1
00:00:01,650 --> 00:00:06,810
You OK? Welcome, everybody. Good afternoon. Speakers today,

2
00:00:06,810 --> 00:00:11,640
the authors of the book Hollywood and Israeli History Tony Show and Hear a Goldberg

3
00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:16,380
Tony Show is professor of contemporary history at the University of Hertfordshire,

4
00:00:16,380 --> 00:00:24,090
and Guiora is also a historian, and he chairs the Department of Multidisciplinary Studies at the King Eric Kinneret Collegiate College.

5
00:00:24,090 --> 00:00:28,620
I'm sorry on the Sea of Galilee.

6
00:00:28,620 --> 00:00:34,690
I won't go into the details of their CVS just in order for them to allow them to jump straight into this presentation.

7
00:00:34,690 --> 00:00:38,190
Thank you so much for coming in to present your work.

8
00:00:38,190 --> 00:00:43,620
We will have a presentation followed by questions and answers, so I'm looking forward to this discussion.

9
00:00:43,620 --> 00:00:48,550
Thank you. I think you're now going to act as a sort of wrestling tag team today.

10
00:00:48,550 --> 00:00:55,380
I'm going to say a little bit first and then I'll speak for perhaps 15 20 minutes and then I will come in in.

11
00:00:55,380 --> 00:00:59,910
In the second half of that, we expect to speak for 45 minutes.

12
00:00:59,910 --> 00:01:04,510
No, no more than that. You'll have lots of images to look at.

13
00:01:04,510 --> 00:01:11,220
And given that this is about image than you need films like Yaakov Bastos, have you got films to show today?

14
00:01:11,220 --> 00:01:16,290
And we we thought about whether we should, but we thought we didn't really have the time to apologies.

15
00:01:16,290 --> 00:01:20,490
There would be any film clips today, but there will be images to make up for it.

16
00:01:20,490 --> 00:01:33,030
So this is a book about what we see as the special relationship that has developed over many decades between Hollywood and the State of Israel.

17
00:01:33,030 --> 00:01:40,140
The book on our talk today will look at the long history of that relationship.

18
00:01:40,140 --> 00:01:51,120
We'll go back to the pre-state days, but by and large focus on the period from 1948 to the present day where historians.

19
00:01:51,120 --> 00:02:01,320
We've done a ton of work in various archives in Hollywood and the United States to try and get this story from both sides.

20
00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:07,350
We've also had some European and Arab based sources as well.

21
00:02:07,350 --> 00:02:13,920
We're looking at the relationship between Hollywood and Israel onscreen,

22
00:02:13,920 --> 00:02:19,740
which is what you might expect, i.e., what films is Hollywood made about Israel?

23
00:02:19,740 --> 00:02:26,580
Why is it made those films? Why is it not made other films and TV shows, but predominantly films,

24
00:02:26,580 --> 00:02:33,570
but as interested in what the relationship between Hollywood Israel is off screen?

25
00:02:33,570 --> 00:02:45,120
This is where hopefully our archival digging bears fruit, so we're interested in why have certain filmmakers, certain film stars supported Israel?

26
00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:52,210
How have they supported Israel? Have they just funded helped raise funds for Israel?

27
00:02:52,210 --> 00:02:57,730
No, it's a lot more interesting about how they lobbied. Have they been political activists for Israel?

28
00:02:57,730 --> 00:03:02,980
So we start, for instance, with this image here of Frank Sinatra.

29
00:03:02,980 --> 00:03:11,440
This is an image of him visiting Israel and opening a youth centre in his name in Nazareth in 1962.

30
00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:17,860
Why would Frank Sinatra not a Jew? Why would he be interested in doing that?

31
00:03:17,860 --> 00:03:23,770
And we're going to explore that a little bit today. Why do we see this as important?

32
00:03:23,770 --> 00:03:26,320
It's obviously interesting.

33
00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:34,570
You might arguably be entertaining because it's about Hollywood, but we see this as important because we're trying to look at,

34
00:03:34,570 --> 00:03:41,290
should we say, the cultural side of the relationship between the United States and Israel.

35
00:03:41,290 --> 00:03:47,810
We're looking at the soft side of that alliance that is developed over decades.

36
00:03:47,810 --> 00:03:55,540
And so that's where I think our contribution is and we're essentially going to be arguing that we see Hollywood as a

37
00:03:55,540 --> 00:04:05,470
really important gluing agent in that relationship between the United States and Israel over the past 60 70 years.

38
00:04:05,470 --> 00:04:09,640
So the structure of the talk? Oh, now stop talking handover to Europe.

39
00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:19,060
We're going to take you by and large through a chronological narrative of the relationship between Hollywood and Israel and trying to, I don't know.

40
00:04:19,060 --> 00:04:26,200
Perhaps a number of you will be as interested in what the relationship is today and compared with,

41
00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:30,610
let's say, what it was in the 1960s, so we can come through to the present day glory.

42
00:04:30,610 --> 00:04:37,690
Well, by and large, take the the first number of decades and I'll finish off with the the latter.

43
00:04:37,690 --> 00:04:43,960
All right. OK, thanks, Tony. So good afternoon, everybody, and thanks for coming.

44
00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:53,110
A book takes a chronological approach, but also a thematic one because themes develop over time trends in Hollywood or subjects

45
00:04:53,110 --> 00:05:00,670
which in which the Zionist movement first and then Israel is involved are involved with.

46
00:05:00,670 --> 00:05:08,950
So our story begins in the 1970s and it begins in the 1970s.

47
00:05:08,950 --> 00:05:15,010
And this is in the book too, because we look at this period as the height of the relationship.

