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Ruth Kaplan

Film “From Ground Zero:” Gaza Tragedy and Demonizing Israel

My husband and I recently attended the annual Palm Springs International Film Festival in California. There were roughly 160 films to choose from representing about 70 countries.  It’s challenging to decide which films to watch since there are so many tantalizing choices. If you are a victim of FOMO, good luck!

One such option was the film “From Ground Zero,” Palestine’s Oscar Submission.  I could have easily passed up this opportunity as I was fairly certain the experience would anger and upset me as I anticipated a biased, one-sided anti-Israel depiction of the war.  But a part of me felt that it was important to witness the film regardless in order to better understand what the pro-Israel community is up against.  So, I went, braced for a negative reaction.

That didn’t actually happen.  Not right away, anyway.

Instead, we saw a collection of twenty-two short artfully crafted films depicting the psychological and emotional pain of ordinary Gazans, the physical devastation of their surroundings, and the human loss amid the rubble.  Most of the films were very moving.  But what we didn’t see was an overt political agenda.  There were no images of Israeli soldiers or Hamas fighters whatsoever.  Nor was there mention of terrorist tunnels or any references to the hostages who still remain captive in Gaza.  In fact, there was only one passing reference to October 7. A few bombing attacks were depicted as were the occasional sounds of drones overhead.  All in all, if you didn’t know any better, you would think you were witnessing a territory under attack for no apparent reason—the ongoing annihilation and genocide of innocent civilians depicted with no context whatsoever.

These short films showed very human portraits of civilian life sorely interrupted by war.  There were even some uplifting images demonstrating resilience in the face of adversity:  a stand-up comedian dodging bombs only to perform among the rubble; a musical ensemble playing in a tent and dancing with children; a teacher guiding young pupils in making puppets that depicted their everyday lives of death and destruction.  There were painfully poignant moments such as when two young children explained that their mother had written their names on their bodies so they could be identified in case they were killed in an air strike. The children decided to remove their names since it made them so anxious they could not sleep–an unforgettable tragic moment that very few film viewers would forget.

So did these low keys and thoughtful depictions result in a political and biased film given its focus on the everyday lives of civilians caught in a war zone?

Most definitely.

The series of short films simultaneously represented both an authentic portrait of the terrible tragedy of Gaza and also highly effective propaganda. While the actual words “Israel,” “Zionists” or the “IDF” were never explicitly used, in a way they didn’t have to be:  there were a few references to the Nakba (Arabic for “catastrophe” which is how Palestinians refer to Israeli independence), 1948 (the year Israel became a state), and a yearning to return to Jaffa (now an Israeli municipality).  The Gazan dead were referred to as “martyrs” and there were a few references to the “oppression” under which they live.  There was just one passing reference to October 7 where the speaker seemed to bemoan the fact that an Israel attack would be inevitable as a result.

So what was conspicuously missing from the twenty-two short films?  Historical context.  There was no mention of the brutal massacre by Hamas of 1200 innocent Israelis and people from other nationalities,  including rape, burning of people alive, sexual assault and mutilation, as well as the abduction of 251 innocent hostages; no reference to the massive network of terror tunnels used to shelter Hamas fighters, but without any provision of protection for Gazan civilians from Israeli bombs; no mention of Hamas situating their missile launchers in schools, hospitals, and private homes that result in thousands of civilian casualties;  no reference to close to 100 innocent Israeli civilians —including a baby and a toddler—still being held captive underground more than a year later.

But it’s really no wonder.  How much does the average Gazan really know about the massacres of that day, and given their anti-Israel indoctrination, would they even care if they did?

