In a nation renowned for its post-colonial solidarity and Pan-African spirit, a troubling form of hypocrisy has emerged. A veteran Ghanaian journalist Kwesi Pratt Jnr. and a coalition of nearly 400 intellectuals, artists, and activists are leading a fervent campaign to cancel the Israeli Film Festival at Silverbird Cinema in Accra Mall, scheduled from September 17 to 20.
Their rallying cry? Accusations of Israeli ‘’genocide’’ in Gaza, branding the event as ‘’Zionist propaganda’’ that whitewashes apartheid and ethnic cleansing. Protests, boycotts, and pickets are threatened, with Pratt himself invoking Ghana’s anti-imperialist legacy to demand Ghana ‘’stand with Palestine’’ against a ‘’racist, genocidal regime’’.
Yet, this moral posturing crumbles under scrutiny, revealing not principled activism but a flawed narrative soaked in hypocrisy, blatant antisemitism, and the uncritical absorption of Hamas propaganda. While Gaza garners impassioned outcry, the slaughter of fellow Africans by terrorists elicits deafening silence—a selective indignation that reeks of hatred.
Absorbing Hamas Propaganda: The Myth of ‘’Genocide’’ in Gaza
At the heart of the protesters’ argument lies the unsubstantiated claim of Israeli genocide in Gaza, a charge echoed in their statements citing inflated casualty figures exceeding 200,000—numbers parroted directly from Hamas-controlled sources.
This is not journalism; it’s the wholesale adoption of terrorist propaganda. Hamas, the Islamist militant group governing Gaza since 2007, has a well-documented history of embedding military operations within civilian infrastructure—hospitals, schools, and mosques—deliberately maximizing Palestinian suffering to fuel global outrage.
Israel’s military response to the barbaric October 7, 2023, Hamas attack—which murdered 1,200 Israelis and abducted 251 hostages—was a lawful act of self-defense, targeting Hamas fighters, not the Palestinian people as a whole.
The genocide label is a grotesque misuse of a term that demands intent to destroy a group in whole or in part. Israel has evacuated over a million Gazans from harm’s way, provided humanitarian corridors, and warned civilians before strikes—actions incompatible with genocidal aims.
The Jewish State of Israel is the only country on earth who feeds its enemy during war. Far from erasure, Israel’s campaign has decimated Hamas’s military capacity while preserving Gaza’s population centers where possible. Pratt and his allies ignore this, instead amplifying Hamas’s fabrications to demonize the Jewish state.
This isn’t solidarity; it’s a dangerous echo chamber that dehumanizes Israelis and excuses jihadist terror. By denying the reality—no genocide, only a war against an existential threat—these protesters reveal their arguments as not just flawed, but willfully deceptive.
Selective Silence: Outrage for Gaza, Indifference to African Blood
If the fervor against a film festival is truly about human rights, one wonders why Kwesi Pratt and his coalition remained mute as terrorists massacred thousands of Africans in their own backyard. Sub-Saharan Africa, the epicenter of global terrorism, saw over 3,400 attacks in 2024 alone, claiming more than 13,900 lives—59% of all terrorism-related deaths worldwide (Press UN, 2025).
In Burkina Faso, jihadists slaughtered over 200 villagers in a single February 2024 massacre. Nigeria’s Boko Haram continues its reign of horror, displacing millions and killing indiscriminately. Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict and Sudan’s civil war have left tens of thousands dead, often at the hands of groups employing tactics eerily similar to Hamas’s—human shields, indiscriminate bombings, and ideological extremism.
Where were the protests, the boycotts, the candlelight vigils for these African brothers and sisters? Mr Pratt, a vocal Pan-Africanist, thundered against the Israeli festival but offered no comparable outrage for the 2023 massacre of 40 civilians in Niger by ISIS affiliates or the ongoing carnage in the Sahel, where African lives are commodified as footnotes.
This glaring inconsistency exposes the protest’s true driver: not universal justice, but antisemitism masquerading as anti-Zionism. Africa’s own genocides and terror epidemics—far bloodier and more protracted than the Gaza conflict—draw crickets from these ‘’solidarity’’ warriors, yet a cultural event showcasing Israeli cinema becomes an existential threat. It’s hatred, plain and simple, rooted in age-old tropes that paint Jews as eternal villains while ignoring the very African suffering they claim to champion.
Ghana-Israel Relations: A Partnership of Prosperity, Not Propaganda
Ghana’s bond with Israel is no shadowy conspiracy but a beacon of mutual progress, forged in the fires of shared independence struggles. As the first sub-Saharan African nation to recognize Israel in 1958—mere months after Ghana’s own liberation—Accra and Jerusalem have built a relationship of profound, tangible benefits. Diplomatic ties, briefly severed in 1973 amid Arab pressures, were gloriously restored in 1992, leading to full embassy exchanges by 2011.
Today, this alliance yields enormous dividends for Ghana, from drip irrigation technologies revolutionizing cocoa farming—boosting yields by up to 40% in pilot projects—to Israeli expertise in water management that has modernized Ghana’s Volta River Basin.
Israel’s MASHAV agency, born from a 1958 visit by then-Foreign Minister Golda Meir to Ghana, has trained thousands of Ghanaian farmers, engineers, and health workers. In healthcare, Israeli innovations like mobile clinics and telemedicine have expanded access in rural areas, saving countless lives during outbreaks.
Cybersecurity collaborations shield Ghana’s digital economy, while youth empowerment programs—sending Ghanaian entrepreneurs to Israel—foster innovation in agro-tech and renewable energy. Even culturally, Israeli flags adorn Ghanaian fishing boats and commercial vehicles for good luck, a testament to the people’s genuine affection. Canceling the film festival isn’t resistance to ‘genocide’—it’s sabotage of a partnership that has lifted Ghana’s development, all under the flimsy guise of virtue-signaling.
A Call to Truth: Beyond Hypocrisy to Understanding
Kwesi Pratt and his protesters must confront their own contradictions: a narrative built on Hamas lies, indifference to African agony, and an antisemitic animus that poisons genuine discourse. Israel, the modern Jewish state reborn from the ashes of the Holocaust, stands as a testament to resilience and innovation—not oppression. It is a nation that shares Ghana’s dreams of self-determination, offering bridges of cooperation in a world too often divided by hate.
Ghana deserves better than selective rage. Let us reject hypocrisy, embrace Israel’s hand in friendship, and honor all victims of terror—regardless of borders. Only then can true solidarity flourish.
Author, The Modern Jewish State of Israel: The Jews & Israel
Matthewtettehnarh.com/matthewn
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