48
00:05:15,010 --> 00:05:27,220
And in that at that time in the 1970s, you had Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin coming over to Hollywood.

49
00:05:27,220 --> 00:05:33,040
In 1976, he was not the first Israeli prime minister who came to Hollywood.

50
00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:40,600
In fact, all had and since did bar one. And there's a very big party there for him.

51
00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:48,510
I would say 90 percent of the. World Entertainment Capital Industry is there to greet him.

52
00:05:48,510 --> 00:05:56,820
Studio heads, stars, we see in this particular picture that they're all singing reach and reach out and touch with them.

53
00:05:56,820 --> 00:06:03,450
A big, big party for visiting prime minister is not something that usually happens in Hollywood.

54
00:06:03,450 --> 00:06:12,270
Two years later, in 1978, it's Israel's 30th birthday and there's again a big celebration in Hollywood,

55
00:06:12,270 --> 00:06:16,620
which is not just in the Hollywood hall and reported in the press.

56
00:06:16,620 --> 00:06:25,620
It's actually broadcast live on US national network television to an audience numbering tens of millions, and they're here again.

57
00:06:25,620 --> 00:06:34,590
All the top stars and producers will, of course, for the audience, the wider audience, it's the stars Kirk Douglas, Paul Newman.

58
00:06:34,590 --> 00:06:39,300
I won't. We won't even bother with a whole list because it's everybody who counts at the

59
00:06:39,300 --> 00:06:45,840
time all there to congratulate Israel and say Happy birthday to the state.

60
00:06:45,840 --> 00:06:50,520
Barbra Streisand is the keynote of this of this event.

61
00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:55,020
She closes it with an interview, a live interview today.

62
00:06:55,020 --> 00:06:57,420
Of course, every kid can do it on WhatsApp.

63
00:06:57,420 --> 00:07:07,680
But in 1978, it was a big thing with a retired Israeli prime minister, Golda Meir and Golda Meir, who was just a little later.

64
00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:14,670
She came to she was an immigrant from the Zionist immigrant from the United States.

65
00:07:14,670 --> 00:07:26,460
Golda Meir was the subject of one Hollywood film with Ingrid Bergman in the 1980s and currently another Hollywood film and perhaps a Hollywood series.

66
00:07:26,460 --> 00:07:33,540
There's talk also about a Hollywood series. What is this fascination and interest in Golda Meir in this case?

67
00:07:33,540 --> 00:07:35,130
But in Israel as a whole?

68
00:07:35,130 --> 00:07:44,790
So Barbra Streisand is interviewing her live and then then finishes the whole event with the singing the Israeli national anthem Hatikva,

69
00:07:44,790 --> 00:07:51,720
and all this again on American television. The 1970s is the height of the relationship.

70
00:07:51,720 --> 00:08:05,220
We're going to reach 50 years, half a century earlier and then conclude half a century later, around the time that we are now 20 20.

71
00:08:05,220 --> 00:08:15,120
If we go back to pre-state the pre-state period, which is the subject of the chapter in our book,

72
00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:20,010
I would say there are three things that the can be and should be emphasised.

73
00:08:20,010 --> 00:08:23,910
First of all, there is a story, a well known story,

74
00:08:23,910 --> 00:08:30,510
the most well-known book Neal Gobblers from something like 30 years ago about Hollywood's Hollywood's

75
00:08:30,510 --> 00:08:36,030
relationship with American Jewish community and the importance of the Jews in creating Hollywood.

76
00:08:36,030 --> 00:08:47,670
But the idea there is that in order for the Jews to succeed as big producers in Hollywood, nothing of their Jewish identity was or could be on film.

77
00:08:47,670 --> 00:08:54,630
So somebody who becomes a very big supporter of Israel, Daniel Kaminsky, arrives in Hollywood.

78
00:08:54,630 --> 00:09:00,120
He has to change his name to Danny. Kaye has to die there. He didn't agree to a nose job.

79
00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:11,160
And this idea that Hollywood or the bosses of Hollywood stay away from Jewish identity is something that we slightly challenge in that chapter.

80
00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:19,860
Because what one can see is that while the films there's nothing about Jewish identity and certainly nothing about Zionism,

81
00:09:19,860 --> 00:09:30,720
philanthropy is a different thing. And from the 1920s already, those studio heads, which supposedly are not interested in their Jewish identity,

82
00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:35,400
are all involved with the United Jewish appeal and with Palestine appeal.

83
00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:45,000
But it's not out of a Zionist motivation, as they see what called in the language of of the Zionist movement non-scientists not anti, but non.

84
00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:56,370
These are people who support Jews immigrating to Palestine, especially long suffering Jews in Eastern Europe now that can't come to the United States,

85
00:09:56,370 --> 00:10:02,880
but they don't think that they should themselves end up in Palestine or the successful American Jewish community.

86
00:10:02,880 --> 00:10:08,550
And this is this is one point the importance of philanthropy that begins and very early.

87
00:10:08,550 --> 00:10:16,290
And we will see continuing into the years of Israeli statehood, and Tony will be talking about it later in Israeli context.

88
00:10:16,290 --> 00:10:24,060
The second thing, of course, is the importance of the Holocaust and the place of Hollywood within American Jewish community,

89
00:10:24,060 --> 00:10:32,130
which didn't or showed some interest in the Zionist solution, but which waned.

90
00:10:32,130 --> 00:10:35,310
And then it grew up again in the 1930s.

91
00:10:35,310 --> 00:10:46,590
But certainly, the Holocaust is a turning point, an important turning point in drawing support for Zionism in the American Jewish community.

92
00:10:46,590 --> 00:10:51,690
And one can see that in Hollywood, too, with adverts such as it.

