Dozens of prominent filmmakers, writers, academics and activists have condemned the Toronto International Film Festival’s decision to highlight the city of Tel Aviv during this year’s event.
With names like Howard Zinn, David Byrne, Jane Fonda, Naomi Klein and Danny Glover appearing on an open letter to the festival, the protest has drawn international media coverage. The letter argues that TIFF is complicit with “the Israeli propaganda machine” by screening the ten film program without any Palestinian perspective to provide balance.
“We do not protest the individual Israeli filmmakers included in City to City, nor do we in any way suggest that Israeli films should be unwelcome at TIFF,” the letter explains. “However, especially in the wake of this year’s brutal assault on Gaza, we object to the use of such an important international festival in staging a propaganda campaign on behalf of what South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, and UN General Assembly President Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann have all characterized as an apartheid regime.”
This perspective is supported by an article last year in the Canadian Jewish News, in which Israeli Consul General Amir Gissin explained that his Brand Israel campaign — a million-dollar PR strategy designed to change Canadian perceptions of Israel — has plans for a major presence at the 2009 edition of TIFF. (CJN describe the TIFF plans, along with the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit, as part of Gissin’s “attack arsenal”.)
A few filmmakers have pulled their films out of the festival, none more vocal than John Greyson. The Torontonian’s decision to withdraw his short film Covered from TIFF preceded the larger protest and drew attention to the issue. Instead, Greyson has made his film, embedded above, available online for free for the duration of the festival.
“[The festival] has emphatically taken sides and in the process, forced every filmmaker and audience member who opposes the occupation to cross a type of picket line,” he wrote in a letter to TIFF organizers.
It didn’t take long for supporters of Israel and the Palestinian occupation to come out swinging, tossing absurd allegations at those protesting TIFF. Filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici — an Israeli-Canadian with a history of fabricated statements and whom an Ottawa Citizen columnist called “an appalling, disrespectful man” — released a statement drawing imaginary links between the campaign and the Hamas government in Gaza. “Why does Greyson want to align himself with Holocaust deniers?” he asks.
Rhetoric aside, a more serious question remains. Should Art Threat join the boycott of TIFF and refuse to provide any coverage of the festival? Tell us what you think in the comments below.
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{ 63 comments… read them below or add one }
Everyone who disagrees with any single decision or screening or choice of theatre should boycott the festival.
I'm boycotting it because the Midnight Madness series runs too late for anyone with a day job. The movies should end by midnight, not start at that time.
Who's with me? When's my turn for a press conference regarding this terrible injustice!
The facetiousness of the above comment aside, I think Art Threat should boycott the fest. It is way, way past time that the world wakes up and realizes the unbearable injustice(s) the palestinians have lived with for so long now. Since no other legal, political or diplomatic option seems to work, this is the only way we can voice our disgust at the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Kudos to Greyson & the others for taking this brave stand. Occupation can never be justified.
in what way are you boycotting? if you are covering it as journalists, then there is nothing to be boycotted – you are simply covering. otherwise, if you have plans to take part in this — then please, please, please boycott and step away from giving any voice of "business as usual" in cooperating with the apartheid, terroristic State of Israel.
this is: a) what your heart should be telling you to do. b) a nonviolent means to put pressure on Israel, in order to make it what it should have been doing for decades but is consistently refusing to – abide by the International Law and respect basic human rights. no biggie. c) the most called for action right now and also the most influential, which is supported by a great many people who care about equality and justice in Israel & OPT, including us – residents and citizens of Israel.
ronnie barkan,
http://boycottisrael.info
Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from Within
Yes! Artists everywhere should boycott Israel. If you stand for justice, you boycott Israel — it's as simple as day.
boycott iran, syria, saudi arabi etc. where nobody can practice religion and women are as respected as sqirrels. Boycotting israel is fine if you speak up against any other injustice in the unjust world. if it is just israel (as it often is) you just don't like jews and can shove your self-righteous views up your rears.
