Info

World Cinema
Defamation (Hashmatsa)

Monday 26th October Phoenix
Tuesday 27th October NFT3
Wednesday 28th October NFT3

US release: 4th November*

What is Antisemitism? What is the difference between Antisemitism and anti-Zionism? Is it possible to be anti-Zionist, yet not anti-Semitic? Is Antisemitism becoming a dangerous global problem? Is Antisemitism a facade disguising hidden and far crueler agendas? Is it used to justify Israel? Is Antisemitism infecting the remembrance of the Holocaust? Or is Antisemitism a fragment of imagination? Is it anti-Semitic to say that? All these questions alight fiery debates, yet Yoav Shamir’s (whose previous documentaries include Checkpoint, 5 Days and Flipping Out) personal yet provocative documentary, Defamation tackles these question and more with irreverent wit.

Shamir, who admits to never have experienced Antisemitism, researches and assess whether Antisemitism is a new fangled term used by the political right-wing Zionist as leverage or does it exists in the ‘New Nazi’, the supposedly civilized academics. Shamir engages with thinkers on the polar ends of this debate and those in-between this spectrum. Fighting for the ‘prevention’ of Antisemitism and the pandemic worldwide spread of anti-Jewish feeling stands director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Abraham Foxman. Over-zealous in his wayward belief (and irrational fear) of the growing hate against Jews. However, despite Shamir’s somewhat arrogant portrayal, his portrait transcends at Babi Yar gathers some lost empathy for Foxman. He is a man paralysed by his childhood suffering, and he has sublimated this anguish onto the outside world, and those he perceives to be his enemies. But even the community Foxman seeks to galvanise are sceptical about the so-called ubiquitous anti-Semitism, as an Orthodox rabbi in Kiev heatedly argues that if these people (in reference to non-Orthodox Jews) had a religious practice they wouldn’t need anti-Semitism; anti-Semitism is not a problem, it is their guilt.

In direct opposition to the somewhat sinister Abe Foxman is the equally embittered Professor Norman Finkelstein. A born Jew himself and a son to Holocaust survivors, Finkelstein is effectively blacklisted from Jewish society for his controversial ‘anti-Semitic’ book The Holocaust Industry, in which he argues that the Holocaust and Nazism is used to justify Israel’s ill-treatment of Palestinians. The denouncement by powerful Jewish figures, including the ADL, has allegedly had him deported from Israel during a visit and resulted in him losing his job. Despite Shamir’s clear leftist sentiment and somewhat biased portrayal of the ADL and Foxman as distorted, even the persuasive Finkelstein debases his argument with his bitter ranting about the “warmongers of Martha’s Vineyard”, understandable as it is, doesn’t promote his case. But the likes of Foxman are right to fear Finkelstein power of speech, for what he has to say undermines the very rhetoric individuals and associations like the ADL have been using to create an atmosphere of paranoia, and has left an indelible stain on the memories of the Holocaust. Finkelstein considers it ‘shameful [to use Antisemitism] when you have the world on a platter’.

Finkelstein is proved right, an Israeli teenager considers all other suffering, especially the current suffering of Arabs, pale into insignificance when she compares that to the Jewish suffering at Auschwitz. The film intermittently refocuses its story on the Israeli teens visiting Poland and Auschwitz, less a voyage of understanding but a trip to instill guilt. Their world is anti-Semitic; they are programmed daily about their difference, their historical burden, the anti-Jewish hatred, the inane hatred that marks them at birth. This is their preparation before visiting Auschwitz and other concentration camps; this is their preparation for life. Shamir compassionately observes the teenagers in their emotional journey as they struggle to grasp what the Holocaust means for them.

Defamation is a well-balance, humorously toned but unapologetically leftist in its subjectivity and position on contemporary Antisemitism. Although the bulk of the documentary focuses on the impassioned yet debased arguments between Foxman and Finkelstein, there are injections that add weigh to the one-sided arguments and humor that colours the tone, especially the comically candid interview with Shamir’s 92-year-old grandmother. The only criticism is there are no Palestinians present to impart their perspective.

Subject to change*