Jewish Voices Challenge Israel’s Narrative of Itself
Indlieb Farazi Saber
A new documentary, along with historians, directors, and Holocaust survivors, is sparking debate on how Jews perceive Israel after the Gaza war. The film explores how trauma, nationalism, and militarization have shaped Israeli society since October 7, 2023.
London, United Kingdom – In a cinema in London’s bustling Soho district, no one hurried to leave when the film ended. A woman buried her face in her hands, a couple sat motionless, and from the front row came a sigh: ‘Free Palestine.’
The screening of the documentary Planet Israel: A Cautionary Tale took place on the eve of Nakba Day – the commemoration of the forced displacement of over 750,000 Palestinians in 1948 when the state of Israel was established.
The film explores how trauma, nationalism, and militarization have shaped Israeli society after October 7, 2023, and during the genocide in Gaza. The work arrives as old political certainties about Israel are fracturing – especially among intellectuals, artists, rabbis, and historians.
Director Gillian Mosely, a British-American Jew who once believed in Zionism, said: ‘The media hasn’t reported this. British Jews are being treated as a monolith, which I think fuels anti-Semitism.’
According to a survey by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research, 40% of British Jews said Israel’s conduct in Gaza had weakened their attachment to the country, more than a third no longer identify as Zionists, and only 12% expressed approval of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Historian Avi Shlaim, an Israeli who appears in the film, said: ‘Increasing numbers of Jews, not just intellectuals, are challenging Israel’s narrative because its behavior in Gaza has turned it into a war crime state. The self-defense argument no longer masks the brutality and genocide.’
He emphasized: ‘The core values of Judaism are truth, justice, and peace. The current Israeli government is the antithesis of these values.’
The film also delves into how ‘Greater Israel’ ideology has permeated education, the military, and media in Israel. Mosely shared: ‘I was shocked by academic studies showing how deeply that ideology has seeped into every sector.’
Stephen Kapos, 88, a Holocaust survivor who attended the screening, said: ‘We cannot have enough images of the destruction and its impact on the Palestinian people and children. What I experienced at age 7 in the Holocaust cannot justify or explain what is happening in Gaza.’
Mosely, who has produced films on Israeli human rights violations and the Nakba, hopes her work can spark change. She said: ‘Politicians are very slow to turn away from public consensus. But the Gaza war has changed that consensus dramatically, both in the UK and the US. Politicians haven’t caught up.’
She concluded: ‘Is this the world we want to live in? And if not, what are we going to do about it?’