Thank you FoffLeftist!! I would also like to point out how much freedom gay people have in Israel vs the countries listed above. As a proud member of this ubiquitous group that takes a licking and keeps on ticking – and which is arguably the most popular one for oppression and violence in the world throughout history – I could find many other nations to boycott. Why are we being so selective this year?
Because it's the cause-du-jour. It is rather annyoing to see those who jump on any bandwagon without thinking through the significance of their selective attacks. I'm not defending Israel's actions, but I cannot attack a cultural programmer because their agenda excluded certain voices around a controversial issue. This is what a curator does for f*s sake! Opinion? Point of view? Hmm. If we have a Palestinian festival, would we protest for not including Israeli filmmakers whose families were killed by Hamas rockets? Nope. But we could show Hamas children's tv programming that explicitly promotes murdering jewish kids in cartoons and games. That's fairness. I don't the logic.
If we're going to use the boycotters' rational, we should also boycott all Canadian films because not every programme includes aboriginal voices. And what about China, a nation that produced fantastic films? I could list a few oppressed folks there too. Russia? USA? France? Australia?
Come on people. Ignoring voices we don't like is no way to make an argument go away. Does anyone even know what the films are about? Could any of them possibly question Israel's policies?
This is reactionary pettiness of the worst kind and could easily be turned on its head by other less fashionable causes who use the exact same 'argument' to shut down the very freedoms we all have to debate this stuff. I say bring it on, debate, discuss, make more films, spread the world, hand out leaflets, screen opposing vies, blog, etc… but NEVER ignore voices you don't like!! Not going to a movie because the director hails from Tel Aviv is absolutely absurd, childish and harmful to the independent cultural curators, filmmakers and public discourse.
Jack. Not all artists spend their entire lives bashing israel. some of them spend time making art. "it's as simple as day", you must have really studied this conflict…
great video ,
i am with you , we should bycott the Isreal Propaganda.
Truth will prevail
the zionist-palestinian conflict is quite simple actually, like most brutal colonial conquests of the past. putting that aside and dealing with BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) per se:
you see, there is a long awaiting call on behalf of the vast majority of the Palestinian civil society, from July 2005 – http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/52 – and now you have been called in to support it.
if Saudis, Iranians, Burmese or Chinese organize and call upon the worldwide community for help why would anyone say no? this is our duty as human beings. and now Palestinians as well as Israelis are calling upon you fullfill your duty as human beings and make your voice heard against Israel's disrespect of human rights and the international law, and for equality and justice.
thanks in advance, r.
Don’t be stupid, “Should we boycott?”
What is this, a popularity contest? The answer is: If you have to ask, no. It obviously doesn’t mean shit to you anyway, one way or the other.
I'd like to know if Grayson has boycotted the Canadian gov't by refusing any funding from the current 'brutal regime' which refuses to follow its own laws by asking for Omar Khadr to be returned. Because really, as a Canadian filmmaker, that is an issue he should actually be taking up.
All foreign filmmakers, critics, and distros who disagree with Harper's stance on this issue should pull their films immediately. Otherwise we can only assume they support the continued mistreatment and incarceration of this ex-child soldier.
Someone said it finally. Why are people so terrified to state the obvious?
Genocide is not negotiable. Israel was founded on the promise of ethnically cleansing Palestine for the British at the time of the early Zionist settlements. Zionism Enjoyed the unique privilege of being the only
movement allowed its own press in Nazi Germany. Since to paraphrase its' founder Theodore Hertzl, 'Zionists appreciate the reasons for antisemitism'. The history of Zionism and Israel including the recent slaughter in Gaza is based on reproducing the ethnic cleansing 'that made Britain and America great' the destruction of indigenous peoples for fun and profit. Though racism and xenophobia permeate the whole world, in Israel its codified in its founding documents and constitution. If we are to end the horrors of the last two centuries support for action such as the boycott is crucial. Those who've taken a stand noting in particular the Israeli directors who've signed on deserve our solidarity and support.
