In five minutes, the video sounds the alarm on laws intended to take away Americans’ First Amendment right to boycott Israel. As masses throughout the US and around the world rally for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the Israeli assault and siege, many are recognizing boycotts and divestment as some of the most powerful tools available to bring about social change. But in dozens of US states (including Wisconsin), legislators have been trying to stand in their way, passing dangerous laws curtailing free speech. Anti-boycott laws have already cost people their jobs and contracts. From Texas to Arkansas to Arizona and beyond, citizens are fighting back. Watch the film and help spread the word.
“This short and powerful film makes it clear that support for the right to boycott Israel is a fight for First Amendment rights vital to all social justice movements, and worthy of their support.”
— Rashid Khalidi, Columbia University, Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies
About the film
When two young American Jews raised to unconditionally love Israel witness the brutal way Israel treats Palestinians, their lives take sharp left turns. They join a movement of young American Jews battling the old guard to redefine Judaism’s relationship with Israel, revealing a deepening generational divide over modern Jewish identity.
Hosted by Tikkun Olam Productions
On-demand Dec 8, 1:00 AM EST – Dec 11, 1:00 AM EST
$5 for a 24 hour rental Get Tickets
Now available to rent WORLDWIDE for the first time, for a limited time, only through Sunday, December 10th. After the film, watch Q&As with our film’s directors and main subjects:
Watch Q&A with Co-Directors Erin Axelman & Sam Eilertsen, along with Rabbi Miriam Grossman and Unsettled podcast producer Ilana Levinson: https://youtu.be/6RMEQYNBytM
Watch Q&A with main film subject Simone Zimmerman, along with Judaism Unbound podcast host Rabbi Lex Rofeberg: https://youtu.be/owg8iRvjse8
Featured recently in the NYT, The Guardian, and The Forward.
About the film
When two young American Jews raised to unconditionally love Israel witness the brutal way Israel treats Palestinians, their lives take sharp left turns. They join a movement of young American Jews battling the old guard to redefine Judaism’s relationship with Israel, revealing a deepening generational divide over modern Jewish identity.
Just Vision is a non-profit team of filmmakers, journalists, storytellers, and human rights advocates based in Israel-Palestine and the U.S. Founded in 2003, Just Vision is nonpartisan and religiously unaffiliated.
Browse their award-winning films below, all available to stream for free. For more films on Palestine, see the MRSCP Film Library.
BOYCOTT
(2021)
When a news publisher in Arkansas, an attorney in Arizona, and a speech therapist in Texas are told they must choose between their jobs and their political beliefs, they launch legal battles that expose an attack on freedom of speech across 33 states in America. FILM’S WEBSITE Watch the Film
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NAILA AND THE UPRISING
(2017)
When a nation-wide uprising breaks out in 1987, a woman in Gaza must choose between love, family, and freedom. Undaunted, she embraces all three, joining a clandestine network of women in an inspiring story that weaves through the most vibrant, nonviolent mobilization in Palestinian history – the First Intifada.
Mohammed El Kurd is a Palestinian boy growing up in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah. His family loses half of their home to Israeli settlers leading a campaign of court-sanctioned evictions to guarantee Jewish control of the area. This Peabody Award-winning film captures voices rarely heard, of those striving for a shared future in the city.
A series of four short films chronicling the resolve of a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem, where families are struggling to keep their homes in the face of escalating Israeli settlement expansion. Residents are surprised when support comes from the most unexpected of places. Richard Branson called Home Front “films that make a difference.”
Palestinian community organizer Ayed Morrar and his daughter Iltezam unite local Fatah and Hamas members along with Israeli supporters in an unarmed movement to save their village of Budrus from destruction by Israel’s Separation Barrier. Budrus won over 20 awards internationally and was hailed by the New York Times as the “must-see documentary of the year.”
A story of everyday leaders who refuse to sit back as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict escalates. Encounter Point follows a former Israeli settler, a Palestinian ex-prisoner, a bereaved Israeli mother and a wounded Palestinian bereaved brother who risk everything to promote a future of freedom, dignity, security and peace for everyone in the region.
At the Arab Film and Media Institute (AFMI) we seek to continually change the narrative, share our stories, and foster understanding of our common humanity through art and storytelling. In this dire time, we want to share a selection of films that showcase the history, culture and people of Palestine.
