With "everyone talking about" improving Israel's information campaign, it appears that someone has finally done something about it. HonestReporting.com, a global organization dedicated to fighting media bias against Israel, has produced an hour-long documentary film named "Relentless," showing how Israel has been terrorized by the Oslo process. Seen to date by many tens of thousands of people, the movie boasts a remarkable "success" rate; 80% of those who watched the movie in New York and Los Angeles theaters expressed a desire to be more involved in Israel activism.
The film's title is an apparent hint at its step-by-grueling-step description of the process by which Israel and the Arabs reached the catastrophic situation in which they find themselves today. The Arabs rejected the United Nations partition in 1947, see the Jews as land-thieves, and started a war on this basis. The Jews, on the other hand, backed by the UN and their own history, are convinced that Israel is their home. "Two peoples, one land," the film states, and then gets down to brass tacks: "What has each side done to solve the problem and bring peace?"
"Relentless" responds by presenting a detailed analysis of the Oslo Agreement, the obligations both sides took upon themselves, and the extent to which they each fulfilled them. With facts, documentation, and analysis by Raanan Gissin, Caroline Glick, Itamar Marcus, and others, as well as footage of Arab spokesmen, viewers are guided along as they watch the history of the past ten years unfold before their eyes.
In return for Israel giving up 42% of Yesha, teaching its people the importance of peace, implementing pro-PA policies, and giving arms to an Arab police force in Yesha, the PA was supposed to take some steps of its own. It did not - as painstakingly documented in the film. The PA violations include not having changed the charter calling for Israel's destruction "via armed struggle" and not protecting holy Jewish sites in Bethlehem, Jericho, and Shechem.
But "Relentless" is at its most relentless in detailing two main PA violations: how it did not stop terror, and how it continued to encourage anti-Israel incitement in its textbooks, media, and government statements. Interviews with terror victims and scenes of attacks bring home a powerful message, as do those of televised incitement and war-training summer camps for children.
Despite all, in 1999, Israel elected Ehud Barak, whose generous offer of 97% of Yesha Arafat coldly rejected - leading to the outbreak of the Oslo War. The viewer is here treated to now-chilling scenes of Barak and Arafat joking with each other in Camp David. Lest one think that it was Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount that led to the war, priceless footage of a speech by PA Information Minister Imad Falouji is shown:
"Whoever thinks that this [war] started as a result of Sharon's despicable visit to Al Aksa is in error," Falouji tells the crowd. "It was planned since Arafat's return from Camp David [where he] firmly stood up to Clinton and rejected the U.S. terms. Arafat is the first president to firmly tell the U.S., while in the heart of America, that he rejects their terms!"
"Relentless" concludes by asking why *did* the PA reject Barak's generous terms? The answer, with detailed documentation, is straightforward: The Arabs want all of Israel, and not merely Yesha. PA maps, showing no Israel, teach that "Israel is temporary and will be destroyed."
HonestReporting.com reports that over 18,000 North Americans have attended 100 theater showings, including events co-sponsored by AIPAC, the Israeli Consulate, Jewish Federations, ADL, JNF, Aish HaTorah, churches and JCC's. The film has also been shown on television five times, has been distributed to half of the U.S. Congress, and has been screened to 5,000 people in South Africa. Over 60 events on five continents are scheduled for the next two months, and the goal is to play it for over 100,000 people in the coming six months, as well as distribute 100,000 copies of the film. To see a trailer of the film, or to plan a viewing, click here.