New Delhi: More than 90 filmmakers, journalists, academics and activists from India, Israel and elsewhere have issued a statement condemning the Central Board of Film Certification’s ban on the Oscar-winning documentary The Voice of Hind Rajab in India. This ban, they argue, “continues a worrying pattern of Indian censorship of Palestinian and progressive Israeli voice”.Signatories include actors Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah, filmmakers Michal Aviad, Payal Kapadia, Ilan Ziv and Anant Patwardhan, and academics Akeel Bilgrami, Lynne Segal and J.P. Loo.The full statement is reproduced below.§Banning The Voice of Hind Rajab threatens freedom of expression in India and Israel.We are, variously, Israelis, Indians, filmmakers, journalists, academics and activists. We write in support of pluralism, democracy and freedom of expression in India and in Israel—for both Jews and Palestinians. And we condemn the Central Board of Film Certification’s invocation of Indo-Israeli relations to justify its banning of The Voice of Hind Rajab.The ban continues a worrying pattern of Indian censorship of Palestinian and progressive Israeli voices. In January, Einat Weizman and an Israeli theatre troupe were denied visas for the International Theatre Festival of Kerala. And in December last year, the Union government censored pro-Palestinian films at the International Film Festival of Kerala, including All that’s left of you and Once upon a time in Gaza. We wish to make three points about the implications of the ban for freedom of expression, not only in India but also in Israel.First, the ban is a plainly unlawful attack on freedom of expression, protected by Article 19 of the Constitution of India. In Ramlila Maidan incident, the Supreme Court held that freedom of speech can be restricted only under Article 19(2): such restrictions must be ‘reasonable’, i.e. ‘free of arbitrariness,…have a direct nexus to the object, and…be proportionate to the right restricted as well as the requirement of the society’. The Board’s reasoning that certification might ‘break up’ Indo–Israeli relations fails all three tests. It is arbitrary: the Board felt no need to ban e.g. 120 Bahadur or The Bengal Files, even though they were at least as likely to damage foreign relations. It has no ‘direct nexus’ to a relationship principally based on economic, defence and strategic ties. And it is difficult to see how denial of certification of films could be a proportionate means to any foreign policy ‘requirement of…society’ that it could plausibly achieve.Second, self-censorship is a vicious cycle. It encourages others to expect similar self-censorship in future. Israel would likely not even have thought to concern itself with film certification in India before these incidents. Now the Indian authorities have shown themselves willing to censor films in foreign powers’ interests. Although most self-censorship is individual, the same logic of anticipatory obedience applies to state–state interactions. Conversely, both states and individuals that display a principled commitment to freedom of expression ultimately protect their own interests at the same time. Others understand the opportunity cost of seeking to cross their red lines vis à vis free speech, and so are less likely to make such demands in the first place.Also read: ‘Think We’re Not Angry Enough’: Kaouther Ben Hania on ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’Third, the ban endangers freedom of expression not only in India but in Israel. Governments that censor material inconvenient to other governments will generally have similar expectations. Both the Israeli public and government attach great importance to bilateral relations with India. The Indian authorities have shown that their idea of friendship is appeasement of the government of the day, to the point of censoring films bringing to light their most appalling crimes. Such attitudes would undermine freedom of expression in Israel, which is already under threat, most notably in police attacks on Palestinian citizens of Israel and anti-war voices. On 7 March this year, police violently attacked anti-war protesters in Tel Aviv and Haifa. Last November, police armed with rifles raided the national assembly of Standing Together, Israel’s largest grassroots movement of Palestinians and Jews fighting war and the occupation. And that same month, the government defended a ban on a planned protest by Sudanese activists outside the embassy of the UAE on the grounds that the protest might ‘harm foreign relations’. We reject this norm of bilateral relations, not only between India and Israel, but as a matter of principle. It serves no useful purpose in promoting international cooperation or friendship. The only interests it serves are those of reactionary governments. When they individually cannot justify censorship on its own merits to their own peoples, they nebulously appeal to the equally contrived and capricious sensitivities (imagined or real) of friendly states (or their governments).David Borenstein, the co-director of Mr Nobody Against Putin, said in his Academy award acceptance speech that his documentary was ‘about how you lose your country…through countless small little acts of