So, on the one hand, I left the theater feeling a bit relieved with a sense that the experience had not been as “bad” as I expected.  This film does not hit you over the head with one-sided pro-Palestinian bias.  On the other hand, I immediately put myself in the shoes of your average liberal-minded American viewer and realized what successful propaganda this film really is.  Why?  Because it’s only natural to solely blame Israel for the war and devastation.  Your average viewer is not reading the “Times of Israel” daily (like me) and has no understanding of the heartbreak of the hostage situation, the fact that Israelis are still running for cover to avoid Houthi  (and sometimes Hamas) attacks, that young Israeli soldiers are dying every day, that the residents of Northern Israel—who faced daily attacks from Hezbollah starting on October 8, 2023–still don’t feel secure enough to return to their border towns, and that there isn’t a single Israeli who does not have PTSD after the pogrom that was the worst attack on Jewish people since the Holocaust.  Unfortunately, many people still don’t seem to understand Israel’s moral obligation to defend its citizens living on the borders or the cynical Hamas strategy to sacrifice as many Gazan civilians as possible so that the world will demonize and delegitimize the only Jewish state on the planet.  Moreover, there was no indication that any of the Gazans in the film had any interest whatsoever in territorial compromise with Israel along the lines of a two-state solution.  The only reference to a “solution” was the universal desire to return to pre-1948 Palestine: in other words, to eliminate the state of Israel.  Not one of them seemed to yearn for a peaceful solution with their Israeli neighbors.

When the film was over, my fears of how it would be perceived came true immediately.  My husband and I ran into some very lovely women who were members of our film group.  Of course, we were all shaking our heads over the challenging images we had seen of the horrific daily lives of Gazan civilians.  After all, war is hell.  But then as one of the women opened up with a critique of Israel as the culprit, my blood started to boil and I ineffectively raised my voice and muttered something about the atrocities of October 7.  But she had already moved away from me in obvious disgust and disapproval. It was our final encounter of our time together and it made me both sad and angry.

Could there be a parallel movie made with twenty-two voices of Israelis’ stories?  Hostage families?  Kibbutz survivors?  Scenes of the devastation of Kibbutz Be’eri and Kibbutz Nahal Oz?  Non-stop funerals the week after October 7 and beyond?  Stories of orphans?  Stories of internal Israeli refugees?

Yes, I believe such a movie should be made as film is such a powerful medium.  Israel continues to lose the public relations battle globally.  After twenty-two poignant vignettes of life in the rubble of Gaza, is it any wonder that Israel looks like the bad guy?  Even if these Gazan filmmakers hold Hamas accountable, this viewpoint could of course never be depicted or there would be no film coming out of Gaza.  So, “Beyond Ground Zero” is a perfect storm whereby a seemingly innocent and non-political tale totally devoid of context quietly but effectively demonizes Israel.

I feel deep empathy towards the Gazans in this film and anyone who’s a human being will too.  But it’s not the whole story and ends up distorting the truth:  Israel faced genocidal attackers on October 7 who are ideologically committed to rearming until their next effort to annihilate Israel.  Until that threat is eliminated, Israel has the duty and moral obligation to defend its citizens and has done so as carefully as possible so as to minimize Gazan casualties, despite the way it comes across in this film.  It faces a genocidal enemy dedicated to martyrdom and destruction.  The omnipresent rubble in the film could not have been more real and upsetting.  However, the responsibility lies solely with Hamas and its benefactor Iran who are out to destroy Israel, not create peace through territorial compromise. Could Israel have done a better job of avoiding civilian causalities?  Maybe they could have and as a democracy, this issue is constantly being grappled with by Israelis.  But that is very different from implying that Israel is intent on genocidal destruction of innocent Gazans.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Indeed, the very Kibbutzniks who were massacred on October 7 were the Israelis who had done the most to seek peace with their Gazan neighbors. Therein lies the irony.

I regret not having the opportunity to have had a more productive conversation with the woman in my film group about the larger picture.

Hopefully next time.

About the Author
Ruth is a writer and consultant with a varied career including academic pursuits in Jewish history, social services and governmental work, private practice as an attorney, and public service as an elected and appointed official dealing with public education. For the past 15 years, she has served the Jewish and Israeli communities in a variety of leadership roles, including Director of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies Boston-Haifa Connection and Director of Community Relations for the Consulate General of Israel to New England.
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