The producer of a shocking new film – Censoring Palestine – about the coverage of Israel’s genocide in Gaza in the corporate media claims state censorship of the coverage is intensifying despite the ceasefire.
Norman Thomas, producer of Censoring Palestine said:
Since October 2023, mainstream media outlets like the BBC have concentrated on trying to play down what most people consider an Israeli genocide going in Palestine. But now, since the ceasefire, they have what’s even a bigger problem — which is playing down the part Britain has played in the genocide.
Censoring Palestine: the truth about corporate media and the state’s pro-Israel bias
Censoring Palestine will be premiered in London on Wednesday 22 January. It’s the latest production from Platform Films who in 2023 made the controversial Oh Jeremy Corbyn – The Big Lie telling the rise and fall of the former Labour Party leader.
Thomas said:
Our previous film showed how the media helped bring down Jeremy Corbyn with smears and lies. Our new film shows the media committing an even worse crime — trying to hide a genocide.
He argues that the need to censor coverage has been made much more urgent since it’s emerged that Britain made a much bigger contribution to the Israeli war effort than simply supplying military equipment, but was involved in spying, reconnaissance, and other operations.
Thomas said:
It’s clear now the British government hasn’t just been complicit in genocide, it has taken part in it. And the British prime minister and other ministers may well find themselves charged with war crimes. This is sensational news but our mainstream media is giving it no coverage whatsoever.
Moreover, he argues that the BBC, as the state broadcaster, is playing a lead role in the censorship.
It’s NO accident that the police, on the pretext of protecting a synagogue, are trying to stop pro-Palestine protesters demonstrating near the BBC offices in London. This is a case of the state trying to shore up censorship in the most blatant and disgraceful way.
Silencing dissent
The film also shows the way that counter-terrorism laws are being used to silence voices of protest and dissent.
Thomas said:
Dawn raids on journalists, an academic being arrested for making a speech, protesters being jailed without bail for long periods of time – and all using what appear to be totally false and ridiculous accusations of terrorism. Our film paints a picture of a British establishment desperate to conceal the part it’s played in the horrific crimes against humanity in Palestine.
The film features interviews with Alexei Sayle, Roger Waters, and veteran film director Ken Loach – who speaks revealingly of his own experience with censorship in the past.
In the film he totally condemns the role of the BBC in coverage of Gaza. “The BBC is acting as an arm of the state,” he says.
Especially powerful in the film, Thomas said, are the contributions of the mothers of two young activists imprisoned for taking action to stop the manufacture of drones in Britain for use in Palestine.
He said:
Protest is being equated with dissent in an outrageous and unjust way
Censoring Palestine: not to be missed
Platform Films has made films for the BBC and Channel Four. Its film Oh Jeremy Corbyn – The Big Lie hit the UK headlines when it was axed from Glastonbury Festival in 2023 following an online campaign led by pro-Israel bodies.
Censoring Palestine will get its first London screening in the Genesis Cinema, 93-95 Mile End Road E14UJ, at 6.40pm Wednesday 22 January, before going on general release.
The screening will be followed by an open discussion with Alexei Sayle, journalist Sarah Wilkinson, the mothers of three imprisoned pro-Palestine activists, Stop The War Convenor Lindsey German, and the filmmakers.
For tickets contact Genesis Cinema here.
Watch the trailer:
