Masha Gessen's Hannah Arendt Prize Event Cancelled Over Gaza-Ghetto Comparison

Despite controversy, Gessen to receive prize at rescheduled, smaller ceremony

Masha Gessen, Russian-American journalist and staff writer at the New Yorker, has been declared an outlaw by the Russian government following their coverage of Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
Gessen's recent essay in the New Yorker, which drew comparisons between the situation in Gaza and the Jewish ghettos in Europe during the Holocaust, led to the cancellation of an event where they were to receive the Hannah Arendt Prize from the Heinrich Böll Foundation.
The Heinrich Böll Foundation, affiliated with the Green Party, objected to Gessen's comparison, stating that it implied Israel aimed to 'liquidate Gaza like a Nazi ghetto.'
Gessen argues that the Holocaust should not be viewed as a singular event outside of history, but rather as a reference point for understanding and preventing similar atrocities.
Despite the controversy, Gessen is still set to receive the Hannah Arendt Prize at a smaller ceremony at a different venue.