complicity’. Last year, another winner of the Best Documentary award, No Other Land, was the object of de facto censorship by Israeli distributors. And when public attention is seduced by the easy satisfaction of social media, censorship of dissident voices is particularly pernicious. Both India and Israel have the misfortune to be in the international vanguard of democratic backsliding. Governments in this vanguard have learned to skilfully cooperate to silence dissenting voices in their own countries. We hope by this letter to promote another kind of international solidarity—between peoples, in support of freedom, justice, and equality.Naseeruddin Shah • actor, theatre and cinema, IndiaRatna Pathak Shah • actor, theatre and cinema, IndiaMichal Aviad • filmmaker; professor emerita, Tel Aviv UniversityAnand Patwardhan • filmmaker, IndiaYair Wallach • reader in Israel studies, head of Centre for Jewish Studies, SOASUri Weltmann • national field organiser, Standing Together, IsraelIlan Ziv • documentary filmmaker, Tamouzmedia, USAJenny Kananov • co-founder, We Democracy, Britain/IsraelIdit Nathan • artist, curator, researcher, British–IsraeliAkeel Bilgrami • professor of philosophy, ColumbiaPayal Kapadia • filmmaker, IndiaAli Kazimi • filmmaker; professor, York University, CanadaLynne Segal • professor, Birkbeck, University of LondonMark Achbar • documentary filmmaker, CanadaJ.P. Loo • initial signatory, member, national steering group UK Friends of Standing Together,Ritwik Agrawal • philosopher, University of ArizonaMartín Alonso Zarza • philosopher, SpainJaved Anand • convener, Indian Muslims for Secular DemocracyArash Azizi • columnist, The Atlantic; fellow, YaleShankutula Banaji • Professor of Media, Culture and Social Change, LSEDebanjan Banerjee • KolkotaDwaipayan Banerjee • documentary filmmaker, IndiaKasturi Basu • documentary filmmaker, IndiaFatima Z Bendahmane • ParisSunanda Bhatt • documentary filmmaker, IndiaSophie Bisonette • filmmaker, CanadaNatalie Bleicher • BritainRichard Bull • Kibbutz KeturaSanjana Choudhary • researcherAnne Marie Codur • researcher, Boston UniversityRon Cohen • Tel AvivRanabir Das • cinematographer, filmmaker, IndiaJohn Dayal • former member, National Integration CouncilAgnès Devictor • professor, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-SorbonneArundhati Dhuru • convener, National alliance of people’s movementsHolly Dressel • author, CanadaMartin Duckworth • cinematographer, filmmaker, CanadaBina Sarkar Elias • editor, poet, publisher, art curator, IndiaJean-Michel Frodon • film critic; professor, FranceSylvain George • filmmaker, CanadaJohn Greyson • filmmaker, professor, CanadaAnamika Haksar • filmmaker and theatre director, IndiaRuhi Hamid • filmmaker, BritainAndy Heintz • freelance journalist, USAMarieme Hélie Lucas • sociologist; founder, Women living under Muslim laws, AlgeriaDorothy Hénaut • filmmaker, CanadaRohini Hensman • writer, independent scholarAlbert Herszkowicz • Memorial 98, ParisNatalie Högström • StockholmMiriam Ish-Horowicz • LondonNishtha Jain • documentary filmmaker, IndiaChitra Joshi • independent historian, IndiaRuchir Joshi • documentary filmmaker, IndiaFrancis Kandel • commissioning editor, trade unionist, FranceHarsh Kapoor • editor, Mainstream Weekly, IndiaJasr Kawkby • member, national steering group of UK Friends of Standing TogetherZafarul Islam Khan • former chairman, Delhi Minorities CommissionPankaj Rishi Kumar • documentary filmmaker, IndiaImogen Lambert • academic, LondonRobert Lang • Kensington Communications, CanadaJonathan Miller • film distributor, USALeah Mitchell • historian, PrincetonAdele Moss • OxfordManoj Nandwana • filmmaker; prospective Indian distributor, The Voice of Hind RajabMarkus Nornes • filmmaker, professor, USALennaart van Oldenborgh • filmmaker, BritainBedabrata Pain • filmmaker, scientist, USARanjan Palit • cinematographer, documentary filmmaker, IndiaSandeep Panday • general secretary, Socialist Party (India)Aakar Patel • columnist; former chair, Amnesty IndiaPranav Pingle • filmmaker, curator, IndiaKumar Prashant • president, Gandhi Peace Foundation, IndiaPapri Sen Sri Raman • journalistDaniel Randall • author; trade unionist; member, steering group, UK Friends of Standing TogetherJan Rofekamp • documentary consultant, GreeceYousuf Saeed • filmmaker, author, archivistAditya Sarkar • assistant professor, WarwickNakul Sawhney • documentary filmmaker, IndiaSukla Sen • Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and PeaceGeeta Seshu • journalist; co-editor, Free Speech Collective, IndiaRuhaan Shah • doctorant, CambridgeSanjiv Shah • filmmaker, IndiaTheo Sharkey • researcher, Campaign against transnational repressionRakesh Sharma • documentary filmmaker, IndiaRamesh Sharma • filmmaker, IndiaPritam Singh • professor emeritus, Oxford BrookesLior Suchoy • researcher, ImperialCarrie Supple • London Friends of Standing TogetherRintu Thomas • documentary filmmaker, IndiaS.P. Udayakumar • Convener, People’s movement against nuclear energy, IndiaLalit Vachani • documentary filmmaker, lecturer, GermanyRashmi Varma • professor, WarwickTirza Waisel • London Friends of Standing TogetherThomas Waugh • professor, School of Cinema, CanadaA.C. Zielinska • assistant professor, Université de Lorraine