Conference taveng::bagels

    I watched 75% of it (they showed the anti-religious segment twice)
    before I fell asleep.  I knew it would be negative to the Israeli
    establisment because it was highlighted on the cover of the Globe's TV
    Week viewer's guide. Actually, it was interesting to get a flavor of
    the internal controversy. One isn't able to get the emotion from the
    Anglo-"Jewish" press or the Jerusalem Post International Edition.  
    
    This movie was made before the "uprising" began.   
    
    The underlying message was that Israel was built upon a socialist,
    humanitarian, secular, and egalitarian vision.  The militarism, the
    ethnocentric European Jews, religious parties, and Kahane have changed
    that...
    
    ---Av

    I saw much of it, and I fell asleep after they showed one
    of the 10-min segments twice. On the surface it was not that bad, 
    and it did present the viewer with many valid questions to ponder.
    However, what they did show (in my remote opinion) accounts
    for no more than 10% of Israeli reality. Yet the producers
    tried to make us (me) believe they opened a window on 90% of
    the life in Israel.
    
    Alec

    I taped the whole show from The Discovery Channel. I thought it leaned
    heavily towards the left. My wife was living in Israel about 3 years ago 
    for 9 months and feels the film represented alot of what she saw that 
    was going on. We (in the U.S.) seem to get different information 
    compared to what she saw and heard in Israel. 
    
    I will show this tape to my in-laws (they're early 60's & American born) 
    to see their responses. They're pro-right. This should be interesting. No 
    matter what side you take, the film was quite disturbing. I THOUGHT TDC 
    showed that 10 minute segment twice.

    These are my wife's (from 752.3) comments verbatim: 
    
    "I had lived in Israel about a year before this show was filmed, and I saw
    it happening the way that the show presented.  It took me at least 3 
    months of living there before some realities of Israeli life started 
    to seep through. 
    
    At first I felt very confused and disturbed. One of the things that led
    to my upset was that before I left for Israel, I had read one of Kahane's 
    books. Part of the reason I went over in the first place was for my own 
    exploration of Judaism and my (?) obligation to Israel as a Jew. I was
    swayed towards a pro-Kahane position.
     
    As my time in Israel passed, I felt more and more angry. Situations were 
    so different from what I had been led to believe when in the U.S. The 
    Israelis weren't hiding the controversies (social, religious, political, 
    and economic) that were going on. They were in a heart-wrenching conflict
    among themselves about many facets of their society, which filled their 
    many daily and weekly publications. 
    
    Once I returned home, I found it difficult to share the extent of how 
    tense the atmoshphere had become in Israel. It was something that took
    a few months for me to arrive at through my exposure to Israeli friends 
    and their families. 
    
    When we were just watching the TDC show, I said that if I hadn't been 
    there myself, I would think that this show was lopsided propaganda and 
    would probably tune it out. Also, if the show was not watched from the
    beginning, it would seem imbalanced. Having been there, I can say that 
    it was a compassionate and comprehensive presentation of both the Arab 
    and Israeli's suffering. The show did not hide it's leanings to the
    left, but no facts were distorted to present the issues and the history
    of the conflicts."
     
    If one of our Israeli BAGEL'ers was interested, I could send a copy of
    the VHS tape to them for their comments. They would not need to return
    it. We'd be interested in hearing any replies.
    
    				Todah,
    			        Russ and Phyllis