93
00:10:51,690 --> 00:10:56,040
Keep at it, Mr. President. American Arts Committee for Palestine.

94
00:10:56,040 --> 00:11:01,470
When you have a long, long list of Hollywood stars, not all Jewish.

95
00:11:01,470 --> 00:11:04,680
Many progressives who all supported Zionism at the time,

96
00:11:04,680 --> 00:11:13,120
but a fair majority of them Jewish or all supporting free to allow free emigration of Jews to Palestine.

97
00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:21,960
This was the big goal of the Zionist movement since then, from 1939 to 48, when immigration was restricted.

98
00:11:21,960 --> 00:11:30,620
The third point to make is the interests of the particular interests of Hollywood in the right wing.

99
00:11:30,620 --> 00:11:38,270
Revisionist right wing of the Zionist movement, the interest of the most important figure,

100
00:11:38,270 --> 00:11:42,380
well known and quite a bit has been written about the man on the right.

101
00:11:42,380 --> 00:11:48,680
Ben had one of the most successful screenwriters in the first half of the 20th century,

102
00:11:48,680 --> 00:11:59,240
whose open support in the late 1940s to the gun, in particular in philanthropy, but also in public statements.

103
00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:05,570
It's hard to believe that any American newspaper would print an ad today,

104
00:12:05,570 --> 00:12:14,330
which says a letter to the terrorists of Palestine and American Jews heart rise in happiness every time that you blow up a bomb.

105
00:12:14,330 --> 00:12:17,300
This is the rhetoric of the late 1940s,

106
00:12:17,300 --> 00:12:24,620
and this is a full page ad in the New York Herald Tribune and quite a few other newspapers across the states and in Variety.

107
00:12:24,620 --> 00:12:29,630
So you've got support for the gun in Hollywood.

108
00:12:29,630 --> 00:12:35,390
But then you've got big opponents also. And an interesting thing here is already pre-state.

109
00:12:35,390 --> 00:12:41,690
There is a campaign between the labour movement which more or less controls the Jewish

110
00:12:41,690 --> 00:12:48,740
establishment in Palestine and its right wing opponents over the heart and soul of American Jewry.

111
00:12:48,740 --> 00:13:01,130
But specifically Hollywood. In the early 1950s, after Israel is established, something old late 40s and early 50s, something new is added to that.

112
00:13:01,130 --> 00:13:13,910
And that is the first films which are to do with the Zionist endeavour or campaign against the British and early and Israel in its early years.

113
00:13:13,910 --> 00:13:20,810
The two themes here on the two important themes which will carry through in films in decades to come.

114
00:13:20,810 --> 00:13:31,820
Jewish Regeneration in Palestine campaign against the British forces and the British Administration of Palestine.

115
00:13:31,820 --> 00:13:39,500
And the idea of Israel when established in Palestine before that as a haven and the place where

116
00:13:39,500 --> 00:13:47,900
Jews escaping the Holocaust can find redemption and also recovery the psychological recovery.

117
00:13:47,900 --> 00:13:54,590
The film on the Left is the first Hollywood film made about about Zionism in a big way,

118
00:13:54,590 --> 00:13:58,850
and this is the Zionist campaign or the Injune campaign against the British.

119
00:13:58,850 --> 00:14:05,270
It was produced by Universal Studios because the wife of one of the owners of the studio,

120
00:14:05,270 --> 00:14:10,790
Frank Spitz, was a big, big, big supporter of the gun in Hollywood.

121
00:14:10,790 --> 00:14:20,720
And when this film was made just after Israel was established, the one concern of the Israeli government's consulate just established in Los Angeles,

122
00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:26,840
was to make sure that the gun doesn't mention get mentioned too much as part of political campaigning in Israel.

123
00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:35,180
In fact, Menachem Begin as a character was supposed to be in that film, and in our research we found that he was left out as one of these.

124
00:14:35,180 --> 00:14:44,510
This is now campaigning about who did more to allow Israel to be established and will continue in further films.

125
00:14:44,510 --> 00:14:49,970
The first film film about modern Israel, Kirk Douglas stars in the jugular,

126
00:14:49,970 --> 00:14:57,890
and the interesting thing about this film is that it shows the the progressive attachment and involvement with Israel at the time.

127
00:14:57,890 --> 00:15:05,300
These are not just Jews, but these are progressive Jews, and they are in love with the idea of the is the drug trade union.

128
00:15:05,300 --> 00:15:08,510
Frank Sinatra is one of them a big campaigner for these. The.

129
00:15:08,510 --> 00:15:17,300
That's why the donation is for essentially Nazareth with a Jewish Arab one and and the kibbutz movement.

130
00:15:17,300 --> 00:15:24,200
Fred Sinnerman came to Israel already in late in late 1948.

131
00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:35,450
The war wasn't over, yet tried to make a film about a kibbutz fighting and withstanding an Arab attack in 48 with Carl Forman didn't succeed.

132
00:15:35,450 --> 00:15:44,540
Both became Big Israel supporters, but they went on to make High Noon and to make glory for both themselves as part of Hollywood history.

133
00:15:44,540 --> 00:15:47,840
But the idea was a film about Palestine.

134
00:15:47,840 --> 00:16:00,080
Then this film, The Juggler, is the creation of Michael Blanford, who was had to testify before the House of un-American Activities.

135
00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:06,410
Stanley Kramer is the producer and kid Douglas. These are all Hollywood liberals Jewish too.

136
00:16:06,410 --> 00:16:13,460
Not all Jewish, majority Jewish, but who support Israel, not just as a place where Jews come to,

137
00:16:13,460 --> 00:16:23,090
but which offers kind of a new hope for the world of social arrangements and highlighting the kibbutz, which is central in the juggler.

