Bisan Odeh’s Emmy nomination stands as NATAS rejects cancellation request amid Gaza war

Approximately 150 Jewish celebrities, as well as entertainment and documentary professionals, demanded the cancellation of a Palestinian journalist’s International Emmy Awards nomination, alleging her anti-Semitic views. NATAS denied the request.

25-year-old Bisan Atef Odeh received a nomination for the 2024 News and Documentary Emmy Award in the “Outstanding Hard News Story” category for her documentary “I am Bisan from Gaza, and I am still alive.”

Al Jazeera+/AJ+ on YouTube produced the 8-minute film about Bisan and the Gaza Strip’s people suffering from months of Israeli bombardment while families flee from one place to another in search of a safe place to evacuate.

During the 11-month conflict, Israel forced tens of thousands of Palestinians from the northern Gaza Strip, Rafah, and the eastern central governorates to move to the “Al-Mawasi” area.

On Wednesday, 150 members of the Jewish organization “Creative Community for Peace” wrote to “Natas” executive director Adam Sharp, urging that he cancel Bessan’s candidacy, according to The Independent.

The organization, whose mission is “to educate about the rise of anti-Semitism in the entertainment industry and to mobilize support against the cultural boycott of Israel,” wrote on Monday that Bessan is affiliated with the “Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine,” a “terrorist” group banned in the US, Japan, and the EU.

The newspaper stated that actresses Debra Messing and Selma Blair, former Paramount CEO Sheri Lansing, billionaire Haim Saban, and entertainment executive Michael Rottenberg signed the letter.

On Wednesday, Sharp wrote to Ari Engel, the Jewish organization’s executive director, that “NATAS has not been able to confirm reports” of Bisan’s association with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and “nor has it been able to uncover any evidence of her most recent or active involvement with it.”

Since the assault on Gaza began on October 7, Bisan, a content creator who introduced the world to Gaza, has earned millions of social media followers. He documented the loss of “70 percent of the Strip’s infrastructure” due to Israeli shelling.

Since October 7, Israel has engaged in a war on Gaza with American support that has killed and wounded over 133,000 Palestinians, mostly children and women, and left over 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and starvation.

Israel defies a UN Security Council decision to end the war, as well as International Court of Justice directives to cease the war and alleviate Gaza’s humanitarian plight.