Could you please provide me with a few reputable links on this 'Zionist privilege' during Nazi era? I'd love to research this topic. Any info on white power or the illuminati too would be great. I'm sure you can help there too. Thanks dude.
Just read the protocols of the elders of zion. That will tell you all you need to know.
All Canadians who are not Native Indians (First Nations) are occupiers! Get your occupying butts out of Canada NOW! But not until you give adequate compensation to all the natives who's people were slaughtered, stolen from and marginalized. Why harass Israel (which has had a continuous Jewish population for 3300 years) when you can just look in the mirror at yourself, who has no historical claim to the land of Canada? All you "artists" are just a bunch of hypocrites.
Just to clarify: Yes, there has never been a time in the past 3300 years that Israel did not have a Jewish population (size varied depending on the degree of persecution they got from later Christian and then Muslim invaders).
I think the boycott of TIFF is a hoax, to distract from real evils, like the one we live every day on the blood of Canada's now almost exterminated Native population.
Judging by some of these comments – the smear campaign of anti-Israeli propaganda is blinding even celebrities to the facts of Israel's multi-cultural democracy. Greyson's letter is so inaccurate as to read like fiction. The Israeli-Arab population has grown steadily since 1948, so there is no 'genocide'. And as for 'occupation' – Hamas is currently the illegal occupier of the Gaza strip and there are actually more Jewish refugees who were forced to flee the persecution in the Arab countries surrounding Israel since 1948 then original Palestinian refugees.
In a recent blog on http://www.z-word.com entitled "Franchising Apartheid…", Rhoda Kadalie and Julia Bertelsmann, two black South African women whose families were active in the anti-apartheid movement, wrote:
"Comparisons between Israel and apartheid South Africa were once a fringe phenomenon. Since the start of the second intifada in September 2000, however, they have become a staple of anti-Israel propaganda… Israel is not an apartheid state … " If you care about the truth – if you care about fairness – don't boycott.
TIFF has turned into a commercial machine that is more interested in celebrity than the art of cinema. This newest scandal is just another peg in the festival's poor track record. It's time we stopped caring about TIFF and other large festivals that have lost their souls. It's not surprising that they would be so foolish to allow Israel to wine and dine them, then date rape them with uncritical programming. On with the boycott!!!
To Ira – you obviously haven't seen the films TIFF is highlighting. And given that the Canadian government routinely invests in Canadian films – and funds Canadian filmmakers to attend festivals around the world – and funds events in Cannes (and a Canadian booth at the sister TV festival) then by your logic Canada could be perceived as 'wining and dining'. So if someone disagrees with Canada's policies – should they boycott Canadian filmmakers – obviously the rational answer is no.
Also terms like 'date rape' are just incitement. TIFF made its own decision to feature Tel Avivi in its City to City program – if it's a question of money there are countries with far deeper pockets than Israel. There is too much emotion and lack of factual rationale in some of the comments posted above – that just = anti-Israeli propaganda not true debate.
this is important. and i fail to see how so many can be so blind. i would not doubt any of those that are against the boycott are jews/israelis who have a personal interest in exposing tel aviv in a celebrated way.
the problem is that most of these people have very little understanding of the history in the region, and are purely educated thru media and what it feeds them. i urge u lot to look deeper into the matter.
im with the boycott. and am hoping this initiates new trends! the world needs to wake up.
Picking on Israel, a liberal democracy, that just happens to be the single Jewish homeland, by those who are silent about most of the world's other atrocities has a name: Anti-Semitism. And for those who profess to be tired of that argument, I have news for you. It's because you don't like being called on your anti-Jewish biases.
It's unfortunate, but yes, the festival should be boycotted. The fools who proclaim antisemitism are a few years late on that having any chance of holding water. Too much has happened for that bogus charge to carry any water. They chose to erase a terrible aspect of modern day Tel Aviv, by boycotting the festival, one isn''t erasing it, but declining it the favor of promotion. One idea: instead of just not covering it, you could curate a make believe colonized/occupied film festival and put together a series of coverage as long as TIFF lasts.