Our hope is that this free program, entitled PALESTINIAN VOICES, can be a resource to provide insight into the current situation unfolding in Gaza and the people being affected.
PALESTINIAN VOICES will run through the entire month of November. You can watch most of the films in this series online and from anywhere in the world. A few titles are limited to viewers in the United States and some films will also screen in person in select cities.
Co-writers/directors: Erin Axelman and Sam Eilertsen Run Time: 1:34 Language: English Style: documentary Year: 2023 Awards:
Best Documentary, Arizona International Film Festival 2023
Documentary Audience Award Winner, San Francisco Jewish Film Festival 2023
Projection medium: DCP Tickets:free with registration
Trailer
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About The Film
Our guides through this movie are two young American Jews:
Simone Zimmerman attended a “Jewish state school”, took part in a high school program in Israel, is a 2013 UC Berkeley grad, former Hillel member, and co-founder If Not Now
Eitan grew up in a conservative Jewish family in Atlanta. Took his first Israel trip at age 8. After school graduation, volunteered for the IDF, speaks of a beating, which he didn’t report
When they witness Israel’s mistreatment of the Palestinian people with their own eyes, they are horrified and heartbroken – the Jewish institutions that raised them not only lied but built their Jewish identity around that lie. They join the movement of young American Jews battling the old guard over Israel’s centrality in American Judaism, and demanding freedom for the Palestinian people. Their stories reveal a generational divide in the American Jewish community as more young Jews question the narratives their synagogues and Hebrew school teachers fed them as children.
Panelist
Co-writer/director Erin Axelman
By video conference
Erin is a trans Jewish filmmaker, based out of Somerville, MA. Israelism is their directorial debut. Erin and co-director Sam Eilertsen founded Tikkun Olam Productions, a nonprofit filmmaking collective that focuses on documenting and supporting movements for justice. Erin has produced videos for Senator Ed Markey, as well as Congressman Jamaal Bowman. They’ve also produced a series of short videos with Jacob Blake, who was shot by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin. In addition to Israelism they are currently producing the upcoming feature documentary Generation Green New Deal.
The modern nation of Israel, created by the UN in 1948, is central to the political and cultural life of the American Jewish community. But Israel has also become a deeply divisive subject, as painful generational cracks have emerged within the Jewish community. Points of contention–including Israel’s apartheid policies toward its non-Jewish citizens as well as its oppression of Palestinians living on occupied lands–have led to debate, protest, and even censorship.
Focusing on the stories of two young Americans raised to defend Israel at all costs, Israelism traces their awakening to Israel’s dehumanization of Palestinians and the ongoing violence of the occupation. The film explores the past, present, and future of the relationship between American Jews and Israel, as growing numbers question whether support for Israel should condition and define their Jewish identity. Featuring a range of American Jewish thinkers, community leaders and activists, Israelism asks how and why Israel became the cornerstone of American Judaism, what the consequences have been, and what will happen as divisions continue to grow.
Register below and join us on October 15 at 3:00 PM Eastern for a discussion with:
– Eric Axelman: filmmaker, co-founder of Tikkun Olam Productions
– Simone Zimmerman: Jewish American activist, co-founder of IfNotNow
– Lubna Alzaroo: instructor at the University of Washington specializing in settler colonialism
Our moderator will be Peter Beinart, Editor-at-Large, Jewish Currents; Professor of Journalism and Political Science, Newmark School of Journalism, CUNY; and Publisher, The Beinart Newsletter.
NOTE: After you register, you will immediately get an Approved response – BUT then look in your email for a message from Zoom with the word “Confirmation” at the end of the subject line…there you’ll find the link and password to watch the film in advance of the Salon event.
Using children’s donations collected via “little blue boxes,” the Jewish National Fund has planted more than 250 million trees in Israel/Palestine. Ostensibly to “make the desert bloom,” the planting has radically altered the land’s biodiversity. My Tree follows filmmaker Jason Sherman’s journey to find the tree planted in his name on the occasion of his bar mitzvah. When he discovers that “his” tree is in a forest covering up a Palestinian village destroyed in 1967 – one of many forests hiding scores of destroyed villages – he seeks to learn the motivations behind JNF’s tree-planting enterprise and to understand his own culpability.
