Austrian Jews are suing the cinema chain UPI and a local film distributor over the newly released Turkish film ‘Valley of the Wolves: Palestine’, which they consider anti-Semitic. The suit was filed by Vienna’s Jewish Community on Tuesday, a few days after the release of ‘Valley of the Wolves-Palestine’ in Austria and Germany. The movie incited to religious hatred and insulted religious faiths, Reinhard Fastenbauer, the community’s secretary-general, told the German news agency DPA.
The Turkish production is a sequel to the 2006 production ‘Valley of the Wolves: Iraq’, which focused on a fictitious Jewish doctor harvesting organs of Iraqi soldiers for use in Israeli hospitals. ”One of the main things [of the film] is that a Jewish world conspiracy forms the background to all Israeli actions,” Fastenbauer said.
The new film shows a group of Turks who set out to avenge the deaths of nine militants killed by Israeli naval commandos on the Mavi Marmara, which was part of a flotilla that attempted to break the blockade of Gaza last May. The opening scenes use actual footage from Israel’s military raid. The movie is a spin-off of a TV series centering on a James Bond-like figure named Polat Alemdar, which has a cult following in Turkey and among Turkish expats abroad. The series has been sharply criticized for nurturing nationalism, racial hatred and violence. However, a spokesman for the production company Pana Film told the British newspaper 'The Guardian': "Our guilt lies in standing beside innocent people, and not being supporters of Zionist-fascist policies."
Earlier this week, Germany’s film rating agency FSK gave an adult rating for the action movie. Politicians and Jewish groups in Austria and Germany had criticized the action film ahead of its release last week, which coincided with Holocaust Memorial Day.
