Gillian Mosely has produced a follow-up film to her earlier documentary The Tinderbox, which explored the Israel/Palestine conflict and her personal journey as a Jewish person toward sympathizing with Palestinians. This new film, Planet Israel, revisits the same subject, reiterating her argument that since the horrific antisemitic pogrom of 7 October, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has normalized a cruel, callous, and paranoid political culture within an administration reliant on far-right elements to maintain power. Mosely contends that this coalition indefinitely defers any legal pursuit of Netanyahu's alleged corruption and cronyism, while the civilian deaths in Gaza constitute an international scandal. Furthermore, she asserts that all Israeli citizens—hawks and doves alike—are being asked to accept a 'forever war' as a mark of patriotic loyalty, perpetuating an eternal state of bloodshed.
Complexities and Criticisms
Mosely's point is perfectly admissible, though complicated by the fact that Israel indeed has neighbors that deny its right to exist, presenting fundamental, existential statehood enmities not faced by figures like Putin, Xi, or Trump, with whom Netanyahu is often bracketed. Later in the film, Mosely damages her own argument, in my view, with a glib and naive statement that all this 'fuels antisemitism'—an equation that comes close to inviting Jews worldwide to blame themselves for anti-Jewish bigotry. (Somehow, it is not permissible in the same way to shrug and say that Hamas 'fuels Islamophobia' or that Xi 'fuels anti-Chinese racism.') However, as before, Mosely offers relevant insights into a horrendous situation that Netanyahu's ban on foreign journalists in Gaza is designed to mask.
Release Information
Planet Israel is in UK and Irish cinemas from 5 June.
