Summary
The following videos present various narratives and comments about the history of Palestine and Israel from differing perspectives. Some of the videos below would be considered dishonest propaganda by those who oppose whatever view is being presented. Some of these videos will likely contradict what you believe. Others will affirm what you believe. We’d like to include more videos on this page to balance out the overall message and provide a diversity of opinions. Please contact us to submit a video for inclusion here.
Introduction
This introductory text is an excerpt from “Palestine and Israel: How do you pick a side when both are wrong?” and it conveys the difficulty most people have in deciding who they should support in this ongoing conflict.
For the last few days, ever since the conflict escalated yet again with some intense fighting, the topic of Israel and Palestine has been up for discussion all over the world once more. Some people are outraged by Israel, some by Hamas, and nostrils are flaring.
Any argument about Israel and Palestine tends to be a futile affair. If one side points to rockets and suicide bombers, the other points to tanks, soldiers and airstrikes, and everyone has a point. Whichever way you look at it, the side you pick tends to depend on the propaganda you believe.
The Palestinians can’t be trusted because they fire rockets and hide in highly populated civilian areas. Israel can’t be trusted because it’s their military action that triggers the violence. The Palestinians are Muslims and Muslims stone women, behead adulterers, and use children as suicide bombers. It doesn’t even matter if the Muslims responsible for such mayhem are Palestinian or not. Jews are Zionists who destroy homes, enslave people, and drive over them with tanks. The accusations are endless.
Source: Cor Rautenbach, 14 July 2014, News24.com Blogger
What Life Is Like on Gaza’s Side of the Fence (14 May 2018)
Palestinians in Gaza are taking part in mass protests, demanding an end to the 11-year blockade of the territory and a return to lands in what is now Israel. The Times’s Jerusalem bureau chief reports from the region.
Israeli Settlers in the Occupied West Bank (10 May 2018)
“Why would an Israeli Jew choose to live in the West Bank?” That’s the question that motivates writer Wajahat Ali to travel to Israel in a new documentary from The Atlantic. Ali, who has been critical of Israel, embarks on a personal quest to understand the perspectives of some of the 400,000 Israeli Jews who live in the occupied territory in defiance of international law—and to hear from the Palestinians who oppose them. In his travels through the West Bank, Ali visits the family of a Palestinian terrorist, ventures into the heart of one of the most radical settlements, and speaks to the leader of an NGO focused on creating a dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians.
Growing Up in an Israeli Settlement (25 Mar 2019)
This week we bring you Iris Zaki’s thought-provoking short film “Natural Born Settlers.” A self-described liberal from cosmopolitan Tel Aviv, Zaki wanted to get behind the politics of Israel’s controversial settlements in the occupied territories — so she moved there, temporarily, setting up an improvised cafe where she could chat with settlers from her own generation.
Palestine is Still the Issue (21 Nov 2015)
In a series of extraordinary interviews with both Palestinians and Israelis, John Pilger weaves together the issue of Palestine. He speaks to the families of suicide bombers and their victims; he sees the humiliation of Palestinians imposed on them at myriad checkpoints and with a permit system not dissimilar to apartheid South Africa’s infamous pass laws. He goes into the refugee camps and meets children who, he says, “no longer dream like other children, or if they do, it is about death.”
Settlers, Olives, and Occupation: Voices from the West Bank (13 Jan 2015)
In response to last year’s Gaza conflict, the Israeli government announced the construction of further settlements in the West Bank — a move condemned by the international community for escalating tensions that were already highly fraught.
Israel Accused of War Crimes – UK Parliament (14 Jul 2014)
Highlights from a UK parliamentary debate in which MPs variously accused Israel of war crimes, disproportionate violence, ruining peace negotiations by building illegal settlements, running the worlds largest outdoor prison, collective punishment, and attacking water supplies, hospitals, supply centres and all manner of other civilian targets. I have edited out the contributions of Foreign Secretary, William Hague, because nearly all of them displayed a shameful lack of compassion for the sufferings of the Palestinian people (Hague is a prominent member of an organisation called the “Conservative Friends of Israel” and is well aware of the funding that involvement brings to his party and his own political campaigns) The debate took place on the 14th of July 2014
Louis Therous: The Ultra Zionists (29 Jun 2014)
Louis Theroux spends time with a small and very committed subculture of ultra-nationalist Jewish settlers. He discovers a group of people who consider it their religious and political obligation to populate some of the most sensitive areas of the West Bank, especially those with a spiritual significance dating back to the Bible. Throughout his journey, Louis gets close to the people most involved with driving the extreme end of the Jewish settler movement – finding them warm, friendly, humorous, and deeply troubling.
Why Orthodox Jews refuse to serve in IDF (22 Jul 2013)
Discover the facts about Zionism! The Zionists are anti-religious Jews, with one goal: to destroy the Jewish religion and culture. To achieve their goal, they created a movement called “Zionism” and later a state called “Israel”, where they are constantly attacking the practice of Judaism in many ways, including attempts to draft the boys of the Orthodox community into their army and national service. Learn the reasons why Orthodox Jews refuse to serve in the Israeli army. Watch the Orthodox community demonstrating and declaring that they would rather be jailed than serve in the Israeli army!
