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Portuguese“My father instructed me to go fight if the Jewish state or the lives of the Jewish people were ever threatened again. The work that I am doing is how I feel I can best fight back at this time in my life.”
The mainstream media’s humanizing of a Jerusalem terrorist who last week intentionally murdered a three-month-old baby and wounded several others – some critically – is an indication of the anti-Israel bias or, in fact, blatant anti-Semitism that inspired award-winning producer Gloria Greenfield’s latest film, titled Body and Soul – the State of the Jewish Nation.
The documentary, created by Doc Emet Productions, presents a thorough investigation of the undeniable 3,000-year-old connection of the Jewish People to the Land of Israel.
The film, which provides important historical and archaeological data through leading academic experts, does not shy away from discussing the miraculous return of the Jewish People to their ancient homeland. As Harvard University Professor Ruth Wisse states, the creation of the State of Israel is “a miracle of truly Biblical proportions.”
Greenfield is also an activist, and her purpose in creating the documentary is a call for action.
“My father instructed me to go fight if the Jewish state or the lives of the Jewish people were ever threatened again. The work that I am doing is how I feel I can best fight back at this time in my life,” she told an audience at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem last Monday evening, exactly two days before the terror attack that claimed the life of the infant. Hundreds had gathered for the premiere of the film, which was followed by a panel discussion featuring foremost intellectuals.
‘We Must Not Be Defensive’
Eugene Kontorovich, professor at Northwestern University School of Law, praised Greenfield for producing a film “in the tradition of [fathers of modern Zionism Max] Nordau and [Theodor] Herzl, who made self-respect a cornerstone of their Jewishness.”
“What I find encouraging and hopeful is the message of this film,” Robert Wistrich, professor of European and Jewish History and director of the Vidal Sassoon Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism, said. “We have to know first and foremost as a people what our narrative is and we must not be defensive.”
Wistrich, pointing to the “real” and “existential” threats facing the Jewish People today, such as Iran as well as “some of the most toxic forms of anti-Semitism” that have returned to Europe, said that he does “not envy” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “for having to deal with a president like [Barack] Obama and a secretary of state like John Kerry.”
(The American public and Congress, nevertheless, “remain overall friends of Israel,” he added.)
The Greatest Moment of Jewish Success in 2,000 Years
Philosopher and political theorist Yoram Hazony, president of the Herzl Institute for the Study of Zionism and History, expressed optimism, saying:
“We are at the greatest moment of Jewish success in 2,000 years. Let’s put this in perspective….
“We have to do better, but we’re winning. This is a biblical story. All of our greatest enemies have turned around and begun to slaughter each other while we are drilling for oil in the Golan Heights.”
British journalist, author and commentator Melanie Phillips, who moderated the discussion, said that the Israeli leadership should “establish its claim to the territories” of Judea and Samaria and insist upon its legal rights.
The film is currently premiering in the U.S. For information and to view a trailer, go to http://www.bodyandsoulthemovie.com/
Author: Atara Beck
Senior Writer, United with Israel
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