“I Shall Not Hate” – A Review
Director: Tal Barda
Screened: DocEdge Festival, Christchurch
Date: June 26, 2024.
We started out wishing that I Shall Not Hate would be a hopeful message of equality, justice and coexistence, but it is instead hijacked by factual omissions, making this documentary just another disappointing piece of deceptive Palestinian propaganda that will recruit even more “useful idiots.”
When I first heard that this documentary was being screened at DocEdge, I was told it was about a Nelson Mandela figure, Dr Izzeldin Abuelaish, who has risen above the death of three of his daughters in Gaza at the hands of the IDF in 2008, and was spreading a message of forgiveness and peace.
Dr Abuelaish is a remarkable man. He has been able to overcome the poverty and adversity that characterizes Gazan life to become an Obstretician and Gynaecologist.
He has served his community, worked in an Israeli hospital and supported his extended family by building a multi-storey apartment for them. With his community straddling both Gazan and Israeli communities, he was already an increasingly well known advocate for peace before disaster struck.
Tragedy struck in the 2008-2009 Israeli-Gaza war. The day before his apartment exploded, an Israeli tank trains its 120mm gun on them. Dr Abuelaish is able to avert disaster by calling a Network Ten newsman, Shlomi Eldar, who is able to influence the IDF to stand down.
The next evening their apartment explodes, horrifyingly killing his three daughters, a niece and severely wounding another daughter.
Immediately after the explosion, he is on the phone to Eldar, who happened to be live, on-air at the time. What followed was an extraordinarily raw, distressing, and intense dialogue that was broadcasted live.
From what we see in the documentary, it deeply moved many in Israel, and days later a ceasefire was called and it was largely kept.
The trauma and recovery of the family following the attack is deeply moving.
Yet remarkably, Abueslaish amidst his grief, renews his call for peace and declares that he shall not hate the Israelis for that was done and forgives.
This is its most important message, but this message is severely weakened by its other themes.
The documentary presents a history that is in keeping with the prevailing Palestinian narrative:
That Israel is an Occupier, Oppresser, inflicting famine, horror and doom upon innocent Palestinians, who have had their land stolen from them.
Living in Gaza is like a macabre game of “Russian Roulette” hoping that the next Israeli bullet or bomb doesn’t kill them, explains Abuelaish’s daughters.
The documentary mentions Israeli actions in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war yet omits the Arab invasion of the fledgling state of Israel just hours after its declaration of Independence.
It shows Israeli bombardment of Gaza yet omits Hamas’ publicly declared objective to destroy Israel.
Israel is described as an Occupier, yet we are not told that Gaza cannot be occupied as Israel withdrew from there back in 2005.
The audience is not told that Hamas had assassinated its political opponents and now rules unopposed.
Israel’s bombardments in several wars are shown without informing us that each Gaza-Israeli War was preceded by Hamas-led violence which had provoked that war.
Images of slain civilians many of whom are Abuelaish’s relatives are shown but it omits to tell us that Hamas are using civilians as human shields.
We are not told Hamas started a war on October 7, and then sheltered in their tunnels while their civilians pay the price, only for Hamas to harvest images of wounded, maimed and dead children to push to Western media to undermine support for Israel.
They also omit emails uncovered by the Wall Street Journal that show Hamas stating that civilian fatalities are necessary sacrifices for victory and that Israel is exactly where Hamas wants them.
Suppose one relied on the documentary for their complete guide to the conflict. In that case, it is only natural to believe that Israel randomly and malevolently starts clashes and kills civilians for sport similar to shooting fish in a barrel.
In this sense, the Documentary is deeply deceptive.
There is one short scene where Abuelaish presses his brother for an opinion of Hamas’ leadership, challenging him if anyone can speak against their regime without risk. His brother refuses to criticize Hamas and declares that he never has.
A clue to the audience that not all is as it seems. Yet this scene is so short, it could and probably will be missed amidst the avalanche of implied and expressed allegations of brutality made against Israel.
How could this documentary have been made by Tal Barda, a French American born and raised in Jerusalem, as she would be very aware of these omissions?
We watched the screening with Director Yariv Mozer, who is an award-winning filmmaker and teaches at the Steve Tisch Film School at Tel Aviv University, where he taught Barda. Ironically, his documentary, “We Will Dance Again” had its world premiere the evening before.
He told us Barda would be conscious of these omissions and has refused to give consent for it to be shown in Israel. It’s likely the documentary would turn her into a pariah there.
Yet Barda stated during the Q&A session that followed the screening, that it would be shown on Israeli television.
As the evening progressed, Mozer struggled to contain his anger and the omissions became apparent. “It was lying by omission to the New Zealand public who know relatively nothing of what is going on in the Middle East” said Mozer.
“Yet, she was one of my students at Tel Aviv University and we are friends. I will have to think carefully about our next conversation.”
For us, we started out wishing that I Shall Not Hate would be a hopeful message of equality, justice and coexistence, it is instead hijacked by factual omissions, making this documentary just another disappointing piece of deceptive Palestinian propaganda that will recruit even more “useful idiots.”
Tony Kan
