Hollywood Jews: Toronto film fest protest against Israel a 'blacklist'

Someone always causes a ruckus at the Toronto film festival. But this year even the reliably controversy-stirring Michael Moore has had to take a back seat to the uproar over a protest letter, signed by a variety of showbiz dignitaries, claiming that Toronto's embrace of a sister city program with Tel Aviv was a "celebration" of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories, charging the festival with being complicit "in the Israeli propaganda machine." The letter was signed by such prominent artists as David Byrne, Julie Christie, Ken Loach, Wallace Shawn and Jane Fonda (who's now taking some baby steps backing away from some of the letter's more heated accusations).  

The protest was sparked by the Canadian documentary filmmaker John Greyson, who pulled his film from the festival, decrying the festival's spotlight on Tel Aviv, which he called -- quoting Naomi Klein -- "the smiling face of Israeli apartheid." There have been a variety of counter-protests, but the biggest one arrives Thursday in the form of a full-page ad in Variety, signed by more than a hundred, mostly Jewish Hollywood filmmakers, actors, writers, producers and executives.

Titled "We Don't Need Another Blacklist," the ad applauds the festival for including the Israeli film community in its City to City program. It says the filmmakers of Israel represent the best of open and uncensored artistic expression that are "in no way a propaganda arm" for government policy. It goes on to add: "Blacklisting them only stifles the exchange of cultural knowledge that artists should be the first to defend and protect. Those who refuse to see these films for themselves or prevent them from being seen by others are violating a cherished right shared by Canada and all democratic countries."

The group of signatures supporting the ad's declaration include a who's who of Hollywood, including Jerry Seinfeld, Seth Rogen, Robert Duvall, Halle Berry, Sacha Baron Cohen, Lisa Kudrow, Lenny Kravitz, Ed Zwick, Jason Alexander, Chazz Palminteri and David Cronenberg, along with a host of top producers and executives like Ron Meyer, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Sherry Lansing, Neal Moritz, Jonathan Glickman, Nina Jacobson, Darron Star, Nathan Kahane and Gail Berman. (Writer-director signatory Michael Tolkin gets credit for a polish on the shaping of the ad's language.)

Dan Adler, an L.A. based entrepreneur and former CAA executive, was one of the driving forces behind the ad, which is officially sponsored by Jewish Federation of Los Angeles and the UJA Federation of Toronto. "We all spent a lot of time talking about the original protest letter, in the sense that it seemed to be going after the wrong target by attacking Israel and its film artists," said Adler. "When I sat down at my computer and started asking for people to sign on, all I got was passion and enthusiasm. Everyone said, 'I'm in,' and then, even better, added, 'Can I get you someone else?' "

I'm not a big fan of political action letter writing and protest ads, since as Fonda proves in her painfully awkward "restatement" of her position, too many celebrities either go whichever direction the wind is blowing or have no real grasp of the complexity of political issues in the first place. Israel's role in the mess in the Middle East is, for example, far too endlessly complicated to be accurately captured in a protest letter or counter-protest ad. But I think this ad strikes the right chord, since as Adler puts it: "This was a cut and dried issue -- it's important to stand up for the rights of artists, wherever they are, especially in the film community of Israel which has been a beacon of open, often critical free expression." 

Previously: Israel gets a punch in the schnoz from Toronto film fest protesters

Comments

[Eugene Leger]

Persons of substance recognize that our western media is apologetic towards any actions taken by the state of Israel to the extent that anyone in the U.S. would be surprised to believe that any Jews disagree with Israeli actions, let alone Israel's existence http://www.nkusa.org/. The signatories to the letter decrying the celebration of Tel Aviv simply disagreed to the 'Brand Israel' campaign's co-opting of TIFF to improve Israel's image in this year that witnessed such a savage attack against Palestinian civilians, launched at 11:30am when most civilians were on the street, remember all atrocities against all humans. Shalom.

[Eugene Leger]

I'm glad that some dissent seems to be allowed on these boards. The black-listing is going to be anyone signatory to the letter...did someone remind Jane that her family can still be effected by a hollywood black list?

[Aaron]

With all due respect, the idea that Tel Aviv is representative of a problem city, is frankly ludicrous. A democratic city that values the rights of all, Tel Aviv and Israel, should be viewed as a beacon of what we should strive for in the Middle East. Having a Jewish identity as a nation, does not mean that the nation is racist (it simply means it has a Jewish character) and as we should all know, they have a Jewish specific nation state, because of centuries of mutilation at the hands of Russian Pogroms, European wide antisemitism and ultimately the holocaust. Israelis have ZERO problem living in peace with their Arab neighbors, but peace cannot exist when terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Hezbollah and more, continue to work on their chartered and stated goals to "Wipe Israel off the map and push all the Jews into the Sea." Naturally in this scenario, an army is built for self defense and survival. In any and all conflict, casualties occur despite the fact that the Israeli army is well known for taking the upmost precaution to protect civilian life. The main problem in the region is the continued abuse of power by the ruling governments in Palestine and other Arab countries, which manifests itself in the improper education of Young Palestinians. Growing up with hatred in their heart towards Jews and Israelis above anything else, it is little wonder that terrorism continues to propagate the region. To suggest that there is an "Israeli Propaganda Machine" is one of the most preposterous suggestions I may have ever heard in my life. Israel is an OPEN civilization which denies access or restricts right to no one. Anyone can produce any material they wish, they have functioning democratic supreme courts which have ruled against the Israeli government and the military in numerous situations. To fault Israel for doing the best job it can in the worst possible conditions is reprehensible. Israelis and the Israeli government has made mistakes, yes, plenty of times. But to suggest that their is an "Israeli Propaganda Machine" is as ridiculous as popular claims that there is moral equivalence between the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and Hamas. Two highly different goals exist. The IDF exists to protect its citizens and Hamas exists to destroy others. Unfortunately these are facts. In Tel Aviv, you can walk into a blockbuster and rent any type of movie you can possibly dream. Censorship, does not exist as this is a functioning democracy. Please stop, and think about the likelihood of this taking place in Palestine, Iran, or any one of the other Arabic countries in the region. The most 'Open' Arabic state, Egypt, is practically a tyrannical state within which, walking around as an American is tantamount to placing your life in danger.

Please, everyone commenting on this thread, take a deep breath, think about the situation and ask yourselves again if you think there is a legitimate claim in saying that partnering with an open, democratic and thriving city like Tel Aviv is tantamount to "Celebrating" Israeli's Occupation of Palestinian territories. Israeli's don't even want to be there, let alone celebrate their presence. Partnering with a city is the furthest from joining a non-existent celebration.

All the best to everyone out here and commenting. We should count our blessings that we are allowed to read uncensored articles and comment without being predisposed to hatred like Palestinian children are :( Read an article such as this one: http://www.meforum.org/1066/the-palestinian-authoritys-double-game-preach or simply search on any variety of search sites like Google or Bing for "Palestinian children educated"

Sincerely,
Aaron

[Sophie]

Israel is a colonial and genocidal occupier that restricts the air space, land, water, movement and all other basic aspects of the OCCUPIED territories, which are an apartheid state. An apartheid state in which those of Jewish background may build, thrive, arm themselves, etc., while those of Palestinian background, whether Christian or Muslim or atheist, must be second class citizens. That is a fact that can't be changed by the garbage propaganda in Aaron's diatribe.