138
00:16:23,090 --> 00:16:27,740
And we can talk about it perhaps a little later so we don't run out of time.

139
00:16:27,740 --> 00:16:30,090
Nevertheless, Hollywood and it's important.

140
00:16:30,090 --> 00:16:42,480
Remember that both if you have a ethnic identity and a nationalist ideology, which makes you want to make films such as Little States and Universal,

141
00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:49,560
or if you are interested in making films about an Israeli kibbutz or the Israeli or the lagoon,

142
00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:54,570
ideological considerations commercial considerations are the most important.

143
00:16:54,570 --> 00:17:00,210
And both these films that we saw earlier didn't make money. And for Hollywood, that's the bottom line.

144
00:17:00,210 --> 00:17:04,560
There have been many, many projects. We discussed some of them in our book.

145
00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:10,290
There was a lot of enthusiasm in making films about Israel, but they just didn't materialise.

146
00:17:10,290 --> 00:17:14,560
And the answer is always with a commercial bottom line.

147
00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:19,800
This is a high risk industry. If you build a building for 15 million,

148
00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:27,390
50 million pounds and you want it to be a top class hotel and this covered for two years, you might lose money.

149
00:17:27,390 --> 00:17:33,330
But you've still got a building worth a lot of money. So you might lose a few millions, but not everything.

150
00:17:33,330 --> 00:17:36,990
A film if you invest 50 millions in a film and nobody wants to see it,

151
00:17:36,990 --> 00:17:41,160
you've got something to show your grandchildren more or less than to keep on the shelf.

152
00:17:41,160 --> 00:17:45,780
And that's why it's a high risk industry where you can make a lot of money and lose a lot.

153
00:17:45,780 --> 00:17:56,220
And as one pro Israeli Hollywood producer told the Israeli consul in the 1950s, Ahmadu on Saturday go to synagogue.

154
00:17:56,220 --> 00:18:04,770
I give to Israel in terms of philanthropy by bombs, but I'm not going to risk my job with the shareholders on making a film about Israel.

155
00:18:04,770 --> 00:18:14,190
We won't work. And the most successful trend in the 1950s for Israel was the biblical trend, which was at its peak in Hollywood in the 1950s.

156
00:18:14,190 --> 00:18:19,500
And there was something for Israel to there, both in terms of the Bible and it being the Holy Land.

157
00:18:19,500 --> 00:18:23,790
There was an attempt to bring over big Hollywood productions to Israel.

158
00:18:23,790 --> 00:18:31,110
It didn't succeed that much because again, they want to film in the Holy Land, but Spain looks nearly the same.

159
00:18:31,110 --> 00:18:38,570
It's the Mediterranean. And if the Spanish government will give 2000 soldiers for free while the IDF doesn't have the money to do that,

160
00:18:38,570 --> 00:18:45,330
the Israeli army, then of course, in the end, the filming will be in Spain with all the best intentions.

161
00:18:45,330 --> 00:18:48,240
However, this man on the left, Moshe Perlman,

162
00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:57,300
who was Israel's probably most important propagandist or hasbara person in the Israeli, called the polite term.

163
00:18:57,300 --> 00:19:08,250
From 1948 to the 6th to the early 60s and very famous for his interest in Hollywood, he was rumoured to be wanted to be a screenwriter.

164
00:19:08,250 --> 00:19:11,670
A lot of people claimed that he styles himself from Groucho Marx.

165
00:19:11,670 --> 00:19:14,280
He's actually from the East End of London.

166
00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:21,630
So Perlman managed to get quite a few projects to be interested in Israel, or at least to show the Israel story.

167
00:19:21,630 --> 00:19:28,230
For example, Solomon in Sheba, where we have here Yul Brynner as King Solomon defeating Egypt.

168
00:19:28,230 --> 00:19:38,670
This is made just after the Suez War and basically the the Hollywood narrates the story as if it's Suez happening in biblical times.

169
00:19:38,670 --> 00:19:46,410
And of course, the Egyptians lose, which is a bit different to the real story where Britain was on the receiving end.

170
00:19:46,410 --> 00:19:56,340
OK. Exodus is the most famous, most important, probably most successful product of Israeli propaganda.

171
00:19:56,340 --> 00:20:02,010
Still, since the seat states exist has been established to this very day,

172
00:20:02,010 --> 00:20:10,360
it is a film again that has the theme of Zionist endeavours before Israel's establishment.

173
00:20:10,360 --> 00:20:15,510
It focuses on that Israeli government hoped it would say more than that.

174
00:20:15,510 --> 00:20:23,130
But then it's such a long book. Leon Morris's book, which was also written with the help of the Israeli government.

175
00:20:23,130 --> 00:20:29,940
That's even to make it into three hour film and a very talkative film, and people are coming in and going out of doors.

176
00:20:29,940 --> 00:20:35,110
Or, as a New Yorker reviewer wrote, there's more in this film and the world of the story.

177
00:20:35,110 --> 00:20:39,750
But, but but but in this film, Exodus is a very first of all.

178
00:20:39,750 --> 00:20:46,260
It's one of Hollywood's most important screenwriter, Dalton Trumbo, and the subject of the film himself.

179
00:20:46,260 --> 00:20:55,680
And there's a lot of very interesting discussion in this film on terrorism, the nature of forces, a liberating agent.

180
00:20:55,680 --> 00:21:05,910
And again, these ongoing arguments are liberating of nations this ongoing argument between the goon and the Haganah,

181
00:21:05,910 --> 00:21:14,760
the unofficial army or paramilitary organisation of the of the Zionist leadership.

