Is it just me or is there a huge contradiction in this guy preaching about the anti-Semitic bias of Arab television stations and American muslims, then letting a couple Jewish protestors recommend the expulsion of all Arabs from Israel without so much as a follow up? If I'm missing something point it out, because this in particular seemed awfully slanted to me.
shareRead some of the speeches by the late-and-unlamented (except by his followers) Rabbi Meir Kahane. They sound as if someone took a collection of Nazi hate propaganda and replaced the word "Jew" with "Arab." It's as idiotic and sick as the forged "Protocols" themselves.
"An Archer is known by his aim, not by his arrows."
-Li Chen-Sung (Richard Loo) The Outer Limits
Kahane's group, "Kach", was declared a racist group by the Israeli government and banned from Knesset. While he served in Knesset (his party gained one seat) he was isolated and his speeches were boycotted. In 1988 a law was passed banning parties that were declared racist from the Knesset. That would seem like an important part of his story, don't you think?
"My plan fell to s**t. Let's see what you can do."
-Streets of Fire
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If you had watched this film with more than just a cursory glance you would see that SEVERAL times in the film he protests what he sees is the extremism of Israel's supporters. The whole film is about hate. About how racism is a spiral that starts with one group hating another and ends up with every group hating every group until there's no peace between anyone anywhere.
The reason he showed that Jewish guy advocating the expulsion of Arabs from Palestine is to show how not even Jews are exempt from hatred and extremism.
And he did a wonderful job of seeking out people from the "other" side to explain their views. For God's Sake, he went to neo-Nazi compounds and allowed their leaders to talk freely for several minutes. At several points in the film, he interviewed Arab-American youth and let them speak freely. He also showed his own family's and other liberal Jews' point of view that the cycle of violence in the Middle East is an inflammatory event against Jews.
I think you just want something to complain about.
Yes. He showed both anti-semitism and the views of extremist Jews.
This film wasn't made to glorify Jews by exposing anti-semitism in America, nor was it an attempt fo demonize Jews. He shows both sides of the coin, shows that racism and hatred between peoples is everywhere.
Either way, it wasn't a particularly good film...
shareWhen they showed the Israelis after showing the Palestinians, I thought he was going to criticize both for wanting the extreme annihilation of the other, but he never really criticized the Israelis. The part that I hated was when they showed him reacting to the beheading of Daniel Pearl.
It was so artificial, and obviously staged (the reaction of the director that is, not the beheading). It annoyed me how they wanted us to believe that he was just hearing about it at that very second, and also it's position so near the end of the movie kind of insinuated that the Jews were entirely victims of the Muslims.
Personally I hate racism of all kinds, and I see no end to petty squabbling over religion, revenge or retaliation. But I think this movie should most likely have been done by someone a bit more neutral - like an atheist, or someone who would be willing to show how ALL sides are bad, and how ALL sides are committing horrible atrocities.
The Nazi guy was the best part of the movie, it showed how ignorant he really was and how willing he was to believe whatever was told to him. I can't believe that a book like that would exist, and be so readily available - but then again newspapers also carry racist biases.
You've got to be kidding me, right? A neutral person wouldn't care this much, he would never have made this movie.
sharewell not really.. I'll say it like this, it would have been better if an atheist Jew did it rather then a religious and Israeli (I think) Jew - the reason being that the latter is more politically charged and likely to depict the Muslims in a negative light. Whereas the former could show it in a relatively lesser unbiased way.
shareI think it's a great documentary, so I rated it 9, though too unstructured to deserve 10. The main disappointment though, is that Levin did not balance the whole with a more in-depth look into Zionism and racism. Many of Israel's rightwing politicians have given equally reprehensible hate speeches about Palestinians and Arabs, exaggerating their "evil", calling them the new "Islamofascists" etc., and were Levin to surf the internet for anti-Muslim sites hosted by Jewish groups, he would find aplenty. These days, the war against "terorists" and nuking of "Islamofascists" is bandied about without any controversy in the mass media. Imagine the reaction if someone were to say the same about "Zionist-fascists"! I won't be surprised if a 3 year old Israeli girl would be brainwashed enough to call the Palestinians "pigs" - I have come across so many hate-filled posts by israeli and jewish posters on news sites and forums, I think this deserves a spotlight of its own. I am sympathetic to the Jewish plight for the sufferings through all these centuries to this day, but I am myself appalled by the same racism and hatred many Zionists exhibit towards Palestinians and Muslims. In the end, what counts is also the body count - 6 million Jews have died during WWII to the horror of the world. Yet today, 2 million Muslims, Iraqis and Afghanistanis have already died from sanctions and wars with barely a protest from the world. This to me is just as terrible - they are no less humans, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters. To clarify, I'm not a Muslim, but a pacifist, and ultimately, a humanist.
sharethree things: one, as an atheist jew myself, I simultaneously applaud this movie for what it does right and shake my head for what i agree are either examples of shoddy documentary-making or out-right hypocrisies. two, while brave, levin is a shadow of his father, and anyone who is interested in good documentaries should check out the late levin's work. finally, while levin has israeli citizenship, as all authenticated jews do, calling him israeli is misleading, as he was born and, to my knowledge, has always resided in america.
and one other thing. implying that an atheist, jew or otherwise, would have made a better movie on the subject implicitly implies that being an atheist makes you better than a theist, an idea i'm not at all comfortable with self-proclaimed "atheists" promoting. better is a value-judgement. the educated are not better than the ignorant.
here's something worth debating: if i was willing to go so far as to call myself anti-theistic, does that, by proxy, make me anti-semitic, as well as anti-christian, anti-islamic, anti-hindu, anti-buddhist, anti-scientologist, etc.? or is orthodox judaism, along with xen and a small number other humanist sects, qualify as outright atheistic themselves?
discuss.
kibl gave me my nick-name, so that's MR. ATHEIST to you
I'm not quite sure it's Mr Levin's job to revamp the image of all of Islam.. I think that job would fall on the shoulders of the Muslims themselves no?
share