When two young American Jews raised to support Israel unconditionally witness the way Israel treats Palestinians, it changes their lives. They join a movement of young American Jews campaigning to redefine Judaism’s relationship with Israel and reveal a deepening generational divide over modern Jewish identity.
Israelism sparked huge debate on American campuses even before the events of October 7, 2023. It follows Simone Zimmerman, who visited Israel as a teenager, and Eitan who joined the Israeli army after graduating from high school as they discover the reality for Palestinians and radically revise their views.
It includes interviews with academics and political activists, including Noam Chomsky, Cornel West, Lara Friedman and a former director of the Anti-Defamation League, Abe Foxman.
Contributors suggest the narrative that young American Jews are fed almost entirely erases the existence of the Palestinians through education and advocacy, sometimes involving groups that organise free trips to Israel partially funded by the Israeli government.
This film describes how influential this narrative is in shaping attitudes to Israel, not just in the United States but across the world.
1 comment:
Interesting that I saw some pushback from Muslim community saying the film creates sympathy for Zionists & that this is an inappropriate narrative during a genocide in Gaza. The people posting and agreeing seemed to think the film had been made or at least released after Oct 7, but I left a comment saying I saw it in July 2023 and that it had been years in the making. For some of us it answers the question, how could Jewish people in the U.S. be so brainwashed by Zionism?
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