182
00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:20,970
But the most important thing about Exodus the success is we can see it in the picture here,

183
00:21:20,970 --> 00:21:30,220
and this is from the moment that one of Israel's top Foreign Office officials read in in.

184
00:21:30,220 --> 00:21:35,170
Los Angeles let on let him read the book, which was supposed to be a script.

185
00:21:35,170 --> 00:21:38,330
He understood the important thing about what this book will mean.

186
00:21:38,330 --> 00:21:48,520
There's a young, heroic soon to become Israeli, but a young non-Jewish American falls in love with him,

187
00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:55,570
and she represented the non-Jewish American public audience.

188
00:21:55,570 --> 00:22:04,990
And at the beginning, she's not anti-Semitic, but she feels uneasy about Jews of the end of the book in the film, especially the book.

189
00:22:04,990 --> 00:22:11,270
She's wearing a cover to build the Temple Hats, which is the the symbol of the kibbutz movement,

190
00:22:11,270 --> 00:22:18,070
all of the Zionist endeavour and her key and ready to go over to go on and fight for Israel.

191
00:22:18,070 --> 00:22:25,930
And it's her growing attachment part in the film to Paul Newman of East St. Mary to Paul Newman.

192
00:22:25,930 --> 00:22:30,040
And on the top of this. It's supposed to be mountable.

193
00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:34,210
It's actually a little hill by the Arab village of Mushait, not far from there,

194
00:22:34,210 --> 00:22:39,880
but that was where it was convenient to shot the scene to shoot the scene.

195
00:22:39,880 --> 00:22:44,500
And and he says that I'm a Jew. This is my country.

196
00:22:44,500 --> 00:22:46,840
And then she falls all over him.

197
00:22:46,840 --> 00:22:59,860
Now the important thing here is that one thing all those who are trailers of Israeli propaganda were worried about in the late forties.

198
00:22:59,860 --> 00:23:06,640
Already, that support for Israel comes through and because of Jewish suffering and especially the Holocaust.

199
00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:11,320
That was the big galvanising of the Jewish and especially non-Jewish support.

200
00:23:11,320 --> 00:23:17,560
But those are the men who probably established with the Israeli Foreign Service rights in 1948.

201
00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:22,600
In time, there will be other people who are suffering and perhaps will be suffering more.

202
00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:34,150
The fact that we have support because we're suffering, that's not enough and we haven't managed, he says, to convince the world that this is the case.

203
00:23:34,150 --> 00:23:41,890
The land that we have a particular claim for the land and of course, exodus does that in a big way, in a very big way.

204
00:23:41,890 --> 00:23:50,380
Beyond all the other justifications, in fact, Dalton Trumbo there says that you know that both Jews and Arabs have a claim to this land.

205
00:23:50,380 --> 00:23:58,930
There is a line there, but the whole film three hours tells something which is, of course, very different.

206
00:23:58,930 --> 00:24:05,680
I'll conclude here and just say that the era of heroism continued in the 1960s

207
00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:10,960
with a few films which followed Exodus because of the success of Exodus.

208
00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:14,800
The moment the film is successful, others will be made.

209
00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:22,090
But because these weren't such successful films, both Judith again in a kibbutz in Galilee,

210
00:24:22,090 --> 00:24:26,530
like three other films, The Importance of Kibbutz Not Just Israel,

211
00:24:26,530 --> 00:24:38,050
and cast a giant shadow with a whole load of Hollywood stars Kirk Douglas again, Frank Sinatra, Yul Brynner and and others.

212
00:24:38,050 --> 00:24:41,170
So. And John Wayne, of course,

213
00:24:41,170 --> 00:24:52,390
we even supported the production and and this is the height of Hollywood filmmaking in the first era about Israel, the era of heroism.

214
00:24:52,390 --> 00:24:57,880
Tony, thank you. So going to switch focus now we're going to continue on our narrative.

215
00:24:57,880 --> 00:25:05,470
We're still in the 1960s, but I want to switch focus away from the movies themselves to what's happening behind the movies.

216
00:25:05,470 --> 00:25:10,600
As I said on the outside outset, whereas interested in what's going on off screen as on it.

217
00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:14,680
So I'm going to talk for a few minutes about some very interesting people you may not have heard of,

218
00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:19,630
but were really important players in the relationship in holding Israel.

219
00:25:19,630 --> 00:25:29,140
Door sharing is the guy on the left sitting in between the two actors door, Sherry was head of MGM.

220
00:25:29,140 --> 00:25:35,500
Joel Sherry turned out to be very important bridge between Los Angeles and New York.

221
00:25:35,500 --> 00:25:41,740
A character who, when Ben-Gurion made his first visit to the United States in 1951,

222
00:25:41,740 --> 00:25:49,090
it was this head of MGM who arranged a party for Ben-Gurion and helped launch the Israeli bombs.

223
00:25:49,090 --> 00:25:55,210
Door sharing also was sort of the architect of what was called the Motion Picture Project,

224
00:25:55,210 --> 00:26:01,360
which was an organisation set up within Hollywood to try and engender greater interest in Israel,

225
00:26:01,360 --> 00:26:08,620
training gender, greater interest in the depiction of Jews on screen in the right way.

226
00:26:08,620 --> 00:26:14,800
So quite an influential character. He goes on to be head of the Anti-Defamation League in the 1960s as well.

227
00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:17,560
So a man who's bridging Hollywood in New York,

228
00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:30,050
the guy on the right whose face you can see is the cream of the Cream again, was a New York based studio lawyer who ran.