Watch the film for free at your convenience; Join the Q&A Discussion
Jason Sherman: Jewish Canadian playwright, screenwriter, and filmmaker
Seth Morrison: Treasurer, Jewish Voice for Peace Action, publicly resigned from Washington D.C. Board of Jewish National Fund
Mazin Qumsiyeh: author, founder and director of the Palestine Museum of Natural History (PMNH) and the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability (PIBS) at Bethlehem University
Iymen Chehade (moderator): Professor of Middle Eastern History, Columbia College; founder, Uprising Theater
You must register to get the free film link and to participate in the Q&A discussion: Tinyurl.com/VFHL-July2023
SUPPORTER Organizations:Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) ♦ Episcopal Peace Fellowship-Palestine Israel Network ♦ Churches for Middle East Peace ♦ Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace ♦ Quaker Palestine Israel Network ♦ Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East ♦Indiana Center for Middle East Peace ♦ Disciples Palestine-Israel Network ♦ Virginia Coalition for Human Rights ♦Mennonite Palestine Israel Network ♦Friends of Sabeel North America♦Center for Jewish Nonviolence♦United Church of Christ Palestine Israel Network ♦Northern New Jersey Jewish Voice for Peace ♦Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service ♦Kairos Puget Sound Coalition♦Pax Christi USA♦
Farha tells the true story of a young Palestinian girl surviving the Nakba in 1948 by hiding in a small, locked storage room.
This eye-opening and heartbreaking film is based on the experiences of a friend of writer and director Darin Sallam’s mother, and shows events tragically familiar to Palestinians around the world.
Farha is under attack for accurately portraying the horror of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
The text reads: Palestine, 1948. That’s all you need to know to understand what’s coming. A year earlier marked the start of the Palestinian Civil War between Jewish and Arab residents after the United Nations recommended the land’s separation in a Jewish and Arab state. Israel declared independence in May of 1948 and, as some history books describe it, a mass exodus arose to render about half the nation’s pre-WWII Arab population (700,000) into refugees without a home. To simply call it an exodus, however, is misleading. Most of these people didn’t choose to leave as a means of finding settlement elsewhere. They were driven out by Israeli military forces who in turn destroyed villages and murdered so-called “rebel forces” in an ethnic cleansing that continues today.
As anyone following the news knows, using the term genocide for what happened / is happening has always been a hotly disputed topic thanks to some people’s inability to separate anti-Zionism from anti-Semitism. And being that America is a huge Israeli ally, advocating for the lives and freedoms of a Palestinian people who had their land stolen from them—only to subsequently be treated like second-class citizens upon the land they were given (that was then also stolen despite agreements made)—is likely to get you labeled the latter. We’re accordingly taught to dismiss Palestinians as terrorists like many other Muslim groups. It’s thus important for Arab artists and historians to dare combat that stereotype by telling their stories too. Darin J. Sallam’s drama Farha is one.
In it she details the real-life tale of Radiyyeh, a 14-year-old girl whose village was destroyed during the Al-Nakba (Catastrophe). Names are changed and events dramatized, but it remains the same tale this young woman told upon reaching Syria that’s endured for generations. At its start is our introduction to the renamed Farha’s (Karam Taher) headstrong teenage rebellious streak in telling her Quran teacher that women should be worrying less about marriage and more about education. Her cousin / best friend Farida (Tala Gammoh) is lucky enough to live in the city to experience the latter while life in the village leaves Farha with many fewer options. Her father (Ashraf Barhom’s Abu Farha) is their mayor, however, and thus has means to send her too.
They’re living in tumultuous times, though. The British are leaving and the Arab villages have no means of defending themselves from the progressing Israeli forces coming to fill that void. On one hand Abu Farha wants his daughter to remain close as they await the Arab League’s promised assistance. On the other, he knows her potential and desire to learn could ultimately help them all in the long run. There just isn’t enough time to get affairs in order before the explosions start. Suddenly Farha is left with a choice of her own: flee with Farida’s family north or stay by her father’s side. Why she picks the latter comes with additional motivation, but it hardly matters once desperation leads her to being locked inside the pantry.
This is how we experience the horrors of what went on: through the cracks of a wooden door and gaps between stones. Abu Farha says he’ll return for her, but that’s hardly a guarantee. And while hiding in this room will keep her safe (and fed), the prospect of what she might have to face with only a dagger left behind for protection remains unknown. Sallam’s film turns from the hopeful sun-drenched days of a hillside community thinking towards the future to a claustrophobic thriller forcing Farha (and us) to helplessly watch the present depravity of war. Whether smoke from fires set to burn the village down or Israeli soldiers cornering fleeing Arabs with unprovoked malice, what she witnesses will invariably alter her entire outlook on humanity.
