An activist speaks out

BASYA LAYE

With the release of his new film Walking With Destiny imminent, Rabbi Marvin Hier, filmmaker, human rights activist and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, has been publicly speaking out against the Toronto Declaration. This document, with numerous well-known signatories, including Jewish and non-Jewish actors, poets, writers, filmmakers and academics, was a protest against the Toronto International Film Festival's celebration of Tel Aviv's centennial as part of their City-to-City program and it raised hackles throughout the Jewish and artistic communities. Hier spoke with the Independent following his press conference in Toronto.

"When I read that proclamation, I was sick. Not only because of the signatories, some famous people, I was embarrassed that there were some Jewish filmmakers and Jewish names that were supporting it as well. But the reason I was incensed is, I think it went beyond the pale and it was introducing language that we haven't heard for a long time, namely, questioning the validity of Tel Aviv.... We're used to the usual flashpoints, West Bank, Gaza, Jerusalem, settlements. They went further ... and said that Tel Aviv is captured territory, that it was built over Palestinian villages, that the Palestinians were chased out."

Hier was particularly concerned with the unusual nature of this latest protest. "This sounded to me like they were completely, I mean, introducing language that even Hamas, a terrorist organization, if you look at their language, of course they're in favor of destroying Israel, but they usually don't bother with putting in specific attacks on Tel Aviv – they concentrate on Jerusalem, and on the West Bank and Gaza. But here are actors, playwrights, authors talking about Tel Aviv. They don't want to celebrate Tel Aviv, so I said to myself, Tel Aviv is one of the freest cities in the world. If you can't shine a public spotlight on Tel Aviv, then no city in the world can be acknowledged."

It is precisely for this reason that Hier spoke with his longtime acquaintance, Jane Fonda, to share his disappointment that she had signed on to the protest.

"I said to her, 'Jane how could you have signed this protest?'.... She told me that she had not read the proclamation.... She only read maybe one paragraph, blamed herself for it and, to her credit, wound up at least issuing a statement apologizing for not having read the whole text and specifically acknowledging that this is a one-sided Palestinian script. "

The impact of the Declaration remains to be seen, but Hier agrees that speaking out is not only necessary, but it shows what is possible when people are willing to speak out against the one-sidedness of anti-Israel protests.

"Everybody can do their thing on whatever level.... Everyone's got friends, non-Jewish friends, they can write letters to the editor.... Go on the radio. If you talk to your own friends, if every Jew would do that all over the world, supporters of Israel, we'd gain a lot more supporters who would understand what the real issue is ... that one country, only Israel, has to [fight for the right to exist] day in and day out."

Hier is excited about the release of his new film, after finding Oscar success with two of his other film projects, The Long Way Home and Genocide. He said his current film is "really related to what's going on today because it deals with [Winston] Churchill in 1940, when the whole world, when the Nazis are taking up the whole world and how Churchill, in that year ... manages to fight on despite the negativity and gloom. It's a film that will even have a connection to Israel because, what is less known is that [David] Ben Gurion was staying in London and every night he slept, during the battle of Britain, he slept in the Tube and he had a radio nearby and he listened to Churchill's speeches and he would say later that it was those speeches that Churchill made in 1940 that gave him the courage to declare a Jewish state in 1948 against all the opponents who didn't want him to do so."

Walking With Destiny is being released by Moriah Films in December 2009.

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