No Other Narrative

On the advisory board of an independent local theater in Miami Beach, I was informed via group email they had decided to screen No Other Land.  

The decision was final by the time I was made aware, and the controversy packed the theatre. When the mayor of the city of Miami Beach urged them to reconsider, they doubled down and added screenings—yet turned off comments about it on social media, ensuring that no public debate could take place. 

Before the screening, the CEO Vivian Marthell addressed the audience with a curtain speech, proclaiming their decision to show the film was “a bold reaffirmation of our fundamental belief that every voice deserves to be heard, even, and perhaps especially, when it challenges us.”

The irony was not lost on me.

No Other Land presents a single narrative— Palestinians are victims of Israel, full stop. It does not, because it can not, challenge its audience to consider any complexity beyond this claim nor can it mention the decades-long legal battles surrounding the contested land central to the film.

The title alone is an intellectual and creative theft that repurposes a deeply personal Israeli anthem into a political weapon. No Other Land borrows its title from Ein Li Eretz Acheret (“I Have No Other Land”), a song written by Ehud Manor in 1982 as a lament for his fallen brother, expressing the unbreakable bond between Jews and their only homeland. 

In this film, the phrase is twisted to erase Jewish historical and existential claims to Israel, turning a song of resilience into yet another tool for political propaganda. This rebranding not only distorts history but undermines the essence of why Israel exists—because, as Golda Meir put it, “We have a secret weapon: we have no place else to go.”

While we enjoy our freedom of expression here in the United States, in Palestinian society, there is, indeed, no other narrative permitted. The only acceptable stance is one of resistance against Israel—resistance that, in practice, means the glorification of terror. Any voice that speaks out against this reality is silenced.  

There can be no criticism of the Palestinian leadership’s systematic indoctrination of generations of children with hatred toward Jews and Israel. No mention of significant financial compensation for to families of any terrorist who dies killing Jews. No mention of why there’s an ‘occupation’ in the first place. 

And while I disagree strongly with the decision to give this film screen time, the reaction of the Miami Beach mayor, threatening to cancel the cinema’s lease and withhold funding is a clear abuse of power– a retaliatory reaction that will almost certainly result in the cinema winning a lawsuit. In this regard, I will defend the cinema and stand by the CEO. Because I’m proud to live in a country where free speech is still protected, even when it’s blood libel.  

So Much Land

Even the title, No Other Land, is a narrative-inverting distortion. 

Israel is tiny. About the size of New Jersey. One of the smallest nations in the world. By contrast, the land amassed by the Arab League spans over 5 million square miles—over 632 times larger than Israel. An additional 57 Islamic countries beyond the Arab League (OIC), collectively control an even greater landmass across multiple continents. I don’t think you need to be a geography scholar to see, there actually is a lot of “other land.” 

Palestinian leaders insist their people have nowhere else to go, while the broader Arab world refuses refuge. Despite their shared language, religion, and cultural ties. Even Palestinians who wish for nothing more than to leave are trapped. Egypt shares a border with Gaza, you’d think they might consider opening it. 

But allowing Palestinians to resettle outside of refugee camps would damage the one true narrative: Oppressed vs. Oppressor. Meanwhile, for the Jewish people, Israel is the only homeland—a land secured after centuries of exile and persecution. There truly is no other land for them. 

The ethnic cleansing of Jews from Arab lands has been well-documented throughout history, yet the filmmakers breathlessly spew accusations of the same, to standing ovations. During the biggest rise in antisemitism I’ve seen in modern history. 

The truth is–  for most Palestinians in disputed territories, a ‘Free Palestine’ means the absolute destruction of Israel-from the river to the sea, and a genocide of the Jewish people. They’re not the least bit subtle about it. Advocates around the world are all too eager to align. 

When one considers that Israel itself has evicted its own people from contested land in the name of peace, the irony runs even deeper. 

In 2005, they unilaterally withdrew from Gaza, forcibly removing every Jewish resident, demolishing the homes they’d lived in for 35 years. I’m certain a documentary on the topic would be just as “difficult to watch.” Families dragged from their homes, kicking and screaming. Even the dead were exhumed and relocated. Every last Israeli, living or deceased, was removed to create an autonomous Palestinian-controlled completely Jew-free Gaza.

Instead of building a peaceful and prosperous society or investing in civilian infrastructure, Hamas took in billions in foreign aid and turned it into a terror base, constructing an elaborate network of tunnels, and launching rockets at Israeli civilians for nearly two decades before October 7, 2023.

If we are to be bold truth-tellers, let us not shy away from the truth in its entirety.