229
00:26:30,050 --> 00:26:38,420
One of the big film studios are corporations, united artists in the 50s and 60s,

230
00:26:38,420 --> 00:26:48,320
and it was the United artists who by and large made a number of movies which Gore has been talking about the pro-Israeli company within Hollywood.

231
00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:51,800
But what's interesting about Krim for you can perhaps recognise you.

232
00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:59,780
Crim is talking to that. He's about to introduce the actress Shirley MacLaine to President Kennedy,

233
00:26:59,780 --> 00:27:08,930
and Kareem was a really important mover and shaker in the relationship between Washington and Hollywood in the 1960s.

234
00:27:08,930 --> 00:27:12,860
Krim was very close to Kennedy's successor.

235
00:27:12,860 --> 00:27:22,250
Johnson was very influential in helping Johnson to become very pro-Israeli, so he will be aware that it's in the 1960s,

236
00:27:22,250 --> 00:27:34,490
around the 67 war that the United States tends to really step in and be pro-Israeli in terms of military support, a very strong relationship with LBJ.

237
00:27:34,490 --> 00:27:43,310
The rumours not to spread them here, but we interesting view that that Kreme's wife was very close indeed to Johnson.

238
00:27:43,310 --> 00:27:52,430
She became one of the first people to know the 1967 war had started one in Johnson's ranch.

239
00:27:52,430 --> 00:27:59,420
He went, he knocked on her door, she was in a negligee and he wanted her to know that the war had started.

240
00:27:59,420 --> 00:28:02,030
We can leave out the questions.

241
00:28:02,030 --> 00:28:14,630
This guy, this guy who's standing up by the side of the camera that he is person, a person who none of you I imagine will have heard of.

242
00:28:14,630 --> 00:28:29,960
This is Rabbi Max Nussbaum, who was a sort of encourager and co-ordinator of Hollywood support for Israel from the 40s through to the 70s.

243
00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:36,440
Nussbaum ran one of the most prestigious synagogues in Hollywood Temple Israel of Hollywood.

244
00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:44,960
Here he is with Cecil B. DeMille, who's sitting in front of him on the set of the Ten Commandments and other biblical movies of the 1950s.

245
00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:55,790
But Max Nussbaum, as a rabbi, was supreme in converting gentiles to become supporters of Israel.

246
00:28:55,790 --> 00:29:04,100
His two great successes in that respect were Liz Taylor, who you can see there on a visit to Jerusalem.

247
00:29:04,100 --> 00:29:14,990
Liz Taylor was converted roundabout in 1960 to Judaism and became a really long standing supporter of Israel through until her death in 2011,

248
00:29:14,990 --> 00:29:21,260
always visiting Israel during and after war times in Lebanon War of 1982.

249
00:29:21,260 --> 00:29:25,620
She goes for so-called peace mission. I'm Liz Taylor.

250
00:29:25,620 --> 00:29:28,340
Some of you are too young to know who Liz Taylor was, but believe me,

251
00:29:28,340 --> 00:29:35,690
you can't get a bigger movie star than Liz Taylor and have someone as famous as that supporting Israel.

252
00:29:35,690 --> 00:29:46,270
It's got to count for something. Sammy Davis Jr., on the other hand, less famous than Liz Taylor, but really important.

253
00:29:46,270 --> 00:29:57,390
What a period. Who was also converted to Judaism and converted to be a supporter of Israel by our friend Max Nussbaum again in 1960,

254
00:29:57,390 --> 00:30:05,520
having a Black Americans support Israel, particularly after the 1967 war,

255
00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:09,510
when the question of the occupied territories comes up when a number of African-Americans

256
00:30:09,510 --> 00:30:16,110
are turning against Israel because they see it as part of this white colonisation.

257
00:30:16,110 --> 00:30:26,480
Having Sammy Davis Jr. support Israel through again through until his death in 1990 was politically very important.

258
00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:32,630
We throw into the mid seventies now, and you're started off by talking about this period,

259
00:30:32,630 --> 00:30:38,430
the mid to late 1970s as being the high point of the relationship between Hollywood and Israel.

260
00:30:38,430 --> 00:30:43,890
And the interest that Hollywood took in the Entebbe raid of 1976,

261
00:30:43,890 --> 00:30:55,500
this daring Israeli mission to rescue a predominantly Israeli passengers held captive in Africa in 1976,

262
00:30:55,500 --> 00:30:59,400
Hollywood such an interest in this story and that makes perfect sense.

263
00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:05,370
It was a great story. I mean, you couldn't make up a better story for Hollywood in this respect.

264
00:31:05,370 --> 00:31:10,890
A daring mission involving a military mission that pays off in large respects.

265
00:31:10,890 --> 00:31:17,410
The saving of vast majority of the hostages. Little unknown information one.

266
00:31:17,410 --> 00:31:24,690
One filmmaker who wanted to make a film about Entebbe had himself been one of the hostages.

267
00:31:24,690 --> 00:31:30,210
You couldn't make it up. Seventeen Studio is getting involved in wanting to make a movie about Entebbe.

268
00:31:30,210 --> 00:31:37,950
17 to tally movies are quickly made and you see these telling movies here and there you have again,

269
00:31:37,950 --> 00:31:42,160
you have the major stars of the period all wanting to start.

270
00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:47,350
Not necessarily because they're pro-Israeli. A number of them Richard Dreyfuss, Dodd, for instance.

271
00:31:47,350 --> 00:31:51,600
And he admitted, I just did it for, you know, half a million quit sort of half million dollars.

272
00:31:51,600 --> 00:32:02,530
I didn't do it for pro-Zionist, et cetera. Israel wanted to make a help Hollywood to make a big blockbuster on Entebbe, and it failed.

