american jewish committee

We're back with Evan of Left of the Projector for the third (maybe second?) entry in the History in Film series. This time it's 1960's Zionist epic, Exodus. Based on the novel of the same name by Leon Uris, this film aimed to convince American Jewry to consider the State of Israel (at this point, only twelve years old) as a nation deserving their investment, sympathy, and loyalty.

Somehow, we've dragged along Sam and Gabe from Labor Jawn to slog our way through this three and half hour long piece of Zionist propaganda...at least we got a shirtless Paul Newman out of it.

Primary Sources:
In Vigilant Brotherhood by The American Jewish Committee - (see pg 64-70 for "The Blaustein-Ben-Gurion Agreement")
"Is Zionism a Liberating Democratic Movement?" by Henryk Erlich
"This is a struggle between the children of light and the children of darkness, between humanity and the law of the jungle" Tweet by Benjamin Netanyahu
"שטיל, די נאַכט איז אױסגעשטערנט [Quiet, the Night is Full of Stars]" performed by Isabel Frey

Resources:
Answer Coalition
The Anti-Imperialist Archive
Jewish Voices for Peace
Middle East Children's Alliance
The Palestine Children's Relief Fund
Palestinian Youth Movement

Labor Jawn:
Patreon: @laborjawn
Instagram: @laborjawn
Tiktok: @laborjawn

Left of the Projector (Evan):
Patreon: @LeftoftheProjectorPod
Twitter: @LOTP_Pod
Instagram: @leftoftheprojectorpod
Letterboxd: @lotppod
Merch: https://leftoftheprojectorpod.threadless.com

The Intervention Podcast:
Twitter: @intervenepod
Instagram: @intervention_pod
Email: interventionpod@gmail.com

Levi Levi:
Twitter: @levi0levi
Instagram: @levi0levi0levi
Email: levi0levi@duck.com

Big thanks to Plasmid for the music for the show: Instagram - @plasmidband. Listen / follow on Spotify

At this week's gala WZO 125th Anniversary soiree in Basel, Switzerland, Israel's "Minister of Diaspora Affairs" made mentioned a "deal" between Ben Gurion and Jacob Blaustein regarding the relationship between American Jewry and Israel. He called for a renewed such "agreement" to be made today. But the way the story was described is fiction. American Jews complained to Ben Gurion that Israel was putting American Jews in danger. Ben Gurion promised to change Israel's presentation of itself as the Jewish state, but he betrayed his promise, as did Zionist leaders, repeatedly. In this podcast, the real story of Israel's betrayal of American Jewry.

The Times of Israel article
Ben Gurion's letter to the AJC

Photo: Jospeh Proskauer. Bain, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

American Jewish Committee | Global Jewish Advocacy
https://www.ajc.org