Anger over Netflix Oct 7 documentary ‘ban’
NETFLIX has been criticised by MPs and peers over its “ideological” refusal to air an Israeli director’s documentary about the Oct 7 attacks.
Thirteen parliamentarians have written to the streaming giant after they attended a special screening of Nova, a film by Dan Pe’er which chronicles the Hamas ambush of a rave party.
Out of the 1,200 victims of the Oct 7 massacre, 364 were murdered at the Supernova music festival in Israel’s Negev Desert, while a further 40 people were taken hostage.
The group of politicians is demanding answers after Mr Pe’er’s film was rejected by the commissioning team at Netflix and he was said to have been told by bosses that it was “too political”.
A letter addressed to Ben King, Netflix’s senior director of public policy, and coordinated by Tom Hunt, the Conservative MP for Ipswich, said the screening of Nova in the Houses of Parliament was “deeply moving” and “crucial viewing”.
Other signatories to the letter included former cabinet ministers Lord Pickles and Sir Michael Ellis, as well as Baroness Altmann, a former pensions minister, and Miriam Cates, the co-chairman of the New Conservatives group of backbenchers.
The letter reads: “I am seeking to understand Netflix’s decision to reject [the film]. The documentary about an attack on young people enjoying themselves at a music festival is something that viewers across the world, from all backgrounds, would be able to relate to.
“I strongly believe that this film is crucial viewing. This is why I was deeply troubled when I heard that Netflix, one of the world’s premier streaming services, rejected it. Netflix reportedly stated that their justification was because the film in question was too political.”
“Netflix is celebrated for its commissioning and screening of documentaries on all manner of issues and streams a number of powerful documentaries about Palestinians,” they added.
“In this context, the decision not to screen Nova risks appearing political or ideological in nature.”
A Netflix source said the company had more than 100 Israeli staff, adding that it on only received the letter dated April 18 on Friday and will be responding directly to the MP.
They strongly rejected a claim made in the letter that the broadcast giant risked advancing the “erosion and removal of Israel and Israeli voices from cultural spaces” as “patently untrue”.