Czech artists demand cease-fire in Gaza at award ceremony

PRAGUE, Czech Republic

A number of Czech artists took an unprecedented stand against the ongoing war in Gaza by calling for a cease-fire at an award ceremony on Saturday.

The artists at the Angel Awards ceremony held a banner with the inscription “Artists for Ceasefire” and wore a red badge with a palm symbol symbolizing a call to end violence.

The protest is linked to the petition "Czech artists for a cease-fire," which asks representatives of the Czech Republic "to call for an immediate de-escalation and cease-fire in Gaza before thousands more people lose their lives."

The signatories include popular Czech celebrities such as Tomas Klus, Vojtech, Bara Basikova, Jana Kirschner, Vladimir518, and the band Vesna.

The petition expressed strong reservations about the catastrophic situation in the Gaza Strip and called for an end to the war on humanitarian grounds.
Earlier, at the 96th Academy Awards ceremony, US celebrities protested the rising civilian death toll in Gaza as a result of Israeli attacks. The evening's highlight was a speech by award-winning director Jonathan Glazer.

Glazer, who won Best International Feature Film with The Zone of Interest, a film about Auschwitz and the Holocaust, criticized Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories in his acceptance speech.

"All our choices were made to reflect and confront us in the present — not to say 'look what they did then,' rather, look what we do now,'" said the Jewish writer and director of the German-language British production.

"Our film shows where dehumanization leads at its worst ... Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people," he declared.

"Whether the victims of October the seventh in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all are victims of this dehumanization. How do we resist?"