Sallam pulls no punches in her depictions of the callous nature of this endless battle in the Middle East. It’s no coincidence that she shows young boys chasing after the British with toy gun slingshots, propelling tiny stones at the soldiers before cutting to a scene between Abu Farha and his brother-in-law (Ali Suliman’s Abu Walid) where they discuss the audacity of those pretending like they possess an armed militia. It’s no different from today with Israelis firing into crowds of unarmed civilians because someone threw a can. Oppressors will utilize whatever excuses are at their disposal to continue their oppression; their zealots will believe the flimsiest of them if doing so serves their needs. Everything is a weapon for those itching to respond with deadly force.
I doubt the obvious allusions to Holocaust films (sans concentration camps) are unintentional, either. We’ve seen countless depictions of Jewish Europeans hiding from Nazis as the Third Reich stormed into homes with impunity to line people up against the wall and organize a firing squad. Farha becomes that innocent made to watch as people who look and talk like her are butchered feet away. That one would happen so soon after the other is therefore something to contemplate and discuss; one people’s suffering should never validate the conscious acts of causing another people to suffer in similar ways. As the broken Arabic of loudspeakers states that all Arabs must vacate or be killed in their homes, however, nothing about this diaspora’s commencement was ever voluntary.
Farha‘s success is thus predicated on our ability to watch what unfolds and believe its veracity. That will probably be a tall ask for those who deny Palestinians their right to be angry about what was done to them. Hopefully seeing it through the eyes of a child will help sway hearts and minds to reality, though. First-time actor Taher is fantastic in the eponymous role, struggling with allegiance to her village and dreams of enjoying the city. Just because one wishes to escape their simple life doesn’t mean they aren’t intrinsically bonded to it. We leave for our educations in the knowledge that home will remain, either as a time capsule or a siren calling us back. For too many Palestinians today, returning to theirs became impossible.
Farha premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Jared Mobarak is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic for The Film Stage, Art Director for the Buffalo, NY film series Cultivate Cinema Circle, and member of OFCS and GWNYFCA. You can follow his cinematic viewing habits at Letterboxd.
Hundreds of spam accounts have left negative reviews of the film Farha on the movie rating site IMDb, in what appears to be an organised campaign.
Streaming on Netflix and set during the Nakba of 1948, the film revolves around a teenage girl who watches Zionist militias kill her entire family, including a baby.
Jordanian director Darin Sallam says her debut feature is based on actual events, which she first heard about from her Palestinian father.
The film has been slammed by Israeli officials but Palestinians reject such criticisms, arguing that abuses like those depicted in the movie are documented to have happened.
Following the Israeli censure, the film’s ratings have dropped dramatically on IMDb, one of the internet’s most popular film review sites.
On 1 December, the film’s ratings went from 7.2 to 5.8 in a matter of hours, in what many activists and campaigners have called a targeted campaign.
According to activists, many of the negative reviews appeared to have come from the same source, containing similar comments, such as calling the film “one-sided” or a “big lie”.
Netflix’s Farha: Palestinians bemused by Israeli anger over Nakba film Read More »
One review, titled “propaganda and fantasy”, awarded the film one star and called it an “over emotional drama”.
Former Al Jazeera journalist and influencer Ahmed Shihab-Eldin says the negative reviews were part of an orchestrated effort to discredit the film and stop people from seeing it.
“The pacing of the posts reveals it was co-ordinated,” he told Middle East Eye.
“With each passing hour, dozens and dozens of vapid and vile reviews would appear, making wild accusations trashing the film. It was clear people had not seen the film, and only wanted to damage its reputation,” he added.
According to Shihab-Eldin, many of the accounts posting negative reviews of the film were newly created.
He says that around 1,000 negative reviews suddenly appeared on the website during a 24-hour period, which contained “inflammatory and hateful language”.
At the time of publication, the average review rating of Farha on the IMDb page sat at 8.1, suggesting the website had removed inauthentic ratings.
Middle East Eye has contacted the website for comment.
A painful history
Earlier, Israeli officials including Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s far-right, outgoing finance minister, condemned the film, saying: “It’s crazy that Netflix decided to stream a movie whose whole purpose is to create a false pretence and incite against Israeli soldiers.”