In a word: Yes.
L. Rose – please do some fact-checking. You failed to score a single point.
Starting by calling Israel a Democracy which it is clearly not (yeah, Jewish-Israelis claim it is, I know). Israel falls under the definition of an Ethnocratic regime, or simply put "Ethnocracy" (look it up Rose, inherent ethnic preference by law, many many racist laws and even more so racist practices).
Furthermore you claim it is a "multi-cultural democracy" – that may be true only if you consider Fascism being one culture and Racism being another. You see, in Tel-Aviv, the city I live in which boasts to be multi-cultural, you would have such a hard time finding one single Arab residing here unless they are washing the dishes at the back of some restaurant, and still living in Yaffa or another place. If you're a religious Muslim you may find trouble going into the mall, or to the supermarket. Multi-cultural indeed.
Take care,
Ronnie (Jewish & Israeli, so they say)
Tel-Aviv,
Israhell
How many Jews live in Gaza? Or Saudi Arabia, etc.
Actually Paul, its the people who only object to Israel being called out on its crimes & atrocities that gets on our nerves. This stale 'picking on Israel' line is so cliche & unbelievably stupid I can't believe people still entertain it. Israel is not a little baby that can't defend itself.
Do your homework before saying the A word.
Yes, Israel has defended itself. No more rockets falling, no more suicide bombers.
Is that what the boycotters want? A return to the intifada?
fruit_loolz
The shoe fits, wear it well.
ooh – a homophobe too? is this an example of the shining beacon of democracy that israel purports to be? yeah, thought so.
No homophobes in Palestine
What homophobe? You're not just a Jew hater, you're paranoid too.
Throwing around the term "Jew hater" is hardly going to help convince others of your misanthropic perspectives, Paul. You're doing all of humanity a disservice with your own hypocritical paranoia and racism.
If someone is a bigot, I say it. On the other hand, your tossing around accusations my being misanthropic, hypocritical, paranoid and racist, with zero, and I mean zero, evidence, is nothing short of insane.
If I say that Bush is (or was) a war criminal, does that make me anti-American? No, as he didn't speak for all Americans when he was president. If I say that the states was (or is) a torture regime, does that mean I hate all Americans? No, just calling the government out on some of its policies. If I say that Hitler was a mass-murdering racist dictator who ran a genocidal regime, does that make me anti-German? No, just historically accurate. If I say that the current Israeli regime has apartheid-type policies and the current Prime Minister is a war criminal, does that make me anti-Israeli? No, as it's a comment directed at the government. Does it make me anti-semitic? Not in the slightest, even some Zionist friends of mine who I disagree with on most issues involving Israel/Palestine find that charge ludicrous.
As for the boycott, while I would not necessarily condone a boycott of, say, a spotlight on New York filmmakers in protest of US policies, this case is different in that it is not just the city of Tel Aviv and TIFF that is responsible for it, but it is part of a campaign to re-brand Israel by the Israeli government, the same government that is responsible for the policies which are the problem (rather than change its ways, just change its marketing).
As a media site, it's different for you, though. Maybe an outright boycott isn't the best idea. If the Tel Aviv programming isn't critical, make it critical by talking to flimmakers (both in the TIFF and boycotting) about this very issue and what they have to say about it. Give coverage, talk about the films in the spotlight and in general, but combine it with the politics.
If I say every Arab regime turns its nation into a savage wasteland, does that make me a bigot? After all, my kids go to an Egyptian doctor and I have Arab friends. Nonetheless, many would accuse me of racism for such positions. But you wouldn't.
Let's crowdsource this question. What would you call someone who refers to a nation of people as a "savage wasteland" ?
A "savage wasteland" is a geographic term.
So I would say that person has misplaced his adjectives.
Calling people "savages" on the other hand, is a propaganda term.
