love is Blind: Habibi, a matchmaking show from Dubai.

Movies about Palestinians that remain on the platform at presstime and are not marked as leaving soon include Ameen Nayfeh’s 200 Meters, about Palestinian lovers living on different sides of the security fence, and Darin J. Sallam’s Farha, the story of a Palestinian girl in hiding during the Independence War of 1948. In addition, the Oscar-nominated Ajami deals with Israeli Arabs and Palestinians from the West Bank.