Netflix has come under fire from several human rights groups for not renewing 19 films included in the “Palestinian Stories” collection launched in October 2021.

These movies will soon leave the service as the rights acquired by Netflix as part of its licensing agreement will expire at the end of the month. This standard content licensing practice is also why “Friends” is no longer available in the US or Mr. Robot” is no longer available in Arab countries.

The streamer still has titles by Palestinian creators on its service.

“We are deeply troubled by Netflix’s decision to remove at least 19 films by Palestinian filmmakers or about Palestinian stories from its platform last week,” the human rights organization Freedom Forward said in a letter to the streamer posted on its website.

Freedom Forward noted that the “Palestinian Stories” page now only shows one video available for viewing. “Netflix has deleted almost all of its Palestinian films and has failed to explain why, despite global protests by thousands of people via social media,” org. added.

The titles for which the rights have expired include Rani Massalha’s “Giraffada”, Jessica Habie’s “Mars at Sunrise” and Elia Souleiman’s “Chronicle of a Disappearance”.

“We launched this licensed collection of movies in 2021 for three years,” Netflix said in a brief statement.

“Those licenses have now expired. As always, we continue to invest in a wide range of quality films and TV shows to meet the needs of our members and celebrate voices from around the world,” the streaming giant added.

The Freedom Forward letter is also signed by the Arab American Action Network, the Council on American Islamic Relations, the Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative, the National Network for Arab American Communities, and the US Palestinian Community Network, among many others.