It's what each side calls the other in a war. So let's stop name calling and ask
some questions . . e. g.:
Rob believes that TIFF highlighting Tel Aviv is because of a campaign to re brand Israel by the Israeli Government. What is the evidence for this? It is entirely possible that Tel Aviv was chosen for completely different reasons.
Paul believes that a boycott of TIFF would be anti semetic. How does this differ from,
let's say, a boycott of Chinese films? Would this be anti Chinese, or would it be a
political statement against Chinese policies the protestors disagree with? The Chinese would call it anti Chinese, but the intent of the protestors would likely be completely different.
I
Rob,
If the regime turns the nation into a savage wasteland, than that is what it is. As to what one would call such a person who makes that description, it would depend on whose ox is being gored.
Ronnie – I don't have time for your slander-Israel campaign. I've lived in enough cities to know that every democratic society has an ethnic majority that tends to be favored. In Canada/US it's the Christian majority – and in Muslim dominant countries it's (you guessed it) the Muslim majority. There's only one place in the world where the highest ranking office is consistenly held by a Jewish person – that's Israel. Countries like Canada may claim to be secular – but the reality of a non-Christian living in those countries is called: the glass ceiling. The idea that of the three major religions only Jews shouldn't have a place in which they are the dominant voting demographic is to me what is racist.
These writers provide more in-depth commentary than I can here: http://www.z-word.com/z-word-essays/franchising-%...
Ronnie – I don't have time for your slander-Israel campaign. I've lived in enough cities to know that every democratic society has an ethnic majority that tends to be favored. In Canada/US it's the Christian majority – and in Muslim dominant countries it's (you guessed it) the Muslim majority. There's only one place in the world where the highest ranking office is consistently held by a Jewish person – that's Israel. Countries like Canada may claim to be secular – but the reality of a non-Christian living in those countries is called: the glass ceiling. The idea that of the three major religions only Jews shouldn't have a place in which they are the dominant voting demographic is to me what is racist.
These writers provide more in-depth commentary than I can here: http://www.z-word.com/z-word-essays/franchising-%...
Rose, is it fair to assume you don't find it racist that ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Arab population was (and continues to be) necessary in order to create "a place in which [Jews] are the dominant voting demographic"?
1. I'm finding so much of the anti-Israeli propaganda on this site so lacking in facts and rational debate that it's depressing to think this is an artist-dominant website. Using terms like 'ethnic cleansing' when there has been far more Muslim on Muslim violence resulting in millions more Muslim casualties in the last 60 years than casualties resulting from the Israel-Palestinian conflict is just plain dumb. By that logic, Muslims are engaging in their own 'ethnic cleansing'. If MORE Jews were forced to flee the persecution in surrounding Arab countries since 1948 than original Palestinian refugees then (to apply the term fairly) the Arab states are guilty of 'ethnic cleansing'.
Rose, you obviously display a total ignorance on the meaning of ethnic cleansing. By your logic the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turkey wasn't ethnic cleansing, since there's plenty of violence amongst Christians.
Ethnic cleansing isn't a numbers game, it's about intent. And there's no serious dispute about the intent to remove the indigenous Arab population from Palestinian to create a homogeneous Jewish state.
You might be wise to read some works by Benny Morris. A well-known Zionist historian, Morris made it very clear that widespread ethnic cleansing of the Arab population existed. The difference between Morris and mainstream international organizations on this matter is that Morris believed that the ethnic cleansing was legitimate and just, given the alleged God-given right of the occupiers to the land.
2. In Israel Arabs can vote – they hold office – they have rights – often more civil liberties than they do in Arab countries (particularly women). Terms like 'ethnic cleansing', fascist, apartheid, etc – are thrown around to denigrate the most liberal democracy in the ME – without it being significantly comparable to the regimes those type of words conjure up.
Are there examples in which Israel has made choices that should be criticized? Of course – I can't think of one country that is immune from the mistakes of its leaders. A couple political kidnapping in the '70's in Canada – and over 400 people were arrested virtually overnight under the War Measures Act. Israel has war declared on it constantly – whether by rocket attack – or rhetoric. When it fights back it's demonized. When it offers significant peace deals to the Palestinians – they say no – and keep firing. That isn't bringing them peace, is it? In fact demonizing Israel in their school textbooks only got them the real fascist regime in the zip code: Hamas. A lot of these talkbacks prove why Israel has to keep defending itself.
