An Open Letter

We, a group of documentary filmmakers in Israel, feel profound shame, pain, daily torment, and helplessness in the face of the horrors of mass murder, destruction and internal transfer (for now), and starvation that the State of Israel is carrying out in our name in Gaza.

We reject with disgust all attempts at denial, silencing, and whitewashing, with the systematic use of euphemisms – preferring to speak of “hunger” instead of “starvation” and “war” instead of “genocide.”

The facts speak for themselves: about 64,000 civilians in Gaza have been killed, including some 20,000 infants and children, and more than one hundred thousand have been wounded. To these we must add the thousands of innocent Palestinians kidnapped from Gaza still held as bargaining chips in Israeli captivity, and the daily killing, destruction, and abuse in the West Bank.

We cannot, nor do we wish to, absolve ourselves of our responsibility – by our being part of the Israeli collective – for the crimes being committed in the West Bank and Gaza, an hour away from the bustling cafés of Tel Aviv – Jaffa.

The horrific crimes committed by Hamas on October 7 have no justification whatsoever – even within the framework of the legitimate Palestinian struggle for national freedom and against the occupation. But they cannot excuse this brutal war of revenge, which has already surpassed the atrocities of Hamas many times over. The terrible price has been and still is being paid also by the hundreds of Israelis kidnapped into Gaza, some of whom have already been released or have died, while about twenty remain abandoned by our government to wither away in Hamas’s tunnels.

Without removing from Hamas an ounce of responsibility for this heinous war crime, under the current circumstances the blood of the hostages is on the hands of all whose hunger for revenge and show of brute force blinds them, hardens their hearts, leading them to prefer war over the lives of the hostages.

We believe that revenge will bring no remedy to the Israeli Palestinian conflict, whose roots lie in a century of power politics. We believe that without a just political settlement – one that respects the national, civil, and human rights of both peoples – there is no hope for our country.

As documentary filmmakers who have dedicated their lives to recording different aspects of reality in our country, and some of us, especially to documenting the occupation, we are acutely aware of the importance of recognizing the truth as a first step toward changing reality. For this reason, we wholeheartedly support the global filmmakers’ boycott against us.

We grieve manifestations of denial, self-victimization, covert and overt complicity, and self-censorship that have also spread within our own ranks. For us, there is no comfort in the complex, sensitive, and critical films we have made over the years as part of our role and mission; they do not absolve us of responsibility for the atrocities carried out in our name.

We call on the international documentary community, our artistic home, to hold itself to the same standards and focus on its domestic role: resisting the silence and complicity of European and American governments in the massacre in Gaza. Our government thrives and gains audacity by the backing of Donald Trump, who also makes a point of neutralizing the protests of European leaders; without him, this accursed war could not have lasted so long.

We live in a reality of fracture. Israeli democracy remains strong, despite all the assaults upon it, but it has never been as fragile as now. The incitement and hatred between left and right in our society have never reached such extremes. Attempts at silencing and Intimidation are taking on violent dimensions.

We hope that along with the justified boycott against us, you will not forget the day after, which must come, and that you will not close the scroll on the positive potential within our society. We yearn for days when we can once again collaborate in fruitful creation.