After a huge showing of public outcry from Miami Beach city residents and members of the arts community, an independent theater on city-owned land will remain in place as leaders withdrew a controversial plan to end its lease.
Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner dropped his proposal on Wednesday to evict and defund O Cinema for screening the Oscar-winning documentary film No Other Land, chronicles the destruction of a Palestinian village by Israeli military forces in the occupied West Bank.
Meiner claimed the film was antisemitic and called it "hateful propaganda" for Hamas, the militant group that controls the Gaza Strip and which the U.S. has labeled as a terrorist organization.
READ MORE: Miami Beach mayor seeks to evict theater over 'antisemitic' Oscar-winning documentary
The Miami Beach commission meeting came a day after Israel ended a ceasefire with Hamas and began renewed airstrikes in Gaza.
A public forum during the meeting saw dozens of speakers come out against the proposal, calling it an infringement on O Cinema's free speech.
"I’m Jewish, pro-Israel, a journalist and an author — and none of that is relevant because I’m here to protect our freedom of speech. There is no issue more important than freedom of speech and we shouldn’t move on to other things until this is resolved," said Miami Beach resident Charlotte Libov.
A number of Miami-Dade political leaders came out to speak in favor of Meiner's proposal, including City of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, Hialeah Mayor Esteban Bovo and former mayor of Bal Harbour Gabriel Groisman, who also serves on the board of directors for the Republican Jewish Coalition.
Groisman accused speakers who spoke out against the eviction of "naked hypocrisy."
"If O Cinema was playing a movie about President Trump, they would all be here urging the city to cancel the lease. Pretending that it’s about free speech is [as] laughable as it is wrong," Groisman said. "If this is a government facility the government has a right to decide what is shown there and what is not."
O Cinema is a nonprofit that operates the arts theater out of the historic old City Hall building on Washington Avenue, and the land is owned by the city.
After more than an hour of public comment, the majority of the Miami Beach commissioners walked back the idea of the eviction. Some sided with Meiner, like Commissioner David Suarez, who called the No Other Land "a megaphone for Hamas terrorist propaganda." Five other commissioners, however, said they would oppose the eviction, and Meiner ultimately capitulated.
"I am going to withdraw ... the revoking of the funding to O Cinema," Meiner announced to a round of applause from guests in the commission chambers. "I overall think this was positive today. It’s emotional to me. I just want you to know from the bottom of my heart even though some of you said some things were hurtful, I love you all."
The decision was met with praise from the leadership of O Cinema. The nonprofit's CEO, Vivian Marthell, embraced Meiner during a break in the meeting.
Kareem Tabsch, co-founder of O Cinema, told WLRN that this was the right thing to do to maintain a collaborative relationship between the theater and the city.
"Today O Cinema was not only victorious, but the First Amendment was the ultimate winner," Tabsch said.
Tabsch said the theater is working with Jewish organizations and members of the community to address concerns that came up over the last few weeks about fairness.
Meiner contended that he considers the film a "public safety issue" owing to a growing sentiment of antisemitism stemming from the Israel-Gaza conflict.
"What I was trying to do was highlight a level of hurt and propaganda that can eventually lead to devastation," he said.
The Mayor also deferred a new resolution he sponsored that would encourage O Cinema "to showcase films that highlight a fair and balanced viewpoint of the current war between the state of Israel and the groups Hamas and Hezbollah."
He said the item needed to be reworked and it would not be productive to do so at Wednesday's meeting.