During the Second World War, Canada was one of the most liberal democracies in the world. So perhaps we should just ignore the fact they refused entry to scores of Jewish refugees, and placed Japanese-Canadians in internment camps?
L. Rose, although I doubt that there is any point whatsoever debating with you, can I offer a few points?
1. Israel is the most powerful country in the middle east. It has, according to most credible int'l observers, close to or over 200 nuclear missiles. It has the fourth largest military in the world (while being one of the smallest countries in the world). So who exactly, is Israel defending itself from? Its like the US' claiming that the tiny, dirt-poor third world nicaragua is an existential threat to its entire land. The two just don't add up.
2. Just because the two other monotheistic religions have countries where they are the favoured groups, does not mean the third should try to (forcibly) replicate that. Shouldn't the point be to end this kind of closed-minded groupthink *everywhere*?
3. Pointing out Muslim on Muslim violence does not eliminate Israeli crimes against the palestinian population. In fact, it has relatively little to do with the occupation of palestine, except of course if you want to deflect criticism of Israel.
I'm sure you will have lots of retorts to these points. As I said I probably shouldn't be wasting my time on someone who so clearly cannot see the reality of Israel's situation in the middle east. Israel is not under attack by all sides. Jews have always lived in the middle east, without the anti-semitism they face today. This antisemitism is no doubt a product of the occupation of palestine. If you really want to make peace, you should start by trying to understand/empathize with the palestinians – as opposed to always claiming to be 'under attack' and being 'demonized.' No doubt his is not an easy task – not least because surviving the holocaust must make one see enemies everywhere, even when they do not exist. But judging from the innumerable courageous and outspoken Jews who have come to see the injustice the creation of the state of Israel in its current configuration has brought to the holy land, its not impossible either.
That was disturbing: "surviving the holocaust must make one see enemies everywhere, even when they do not exist." Bloody hell fruit_loopz: First you talk of empathizing and then you do the exact opposite. Are you that ignorant and insensitive to deny someone's fear of others based their own personal traumatic experience – like the holocaust? Do you know something about LRose that I don't?
You are a shining contemporary example of why Jews "see enemies everywhere". You are their enemy, of the worst kind…too afraid to express a simple prejudice. I can just hear you at dinner parties slipping in the odd jab about being tired of hearing about the holocaust, or the zionist plot LOL. It starts with that kind of thinking and slides down into sludge and evil from there. It always always does, no matter now you've convinced yourself to believe you're not 'that way'.
Practice what you preach, or go read your history so you can "understand/empathize with less fashionably branded causes. If you need a few thousand hours of holocaust testimonials to teach you about enemies and empathy, google the shoah foundation and listen to a few. Then come back here and talk about enemies around the world. Canada, US + UK, during ww2, now it's Iran, Syria, Jordan, etc.
When I was working in Dubai after 911, I was forbidden by law from making a phone call to a friend in Israel. She had to call me instead. I was fired. What enemies?
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21031
I probably shouldn't have written so callously. I am not saying that Jews don't face anti-semitism or credible threats to their very existence from a lot of different corners. I am saying that – thankfully – the people in these corners do not have the power to take down Israel, even in their wildest dreams. This is what I mean by being paranoid and thinking one is still as vulnerable as the Jews were during the Holocaust.
I'm sorry if I came across differently.
1) fruit_loopz – you can call them 'courageous' and I call them misguided (there are Muslims that support Israel – so does that make them courageous too?). You can claim I don't see reality – I claim you see yours skewed through a very narrow window that won't allow the light in. If YOU cared about the Palestinians – truly cared about them – you'd have pressured their leaders to accept the large scale land-for-peace deals they have been offered in the past. A peaceful, prosperous Palestinian society is good for Israelis too.
