While large numbers of unarmed protesters in Gaza are killed or maimed with impunity by Israeli snipers (Report, 28 April), this week the Seret London Israeli Film and TV Festival, co-sponsored by the Israeli embassy and the World Zionist Organisation, will occupy venues in London, Brighton and Edinburgh. It will use the appeal of cinema to promote Israel as “a melting pot of cultures and religions”.

Israel deliberately and routinely denies media freedom to Palestinians. On 6 April, Palestinian cameraman Yaser Murtaja was killed by an Israeli sniper as he filmed the “Great March of Return” in Gaza. On the same day six other photojournalists wearing press jackets were injured by the Israeli military. Since then photographer Ahmed Abu Hussein has been shot dead. This is not an anomaly. Last year Israeli forces assaulted 139 journalists and detained a further 33. In 27 cases they destroyed or sabotaged equipment. They closed down 17 media outlets. Palestinian journalists and film-makers are thus victims of systematic persecution based on their ethnicity.

Art, media and culture are being employed to give an apparently acceptable face to a brutal reality. We, film-makers, journalists and artists, call on our cinema, media and cultural institutions to uphold basic ethical standards: they should refuse to provide platforms for national celebrations sponsored by a regime that is guilty of systematic and large-scale human rights violations.

Dr Bashir Abu Manneh Academic

Candace Allen Writer, director

Leah Borromeo Journalist and film-maker

Prof Haim Bresheeth Documentary film-maker

Victoria Brittain Author and journalist

Liam Cunningham Actor

Dror Dayan Documentary film-maker

Helen de Witt Film programmer

Tam Dean Burn Actor

Gareth Evans Curator, producer

Yasmin Fedda Film director

Simon Fisher Turner Composer

Maysaloun Hamoud Film director

Ashley Inglis Screenwriter

Aki Kaurismäki Film director

Peter Kennard Artist

Helena Kennedy QC Barrister, broadcaster

Michel Khleifi Film director

Peter Kosminsky Writer, director, producer

Paul Laverty Screenwriter

Mike Leigh Writer, director

Ken Loach Film director

Hettie Macdonald Film and television director

Miriam Margolyes Actor

Laura Mulvey Professor of film

Rebecca O’Brien Film producer

Andrew O’Hagan Writer

Maxine Peake Actor

Omar Qattan Film producer

William Raban Professor of film

David Roger Production designer

Juliet Stevenson Actor

Saeed Taji Farouky Documentary film-maker

Harriet Walter Actor

Roger Waters Musician

Susan Wooldridge Actor and writer

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