273
00:32:02,530 --> 00:32:10,930
Hollywood wasn't up for it because the big Hollywood studio who wanted to make that was trumped by these quickly made telly movies.

274
00:32:10,930 --> 00:32:21,040
So again, going back to our point four, you're always making commerce always comes first rather than ideology.

275
00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:25,800
We biologically talking so far about the supporters of Israel.

276
00:32:25,800 --> 00:32:34,250
In Hollywood. Though, weren't in this period that be talking about now many supporters of the Palestinians,

277
00:32:34,250 --> 00:32:39,440
but one person who stands out is Vanessa Redgrave, who's there on the left.

278
00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:48,710
This is Vanessa Redgrave on location in southern Lebanon and the making of a film called The Palestinian, which came out in 1977.

279
00:32:48,710 --> 00:32:57,200
She stars in it, I think. And the film sort of film's most infamous moment is when she's dancing and has a Kalashnikov above her head.

280
00:32:57,200 --> 00:33:02,990
This is active support for what many saw as Palestinian terrorism.

281
00:33:02,990 --> 00:33:11,720
A year after, because she's made that movie, she becomes a hate figure amongst the Jewish right in the United States.

282
00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:16,610
And lo and behold, she wins an Oscar in 1978.

283
00:33:16,610 --> 00:33:27,620
She wins an Oscar for starring in a Holocaust movie. So the Jewish American rights, the Jewish Defence League, are out to campaign against her.

284
00:33:27,620 --> 00:33:31,580
She attends the Oscars, the 50th birthday of the Oscars.

285
00:33:31,580 --> 00:33:39,380
Millions are watching on TV Big Night. And what does she do when she's given the Oscar for Supporting Actress?

286
00:33:39,380 --> 00:33:44,840
She accuses those outside of being Zionist hoodlums.

287
00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:53,340
And there's a gasp in the auditorium, muttering a quiet silence descends.

288
00:33:53,340 --> 00:34:01,830
And this is the first time that anyone I've said anything like this about Israel on a major screen life.

289
00:34:01,830 --> 00:34:05,730
This was quite a moment for Hollywood's relationship with Israel.

290
00:34:05,730 --> 00:34:10,470
She carries on to be a helper. Can you see that boy in the photograph on the right,

291
00:34:10,470 --> 00:34:19,750
how she's being compared with Yasser Arafat and Adolf Hitler again, amongst many on the political right?

292
00:34:19,750 --> 00:34:24,930
A Jewish political writer in the United States? Was her career affected by that?

293
00:34:24,930 --> 00:34:30,570
Some people argued afterwards that she was grey listed, not black, Mr. Grey listed.

294
00:34:30,570 --> 00:34:42,050
We didn't find much evidence of that. We didn't find much evidence of her having her career ruined in any way.

295
00:34:42,050 --> 00:34:51,320
70S and 80s are the beginning of the great terrorism phase for Hollywood in the 70s and 80s and 90s,

296
00:34:51,320 --> 00:35:00,380
Hollywood makes more movies about Israel, which are about terrorism than anything else.

297
00:35:00,380 --> 00:35:08,360
Terrorism is extraordinarily popular on the small, large screen as entertainment Hollywood feeds that.

298
00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:16,700
And here are a couple of movies. One is Black Sunday is important because it comes out in 1976, same year the Entebbe crisis.

299
00:35:16,700 --> 00:35:22,910
And it's the first American movie which actually depicts Palestinians on American soil.

300
00:35:22,910 --> 00:35:32,930
And it stars Robert Shaw as the Israeli secret agent who stops this Palestinian massacre of a Super Bowl crowd.

301
00:35:32,930 --> 00:35:37,640
Ten years later, we have movies like Delta Force.

302
00:35:37,640 --> 00:35:49,580
Delta Force is that schlocky, crappy, badly made movie which was really popular, especially amongst teenagers and those in their 20s.

303
00:35:49,580 --> 00:35:53,570
The Delta Force, importantly, is made by Menahem Golan,

304
00:35:53,570 --> 00:36:01,410
Menahem Golan is an instance of an Israeli filmmaker coming from Israel, making it big in Hollywood.

305
00:36:01,410 --> 00:36:07,880
Menachem Golan is the king of the terrorism movies in the 80s and 90s,

306
00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:13,340
and one can imagine what these terrorism movies depict and this Delta Force depicts.

307
00:36:13,340 --> 00:36:24,160
It's almost like an Entebbe crisis 10 years on with the Americans Israeli military coming together to save some hijacked passengers.

308
00:36:24,160 --> 00:36:28,760
You know, you've been Toby worked, Toby will continue to work as entertainment.

309
00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:36,960
Yeah, moneymaking. We're moving through to the last couple of decades now, and I'm going to just how much time do we have?

310
00:36:36,960 --> 00:36:44,250
We're speaking with Steven Spielberg.

311
00:36:44,250 --> 00:36:52,480
The most powerful film maker. For the past 30 years, surely.

312
00:36:52,480 --> 00:37:01,730
Schindler's List. The filmic document of the Holocaust for most people.

313
00:37:01,730 --> 00:37:06,530
President Clinton encouraged all schoolchildren to watch Schindler's List.

314
00:37:06,530 --> 00:37:16,200
It's the document, it's a historical document for many people. Around that time, Spielberg rediscovers his Jewish roots.

315
00:37:16,200 --> 00:37:24,360
And through that, he becomes an active supporter of Israel and is most and has been amongst the most powerful supporters of Israel.

316
00:37:24,360 --> 00:37:33,160
Off screen. Many of you won't be aware of the activities that Spielberg has been involved in for the

317
00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:41,040
past 30 years in trying to bring bring reconciliation between Israel and Palestinians.