While the Nakba is well documented, it does not feature prominently in Israeli public discourse.
More than 700,000 Palestinians were either expelled or fled during the events that preceded the establishment of Israel.
In pictures: Palestinian villages before the Nakba Read More »
Many left at gunpoint and others left after hearing about atrocities committed by Israeli soldiers. The most famous of these include the massacres at Tantura and Deir Yassin.
A number of Israeli historians, including the University of Exeter academic Ilan Pappé, have written extensively about Israeli atrocities in the lead-up to the state’s establishment.
Shihab-Eldin said that the smear campaign against the film is part of an ongoing pattern with other Palestinian films and stories.
“For too long, any time Palestinians share their own stories, that affirm our existence, our humanity, it is immediately targeted by Israel… it’s as debilitating to deal with as it is destructive,” he added.
According to Shihab-Eldin, the goal of the campaign is to silence Palestinian voices and discourage them from telling stories about the Palestinian experience.
Harassment and bullying
Sallam said that she was moved to direct the film after being told the story by her father at a young age, and says it was based on real incidents.
“I’m not afraid to tell the truth,” she said in a media interview in 2021, when the film premiered at the Red Sea International Film Festival.
“This is why I decided to make this film. Not because I’m political, but because I’m loyal to the story I heard,” she added.
‘I think it says a lot about the collective state of anxiety in Israel, and the Israeli public’s inability to confront its past’
– Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, journalist
Since the film came to Netflix on 1 December, Sallam has faced a barrage of abuse, with hundreds of people harassing her across her social media profiles.
Shihab-Eldin said that while there has been an increase in harassment and online bullying, this has been outweighed by the positive feedback.
He explained that the response to the movie illustrated Israel’s inability to recognise the circumstances of its creation and its continued poor treatment of Palestinians.
“I think it says a lot about the collective state of anxiety in Israel, and the Israeli public’s inability to confront its past,” he said.
“Israel forbids the release of any documents detailing forcibly deporting Palestinians, violating their human rights, including war crimes,” he added.
“That is why Farha is so important and meaningful; it shows us, through the eyes of a 14-year-old girl, the truth of how harrowing the Nakba was, and that includes the loss of innocence on all sides.”
Counter-campaign
Pro-Palestine activists have responded with a counter-campaign, with many leaving positive reviews on the IMDb website, bringing up ratings again.
“There has been an outpouring of support, not only because it’s a powerful and beautifully made film, but because there is a hunger for this storytelling,” Shihab-Eldin says.
“It is a difficult film to watch, [one] that requires anyone watching it to confront a painful reality that is too often swept under the rug.”
Following the barrage of negative reviews, Shihab-Eldin says that Sallam called him and told him of the efforts to discredit the film.
He responded by making a video about it on Instagram, calling on people to leave positive reviews on the website.
Thousands of people responded to his call and left their positive reviews online.
“One of the best movies I’ve ever watched. Exposing the truth about Palestine and how people of Palestine suffered from occupation,” one review reads. It has since been upvoted over 180 times.
“Very rarely do filmmakers have the courage to tell a truthful story that goes against decades of misinformation that’s seen today… the young girl in the movie represents all the feelings of generations of people who were displaced from their homeland…” another review states.
So many people travel, take tours, and make pilgrimages to the “Holy Land” each year. What are the ethical, political, and personal implications of a journey to holy sites surrounded by 30-foot-high concrete walls, where soldiers patrol the streets and residents live under military occupation?
Three recent, short documentaries present a variety of perspectives through the eyes of people living there today. Post-film discussion features Rifat Kassis of Kairos Palestine, Palestinian-American Sam Bahour, and Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon of Churches for Middle East Peace.
Just Vision’s new documentary, Boycott, will have its Wisconsin Premiere at the Milwaukee Film Festival on Monday, April 25 at 5:45pm. Boycott follows the stories of a news publisher, an attorney and a speech therapist, who, when forced to choose between their jobs and their political beliefs, launch legal battles that expose an attack on freedom of speech across America.
The film traces the impact of state legislation passed in 33 states – including Wisconsin – designed to penalize individuals and companies that choose to boycott Israel due to its human rights record. A legal thriller with “accidental plaintiffs” at the center of the story, Boycott is a bracing look at the far-reaching implications of anti-boycott legislation and an inspiring tale of everyday Americans standing up to protect our rights in an age of shifting politics and threats to freedom of speech.