Summary
- The documentary Israelism explores how many young Jews are questioning their previously unwavering support for Israel’s political and militaristic actions.
- Israelism has become extremely timely in light of Oct. 7th and the subsequent mass killings in Gaza, making it one of the year’s most important documentaries.
- The film sheds light on the collapsing definitions of anti-Zionism and antisemitism, and finds a great lead in Simone Zimmerman.
War and religion are all about real estate. Yes, that’s reductive, but in many ways, the Abrahamic religions all chronicle people who had a home (a garden, a temple, a country), were then exiled from their home, and hope to return (to Jannah, to the promised land, to heaven, or back to the garden). The problem of a shared idea of home is that one location cannot contain more than its physical space allots. This is the history of borders and Israel in a cracked, dusty nutshell, and we’ve seen the atrocious results of this play out over the past two months.
The expansion of Israel — and not necessarily the existence of Israel — is now alarming many individuals in the West for the first time, because it tends to imply the eventual annihilation of Palestinian land, from the river to the sea. This is the backdrop of Israelism, a documentary that is tragically timelier than its filmmakers could have anticipated, but its beating heart can be found in the young Jews who are speaking out about the state of Israel and its treatment of Palestinians.
The movie was developed and filmed before October 7th, when Hamas perpetrated its horrendous terrorist attack on Israel which killed roughly 1,100 people; it’s important to specify just how disgusting the attack was before continuing, otherwise one risks the label of ‘terrorist sympathizer’ in today’s media climate. That’s because to even mention the indiscriminate bombing of women, children, and even Israeli hostages in Gaza without condemning Hamas is to raise suspicion among the Israelist right and center.
‘Israelist’ is a wonderful distinction made by the filmmakers of Israelism, Erin Axelman and Sam Eilertsen. The film explores how the many shades of Zionism, and even Judaism itself, have been conflated with absolute support of Israel, and the lives of many have suffered as a result. It does this through not just detailing the basic history of the Israel-Palestine situation, but more crucially by interviewing and spending time with Jews who have altered their previously unwavering support of Israel after some tough education. Israelism is not the best or most stylish documentary of 2023 (for that, see Menus-Plaisirs — Les Troisgros, The Mission, The Unknown Country, or Subject), but it’s probably the most socially and politically important.
Introducing Simone Zimmerman
Tikkun Olam Production
Israelism begins with what seems like a rock concert — or CPAC. In a giant stadium, visitors to Israel celebrate their participation in Birthright, the free ‘heritage trip’ that takes people of Jewish ethnicity to the country and teaches them a specific narrative. Many people on Birthright end up planting trees in areas that belonged to Palestinians forced from their homes, which were then razed. The film cuts to nearby Gaza, where water and electricity and fuel are controlled by Israel, and where long cages form a blockade that only allow the travel of a small percentage of Palestinian workers.
We are introduced to Simone Zimmerman, an enthusiastic and intelligent young woman who, like most religious Jews, was raised a kind of Zionist. She participated in Birthright and campus organizing for Israel before encountering a different narrative. She was never given meaningful answers when she asked rabbis, teachers, friends, and family whether there is any merit to the idea of Israel as an apartheid state (based on the occupation and blockade of Gaza, the settlements in the West Bank and elsewhere, and the different civil rights of Palestinians in Israel proper).
Related: Why Netflix’s Born in Gaza is One of the Most Essential Movies Right Now
Zimmerman is one of many young Jews who have begun to push back against some actions of the Israeli state. It may sound controversial, but the film almost feels like a documentary about a cult, interviewing former followers and how they were deprogrammed. Israelism interviews another former Zionist (who declined to provide his last name for fear of retribution), a former member of the IDF who recounts the many ways he participated in the militaristic subjugation of Palestinians. The animation used to reenact this may be unnecessary, though it is subtle and visually engaging. His recollection of one arrest and mass beating is specifically affecting, but not as much as the shame and sadness that evidently lingers in the man’s soul.
The Conflation of Anti-Zionism with Antisemitism
Tikkun Olam Production
Zimmerman remains the main focus of Israelism, but she is more an audience surrogate than pure subject. We follow her through anti-occupation protests, to the Gaza Strip itself, in conversations with Jews and Palestinians, and so on. We learn that she was selected as Bernie Sanders’ Jewish Outreach Coordinator for his 2016 presidential campaign but was fired after three days when conservative pro-Israel groups like AIPAC and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called her an antisemite and vehemently pushed back against her selection.
Aside from people like Cornel West and Noam Chomsky, Israelism actually interviews the former head of the ADL, the influential Abe Foxman, who denounced Zimmerman and called for her resignation; other right-wing Zionists are interviewed as well. They all tend to equate any criticism of Israel’s actions as fundamentally antisemitic, a dangerous equivocation that has been passed into American law with the recent House Resolution 894, a stunning moment of absurdity that reflects our current situation. Israelism is very enlightening about this collapsing of definitions and the coordinated depoliticization of Israel in the American mind to the extent that it becomes impossible to critique, hence the brilliant title.
Related: Best Movies with Religious Themes, Ranked
Another exceptional aspect of Israelism comes from Sami Awad, the founder of Holy Land Trust. He speaks with Zimmerman about the concept of inherited trauma, which is a compassionate way to understand Zionism and Israelism. Their discussion explores how the collective trauma of the Holocaust has led some people to believe that the only way for Israelis to be safe is if their neighbors are not. But the film is wise in suggesting that being a victim does not in itself imply moral purity.
Of course, this is just one film, and barely 90 minutes long; the modern Israel-Palestine issue is a century-long. So Israelism misses a lot of information, from the culpability of England and the United Nations to the extensive American funding of Israel’s military. It ignores the geopolitical situation with Iran, Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, and the complicated history of Palestinian politics, from the PLO to Hamas (and the Israeli funding of Hamas, for that matter). And obviously, not many Gazans are interviewed. So to expect this film to be a one-stop-shop for everything Israel-Palestine would be a disservice to any viewing experience. Israelism is still excellent at providing an honest perspective on a practically Cubist catastrophe.
Understanding Israel and Palestine Today for Jews and Non-Jews Alike
My father is Jewish, but on a list of identifying words, I’m not sure the ethnoreligious adjective would make the top five. He’s kind, selfless, picky, funny, and reliable — he’s also Jewish. As such, I am half-Jewish (and barely half the other adjectives on a good day), and so my identity is even less tied up with the concept and state of Israel. The IDF’s killing of 18,000 Palestinians over the past two months and the destruction of so many Gazan homes by Israel seems universally abhorrent to me, and monstrous for anyone to defend.
And yet people do defend it. Israelism may help you understand why. It also provides hopeful assurance that many younger Jews are waking up to the realization that they have been told an altered narrative, punctuated with fallacy and fantasy. The film gives solace to the many Jews and others who have been afraid to speak out against the Israeli government and military, and it shows where the actual antisemitism is coming from (far-right extremists). And Israelism universalizes anti-colonialism, showing that any kind of identifier (Jew, Muslim, Israeli, Arab, American, young, old, liberal, conservative) doesn’t preclude the denunciation of death and occupation.
Israelism is a Tikkun Olam Production and premiered at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, and is being screened at various festivals, colleges, and community centers. For two weeks beginning Sunday, Dec. 17th, the film can be rented at the Israelism website ahead of a wider release in 2024.
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