Funny how Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005 and did not get the so called 'if you don't occupy there will be peace' result promised. Instead Hamas and Fatah got into a war – and Hamas won Gaza in a bloody coup. This security nightmare for Israel is actually sadder for the Palestinians in Gaza – especially the women now that Hamas is cracking down on religious dress code (and likely that will extend to limiting other rights/freedoms).
2) – to fruit_loopz continued: If you were willing to do away with ALL ethnic dominant countries (Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu) I might see your view as being applied fairly to all (although the soviets tried something of that nature and it didn't work so well for them). To claim Israel isn't under threat when there have been ongoing attacks since the founding of the modern state (starting with surrounding Arab states declaring war in a rejectionist campaign) is laughable. There were over three hundred rocket attacks on Israel (not into the territories but into non-disputed Israel) during Hamas' so called 'ceasefire' in Gaza – and please don't try to claim the rockets are 'harmless' as so many people who try to paint the Palestinians as always the 'victims' and Israel as always the 'villain' do. These rockets do kill – they have killed. I wouldn't want to be the one playing Russian Roulette with incoming rocket fire to see if it's 'harmless'.
3) (last comment to fruit_loopz): To claim Israelis are 'paranoid' because of the holocaust when they have many examples of attacks, hate-rhetoric in Palestinian textbooks, rockets still firing, etc, – is just silly. Why do you think Canada boycotted Durban II? The demonization of Israel has become a U.N. sport. It's well documented starting with 'zionism = nazism' b.s. which has fortunately been rescinded.
Then to also claim Jews had peace in the Middle East prior to 1948 – um – were you not aware the Grand Mufti of Palestine at the time was cozy with Hitler and Eichmann and publicly supported extermination of Jews? Perhaps more lives would have been saved had there already been a modern state of Israel.
I don't think you know enough about the process that led to the founding of modern Israel (including land bought and settled by Jews well before 1948) – the Jewish history in the ME – and the current reality on the ground. So, sorry, no, I won't debate you. You will go on thinking things about me without knowing what's in my heart.
Interestingly, Amir Gissin's comments in the CJN, referenced in the post here as well as in the letter to the TIFF, seem to be in reference to the advertising campaign which began around the same time as last year's TIFF. The article is dated Sept 4, 2008. It states that the "Brand Israel" program would be re-evaluated after 10 months. His comments don't appear to have anything to do with this year's TIFF.
I guess reading comprehension isn't a strong-suit of the useful idiot left-wingers.
Careful with that axe, Eugene:
"[Gissin] revealed the Dead Sea Scrolls are scheduled for exhibition in Toronto in 2009 and that plans are in the works for a major Israeli presence at next year’s Toronto International Film Festival, with numerous Israeli, Hollywood and Canadian entertainment luminaries on hand." CJN, Aug 21, 2008 (http://tr.im/yaCJ)
ooops – a typo in my last post referring to the 1975 UN resolution equating Zionism with racism (not 'Nazisim' though that's often used interchangeably) which was repealed in 1991. Former UN Secretery General Kofi Anan called this resolution "lamentable" and stated this was a UN "low point… whose negative resonance even today (after a repeal in 1991) is difficult to overestimate."
Thanks for the all the talkbacks (Eugene you make a great point) – even the ones I strongly disagree with – or the ones that reveal an ingrained prejudice against Jews and/or Israel. I think the polarized responses prove that boycotting culture isn't the answer – since films, music, etc – may be the one bridge that builds more understanding. This is my last post. Peace out.
Actually L. Rose, I already told you any such 'debate' would be entirely fruitless. I will simply leave you with a quote from Human Rights Watch, regarding the so-called ending of the occupation of gaza:
'Under international law, the test for determining whether an occupation exists is effective control by a hostile army, not the positioning of troops. Whether the Israeli army is inside Gaza or redeployed around its periphery and restricting entrance and exit, it remains in control.' (http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2004/10/28/israel-dise...
