Miami Beach mayor moves to evict theater operator for showing Oscar-winning ‘No Other Land’

Israeli officials have strongly criticized the film with Israel’s culture minister, Miki Zohar, calling it ‘sabotage’ against the country, particularly in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

By Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA

Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner is pushing to evict an independent theater from its city-owned space and cut its funding after it screened “No Other Land,” an Oscar-winning documentary about Palestinian displacement in Judea and Samaria.

Meiner, who is Jewish, is introducing legislation to revoke O Cinema’s lease and withdraw more than $40,000 in city grant funding, describing the film, which has faced criticism from both pro-Israel and pro-Palestian advocates, as antisemitic.

The proposal will go before the city commission at its next meeting on Wednesday.

“No Other Land” premiered last Friday at O Cinema, which operates out of the Miami Beach Historic City Hall. Several days before the screening, Meiner contacted O Cinema CEO Vivian Marthell, urging her not to show the film.

“The City of Miami Beach has one of the highest concentrations of Jewish residents in the United States,” Meiner said in his letter to Marthell. “The ‘No Other Land’ film is a one-sided propaganda attack on the Jewish people that is not consistent with the values of our City and residents.”

Marthell initially accepted Meiner’s request, citing “concerns of antisemitic rhetoric,” but reversed course, stating that the decision to screen the documentary was about upholding free speech.

“My initial reaction to Mayor Meiner’s threats was made under duress,” Marthell said in an email to the Associated Press on Thursday. “After reflecting on the broader implications for free speech and O Cinema’s mission, I (along with the O Cinema board and staff members) agreed it was critical to screen this acclaimed film.”

Meiner has responded to backlash against his pressure campaign from critics who accuse him of censorship by saying that the movie’s content conflicts with his city’s values.

“I am a staunch believer in free speech,” Meiner said in his newsletter. “But normalizing hate and then disseminating antisemitism in a facility owned by the taxpayers of Miami Beach, after O Cinema conceded the ‘concerns of antisemitic rhetoric,’ is unjust to the values of our city and residents and should not be tolerated.”

“No Other Land” follows the destruction of Palestinian villages in Judea and Samaria and the friendship between Palestinian activist Basel Adra and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, who co-directed the film.

After it won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature earlier this month, an increasing number of theaters have sought to show it, even though it did not have a U.S. distributor.

Abraham has pushed back against Meiner’s criticism, writing in an email to the AP, “When the mayor uses the word antisemitism to silence Palestinians and Israelis who proudly oppose occupation and apartheid together, fighting for justice and equality, he is emptying it out of meaning. I find that to be very dangerous.”

Israeli officials have strongly criticized the film with Israel’s culture minister, Miki Zohar, calling it “sabotage” against the country, particularly in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza.

The Miami Beach controversy comes amid heightened tensions around free speech and pro-Palestinian activism nationwide following the detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia student activist and green card holder who has played a leading role in pro-Palestinian protests on the campus. The case has divided Jewish groups and is facing high-profile litigation.

In Miami Beach, City Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez rejected Meiner’s actions as “knee-jerk reactions” likely to lead to “costly legal battles” in a newsletter to her constituents, even as she said she agrees with Meiner’s assessment of the film.

“The Mayor cannot send a letter condemning a film and then cancel O Cinema’s contract days later,” Rosen Gonzalez wrote. “Doing so would result in an expensive lawsuit we will lose.”

Miami Beach City Commissioner David Suarez, known for his past vocal support of Israel, expressed backing for Meiner’s proposed legislation in a text message to the Miami Herald but stopped short of revealing how he would vote.

“A religious Jew was voted as Mayor, along with a Zionist city council. Unlike other cities, we have zero tolerance for pro-Hamas/ terrorist propaganda,” Suarez wrote.

“The City of Miami Beach will continue to stand up for our Jewish population, home to holocaust survivors, and while most people use ‘Never Again’ as a platitude, we mean it.”