Budrus (7 Jun 2013)
Budrus is an award-winning feature documentary film about a Palestinian community organizer, Ayed Morrar, who unites local Fatah and Hamas members along with Israeli supporters in an unarmed movement to save his village of Budrus from destruction by Israel’s Separation Barrier.
This Land Is Mine (2013)
The video below conveys (through dark humor) the story of many civilizations that have reigned and then fallen in the region called Palestine and Israel.
Israeli Palestinian Conflict Explained (28 Nov 2012)
An animated introduction to Israel and Palestine. Easy to understand, historically accurate Jewish Voice for Peace mini- primer about why Israelis and Palestinians are fighting, why the US-backed peace process has been an impediment to peace, and what you can do to make a difference. This conflict is essentially about land and human rights, not religion and culture. Endorsed by Palestinian, Israeli and American scholars and peace activists. Jewish Voice for Peace opposes anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim, and anti-Arab bigotry and oppression. JVP seeks an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem; security and self-determination for Israelis and Palestinians; a just solution for Palestinian refugees based on principles established in international law; an end to violence against civilians; and peace and justice for all peoples of the Middle East. Current mission statement adopted in 2009.
Crime & Punishment in the Gaza Strip (10 Jul 2012)
We finally got a rare glimpse of the embattled Gaza Strip and a chance to see what life was like under the rule of Hamas. In 2007 we tried and failed to get into Gaza through the Israeli-controlled Erez Crossing. Back then the rival Palestinian factions of Hamas and Fatah were engaged in a bloody war for control of this tiny strip of land. Hamas won. When the post-Mubarak government of Egypt decided to start letting small numbers of folks into Gaza through their Rafah Crossing, we knew we could finally enter the region.
The Zionist Story (5 Feb 2011)
The following is a documentary offers a less than glorious portrayal of the history of Zionism and the current conditions for Palestinians today.
With God on Our Side (2010)
With God On Our Side takes a look at the theology of Christian Zionism, which teaches that because the Jews are God’s chosen people, they have a divine right to the land of Israel. Aspects of this belief system lead some Christians in the West to give uncritical support to Israeli government policies, even those that privilege Jews at the expense of Palestinians, leading to great suffering among Muslim and Christian Palestinians alike and threatening Israel’s security as a whole.
This film demonstrates that there is a biblical alternative for Christians who want to love and support the people of Israel, a theology that doesn’t favor one people group over another but instead promotes peace and reconciliation for both Jews and Palestinians.
Life in Occupied Palestine (2009)
Anna Baltzer, a Jewish American, gives her eyewitness perspectives on average citizens living in occupied Palestine. Baltzer spent 5 months in the West Bank working with the International Women’s Peace Service. Her presentation highlights how the Israeli government’s policies have drastically and negatively affected normal Palestinian life, and how this perspective has been omitted from most news outlets in America. A must-see for anyone interested or curious in Israel/Palestine relations.
The Israel Lobby in the U.S. (2007)
Is the pro-Israel lobby so strong, financially and politically, that the U.S. relationship with Israel is taboo and therefore unmentionable? And what happens to those who dare expose the unmentionable? In March 2006 the American political scientists John Mearsheimer (University of Chicago) and Steve Walt (Harvard) published the controversial article ‘The Israel Lobby and US foreign policy’. In it they state that it is not, or no longer, expedient for the US to support and protect present-day Israel. Together with the power shifts in Congress and the increasing doubts about the current Middle-East policy, this could become the fuse in the powder keg. Backlight talks to the people concerned in this ‘new realism’ debate. The documentary sheds light on both parties involved in the discussion: those who wish to maintain the strong tie between the US and Israel (Neocon Richard Perle, the Lebanese Christian Brigitte Gabriel and evangelist John Hagee, the lobby club AIPAC), and those who were critical of it and not infrequently became ‘victims’ of the lobby. Member of Congress Earl Hilliard from Alabama advocated a rapprochement with the Arab world and was promptly ousted by a political adversary who had the support of Aipac money.
Peace, Propaganda And The Promised Land (2004)
Provides a striking comparison of U.S. and international media coverage of the crisis in the Middle East, zeroing in on how structural distortions in U.S. coverage have reinforced false perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This pivotal documentary exposes how the foreign policy interests of American political elites–oil, and a need to have a secure military base in the region, among others–work in combination with Israeli public relations strategies to exercise a powerful influence over how news from the region is reported.
About This Document
This document was originally posted on 14 Jul 2014 at 3:49 PM. It was updated on 6 Jun 2020 at 7:00 PM to update the page with the latest WordPress block editor format and older videos no longer available were removed. Much of the video content and descriptions above are from FilmsForAction.org. On 8 Jun 2020 additional videos were added.