After days of attacks on the Jewish community, it was good to be in a room filled with unashamed, brave Jews and allies.
This was the launch of the Seret International Film Festival in a House of Commons conference room.
The film shown was the brilliant Image of Victory about the 1948 war of Independence – an Exodus-like reminder of the cost of creating a Jewish state.
And from the panel discussion before the film began, we learned about the cost Israel and Jews around the world are still paying – even when it comes to entertainment.
The opening of the festival took place in the Commons because no commercial cinema would host an Israeli film festival.
All the films over the festival week – which starts on May 7 – will be shown in privately hired screening rooms or at the JW3 community centre.
The excuse is the ongoing war with Iran. But as Lord Ian Austin, who hosted the event alongside MP Luke Akehurst, said: "This is obviously nuts because America is in that war too and no one is banning films from Hollywood.”
Seret’s founder Odelia Haroush said that in her 15 years of organising the festival, which also runs in Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Chile and Argentina, the situation had never been this bad.
“Since October 7 most of the cinemas in the UK didn’t want to work with us anymore and they were very blunt about it, very aggressive. We are working with JW3, but because I think it's important that everybody who wants to can come and see the films, I have also rented some private venues. This is very sad, I feel they want to ban Israeli films, not because of their content but because of their origin.
“They gave different excuses. Some said, ‘because of the situation in the Middle East, we don’t want to screen Israeli films, ’ and a lot said, ‘we are afraid for our teams’, or blamed their workers. Some didn’t answer at all, and these are venues that I have used many times before. They just ignored me completely.”
Israel’s Acting Ambassador Daniela Grudsky said: “There is no logic to it,” she said. “If it were during the tension of Gaza, I would understand, but what we have seen since the ceasefire is a much more aggressive and violent movement.
"Look at where we are this week. We weren’t able to participate in different events because of concerns about our safety or security – and that is not a decision we make lightly.
“What is happening in the film industry is part of a big chain of events. It is a situation that will have to be dealt with. What we see is that companies get letters from BDS groups and other organisations saying that if they screen Israeli films, their audiences won’t come to see other films. And so they are afraid to lose their audience. Afraid to lose money. For them it is just about that. And you have to ask, where is the freedom of speech that we cherish so much?
“It seems fine to have people live-streamed on the BBC chanting ‘death to the IDF’ but it is not applied to us.”
Former BBC boss and Oscar-winning film producer Danny Cohen says the boycotting strategy was about “Israeli and Jewish culture and a movement which seeks to erase them both. It just doesn’t have the horrible honesty to say that’s what they are trying to do. There is a lack of leadership, a lack of courage and that can lead to terrible things happening.
“There are frontline racists and people who will go along with it, or by refusing to stand up to it, they give it their tacit approval. And we have seen that across this industry and others. I was at a TV festival in Jerusalem in December. One book agent who sells rights for novels says the work has entirely dried up. While we may not come up with any solutions tonight that are going to make a dramatic difference, the first thing I think we have to do is call it out. It's racism. It's pure, simple racism.”
Cohen revealed how he was making that stand himself: by boycotting the boycotters. After hundreds of actors and entertainment professionals signed a letter saying they would refuse to work with Israel film institutions, one of those who signed was put forward for a film he is working on.
“We were going through a potential lead cast and someone suggested a very famous actor who has been overtly racist. So I said to the producer: ‘He has clearly stated he wouldn’t work with anyone related to any Israeli culture institutions and we work with Israeli cultural institutions. So I presume we will have to take him off the list because he wouldn’t work with me.’
“The producer was quite shocked, but we moved on to another name. I think in any way we can, we have to push back. There’s a middle group in our society who don’t like this stuff. They don’t approve of it; it doesn’t sit comfortably with British values. They may have never known a Jew or an Israeli, but they instinctively don’t like it and don’t want it to carry on. They know all of this is wrong.”
Seret International Film Festival runs from 7-14 May
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