Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Aaron Goldstein at American Daily: Palestinian Propaganda Films Screened in Boston. Writing about Mohammed Bakri’s Jenin, Jenin:
...If someone entirely unfamiliar with the Middle East had watched Bakri’s film one might believe that Israel indiscriminately kills pregnant women, children and even canaries. Witnesses accuse Israel of mutilating bodies, deliberating destroying a hospital, using Palestinians as human shields, stealing their life’s savings and committing endless massacres. Israelis and Jews are described as cowards and losers and an uninitiated, ill-informed viewer might very well come to that conclusion after watching this film. Needless to say IDF soldiers see the events of Jenin quite differently and have sued Bakri for libel. Beginning last month, the libel suit is currently being heard in an Israeli court. Curiously, Bakri was present at the screening but no time was allotted for a question and answer period. Bakri and one of the film organizers blamed the Kendall Square Cinema for this snag. For a more detailed debunking of this film I recommend Tamar Sternthal’s 2005 review.
After viewing this film I cannot help but conclude that it is little more than a tool for incitement amongst a population that hates not only the State of Israel but the Jewish people...
Amazingly, the organizers are hoping to attract Jewish interest: Organizers hope to draw Jews to first Palestine Film Festival:
...Sara Rubin, executive director of the Boston Jewish Film Festival for more than a decade, said she believes there is a profusion of worthwhile filmmaking currently coming out of the Middle East – too much for one festival to encompass – and that she welcomes the Palestine Film Festival.
“I think that art offers us another way to experience the world around us,” said Rubin. “Any time that happens, we gain new insights.”
The objective for the BPFF organizers in creating the nine-day, 43 film event was to expose the local community to Palestinian viewpoints, according to Katherine Hanna, one of eight organizers.
“Our primary mission is to bring Palestinian art and culture to Boston,” said Hanna, who is Palestinian-American.
However, Hillel Stavis, community outreach manager for the David Project Center for Jewish Leadership, expressed skepticism.
“While we should welcome diversity of artistic endeavor, I think it’s obviously a film festival with a pointed political message,” said Stavis, who added that he does not know of any plans to protest the festival. “Virtually every single one of the films has a singularity of message, namely that Palestinians are victims and Israelis are oppressors.”...
Indeed. Here's Charles Jacobs and Hillel Stavis writing in the same issue of The Jewish Advocate: And now for the envelope
...you won’t find any films sympathetic to Jewish self-rule in the Middle East. Here are some of the gems:
“The Price of Freedom” is a reverential biopic about Marwan Barghouti, imprisoned for murdering Jewish civilians. “Leila Khaled: Hijacker” is a “nuanced” view of the pioneer airplane hijacker of the 1970s. “Jenin, Jenin” is the “documentary” – discredited even before its opening – of Israel’s offensive into that city following the worst period of Palestinian terrorism in Israel. “USA vs. Al-Arian” is a “documentary” exculpating the famous Florida professor and funder of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. “Confronting the Wall: Art and Resistance in Palestine” is the obligatory entry depicting “The Apartheid Wall” and the evil Jews who built it. “The Color of Olives” depicts Ghandi-like Palestinian olive farmers peacefully caressing their crop beneath the shadow of the “Apartheid Wall.”
You get the picture. The organizers and “international” filmmakers have one theme and they pound it home with sledgehammers...
the antidote to jenin jenin is martin himmel's Jenin: Massacring the Truth.
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This kind of thing is so demeaning to Palestinians. There's no sense that they're human beings who exist outside of serving whatever the current talking points are. Nothing but "occupation occupation occupation olive trees occupation". And after the movie some Dabke dancing! "Occupation occupation olive trees..."
You wonder what they're going to do with themselves when they finally get a country! (Well, I don't wonder too much...)
I'd like to see a festival, or just an evening, where both films would be presented, first Jenin, Jenin and then the rebuttal, Massacring the Truth. That would be a great double billing.
I have seen neither of this films but I read about them. It might be a good idea to screen them both as a double bill. But, you may have to recognize that where "Jenin Jenin" targets the viewers' intuitive sentimental reaction, the rebuttal addresses the cold and critical intellect. Fact is, the two cannot compete. It's nearly impossible to remove an emotionally registered impression with a set of rational arguments and facts. If that were the case, the world would have been clean and clear of antisemitism or any other prejudice by now.