318
00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:48,660
Now onscreen, he does this courtesy of his film Munich, which comes out in 2005.

319
00:37:48,660 --> 00:37:58,980
Europe talked about Exodus, this film that came out in 1960. I think Munich is after Exodus, the most important Hollywood picture about Israel,

320
00:37:58,980 --> 00:38:10,260
because it tells us about this shift that's taking place within Hollywood, where liberal directors like Spielberg are.

321
00:38:10,260 --> 00:38:11,970
For those of you who haven't seen Munich,

322
00:38:11,970 --> 00:38:28,110
Munich is about the retribution the Israeli secret services want on the those people who caused the Munich massacre of 1972 and Eric Bana,

323
00:38:28,110 --> 00:38:30,720
his character. You see Eric Bana there on the right.

324
00:38:30,720 --> 00:38:40,590
His character leaves that this onslaught against the Palestinian terrorists but becomes disaffected by it becomes disillusioned by it.

325
00:38:40,590 --> 00:38:50,540
And this, in many ways, is what Spielberg is trying to say. Look, is this really the way to peace in the Middle East if we're just.

326
00:38:50,540 --> 00:39:01,190
Killing one another. Was a very controversial film to some extent in Israel, more so amongst American Jews in the United States.

327
00:39:01,190 --> 00:39:09,890
Some of those people accused Spielberg, in fact, of it being a traitor.

328
00:39:09,890 --> 00:39:15,530
Omar is a film which came out about 10 years ago and isn't quick illustration of of the

329
00:39:15,530 --> 00:39:21,350
degree to which Palestinian films are now getting more screen time in the United States.

330
00:39:21,350 --> 00:39:32,690
So again, this shift that's gradually taking place. Omar was the first wholly Palestinian film that was nominated for an Oscar.

331
00:39:32,690 --> 00:39:46,740
It's a film about the difficulties of living under occupation. Coming towards the end now, just think of two images left 2014 Gaza war.

332
00:39:46,740 --> 00:39:48,780
Everything kicks off in Hollywood,

333
00:39:48,780 --> 00:39:58,800
there's a major row in Hollywood in open row between people on the right and on the left about what Israel is doing, whether it's right or wrong.

334
00:39:58,800 --> 00:40:07,860
And we see a major row between the likes of Jon Voight, who's there on the left for Israel, on the political right when it comes to Israel.

335
00:40:07,860 --> 00:40:17,700
And Javier Bardem and his wife, Penelope Cruz. Bardem and Cruz accused Israel of genocide.

336
00:40:17,700 --> 00:40:23,780
So freighted term. In the United States, a genocide.

337
00:40:23,780 --> 00:40:29,930
And this again kicks off as a Twitter storm. There are pop stars getting involved in this,

338
00:40:29,930 --> 00:40:41,080
as well as major movie stars like Sylvester Stallone and is a big row over what we now in Hollywood think about Israel.

339
00:40:41,080 --> 00:40:51,600
Filmmakers like Arnon Milchan. Israeli born veryimportant filmmaker in Hollywood, producer of Pretty Woman,

340
00:40:51,600 --> 00:41:00,160
another major movies of the past 30 years on a Milchan is is finger by a number of anti-Semites, as you can see here.

341
00:41:00,160 --> 00:41:12,420
It causes people to think about, Hey, this control of Hollywood by Jews, etc. This long trope gets warmed up again by many on the political right.

342
00:41:12,420 --> 00:41:17,370
And so that's a hoary old accusation becomes reborn again.

343
00:41:17,370 --> 00:41:28,510
I think courtesy of the Gaza war of 2014, these two people sum up, I think, the differences within Hollywood right now.

344
00:41:28,510 --> 00:41:38,700
You know, Michael Douglas. On the left, photographed with his family in Jerusalem, who's a liberal, avowedly liberal,

345
00:41:38,700 --> 00:41:44,660
but still a very strong supporter of Israel, including of Israeli military.

346
00:41:44,660 --> 00:41:52,040
You have Natalie Portman on the right, the Israeli born, whose distance herself a Zionist,

347
00:41:52,040 --> 00:41:56,600
which has distanced herself from especially the Israeli government,

348
00:41:56,600 --> 00:42:08,010
both of these actors were awarded what's called the Genesis prise, which is Jewish noval.

349
00:42:08,010 --> 00:42:13,620
Douglas was happy to turn up for this. To go to Israel to receive the prise.

350
00:42:13,620 --> 00:42:21,810
Natalie Portman refused to go to Israel to receive a risk of Netanyahu would be at the ceremony.

351
00:42:21,810 --> 00:42:32,310
So this differences between liberals and Hollywood. But finally, the final image the Israeli relationship with Hollywood is still very strong.

352
00:42:32,310 --> 00:42:38,560
Gal Gadot. Probably the biggest Israeli movie star right now.

353
00:42:38,560 --> 00:42:52,720
Wonder Woman. She is an illustration of how Israeli stars and filmmakers have now quite an influence within Hollywood itself.

354
00:42:52,720 --> 00:43:02,900
The Spy, which is a Netflix series from 2019, was made by Gideon Ruff.

355
00:43:02,900 --> 00:43:10,250
An Israeli filmmaker has moved to Hollywood who was also responsible for the spy series Homeland.

356
00:43:10,250 --> 00:43:16,730
These are two illustrations of how there's been almost a brain drain from Hollywood in the last 10 years or so.

357
00:43:16,730 --> 00:43:21,890
And these people have moved to Hollywood to ply their trade.

358
00:43:21,890 --> 00:43:35,196
The relationship therefore works both ways live with him.