Its ok, you don't need to say it: HRW is an antisemitic organization out to git the israelis. Thanks, got the memo.
Large land-swaps for peace? What have you been snortling for breakfast? Netanyahu's press releases?! If by large 'land-swaps for peace' mean Israel controlling everything and breaking up palestine even further, sure. If you mean a viable palestinian state within the mandated int'l borders along 1967 lines, then um, big NO.
Perhaps if you knew more about the history of the middle east prior to the violent establishment of Israel, you wouldn't be so eager to hold up the mufti as an example of widespread discrimination against the jews in the me. One evil mufti does not an antisemitic population make. Or something like that.
But yes, this is fruitless. Those with an ingrained prejudice towards seeing Israel as always the victim and the one defending itself from evil forces (evil forces it itself created by treating an entire population like they were less than scum), will never think there is anything wrong with how Israel treats and has treated the Palestinian. This is why boycotts are the only answer. They will force Israeli's to really question what the hell their gov't has been up to since 1967. Or they will see it as the world once again out to git the jews. I guess that's really up to them, and doesn't really change the facts on the ground.
For such a fruitless debate with 'ingrained prejudice', you certainly are contributing to its fruitlessness, fruit_loopz. What you fail to see is that you are not debating -or considering- the issue, you are Defending a position that you hold dear with carefully selected facts and arguments that do not advance any debate…so i guess it is fruitless.
I don't know how many Jews are on this site, but I do know that they have been forced to consider both sides of this argument going back long before 1967!! Almost every Jew I know supports Israel, a few don't. Most Muslims I know support Palestine. A few don't. They have all swayed in various degrees over time because their very lives are at stake and they do debate it carefully.
Have you ever considered the opposite arguments in context, taking in all arguments above, etc, without saying 'yeah but' to sustain your desired outcomes? Try it and you just might learn how powerful ingrained prejudice is nest time you look in the mirror. Or is that just fruitless, fruit_loopz. Reason and passion lead to good debates. Anger leads to hatred. Peace out
problem with boycott is the way it affects the Palestinian (and other Arab, like those from Lebanon and Egypt) filmmakers in the festival.
The pacbi statements never called for a boycott of the entire festival. It was meant to boycott the city to city spotlight only.
The posts here are proof that liberals are just as stupid, arrogant and heartless as conservatives have always been. Israel proper, the West Bank and Gaza were all part of Israel 2,000 years ago. If the Islamic world doesn't like it , then they should take in the Palestinians. The Arab world has millions of square miles, plenty of room. Israel is this tiny little wedge of land that was mostly desert and swampland from 70 A.D. to 1948. Israel has always belonged to Jews and no one else.
It's incredible how liberals can obsess over the most bizarre things. If liberals from 40 years ago were to travel through time to the present day, they whack all the present-day liberals upside the head…then they'd probably become conservatives out of disgust. It's called "being careful what you ask for." Hopefully someday, liberals will get it.
fruit_loopz, the only reason you think further debate with L. Rose is pointless is because you immediately came to the realization that L. Rose is not an easy target. In fact, very few of us Jews are as ignorant as you. We've learned from experience that we cannot afford to be. If you had any brains at all, you'd make a film that examines the Palestinian side of the conflict, instead of boycotting the festival just because the Israeli films on exhibit don't quite hit the spot for you.
But .. um .. isn't L. Rose the one not 'debating'? As, in fact, neither are you?!
To clarifly, there is a piece of misinformation in the opening article: the only filmmaker to pull their film from TIFF is John Greyson, and that had to do with the particular content of Covered, about homophobic attacks on the Sarajevo Gay Festival and the silence by both the Canadian embassy and the Sarajevo Film Festival to that violence. The Palestinian Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, which sees boycott of Israeli state-funded culture as the only remaining non-violent means to get Israel to obey international law, stop the settlements and the wall, etc., has called for a boycott of the City to City program, but NOT of TIFF, including the Israeli films in the other programs of the festival. So there is no need for you to boycott TIFF.