Julian Schnabel On Israel: "I Think A Non-violent Democratic Revolution Is Coming"

Artist-turned-director Julian Schnabel latest film, Miral, based on Rula Jebreal's novel about growing up as an orphaned Palestinian girl after the Arab-Israeli conflict, premiered earlier this week at the United Nations, in spite of the American Jewish Committee's attempt to shut it down. The AJC believed the movie's goal was to portray Israel in a "negative light," leading the film's distributor Harvey Weinstein and Schnabel, who are both Jewish, to encourage protesters to see the movie first; Schnabel also said, "I love the State of Israel. I believe in it, and my film is about preserving it, not hurting it. Understanding is part of the Jewish way and Jewish people are supposed to be good listeners. But, if we don’t listen to the other side, we can never have peace."

Schnabel expanded on why he wanted to show the film at the United Nations in an interview with Deadline:

SCHNABEL: That’s the platform for dialogue for the whole world. It’s the place where conflicts are sorted out, and it’s where Israel was born in 1948. There is a global non-violent revolution going on in the Middle East, with dictators falling everywhere because people want to be free. It’s true not only in countries that have been in the news, but also in Israel. I think a non-violent Democratic revolution is coming. Young people are tired of their leaders, tired of Hamas, tired of leaders who have been representing the Palestinians. Israelis are tired, and many Jewish people are tired of the leaders leading that country. We need a statesman over there, not a politician. Netanyahu isn’t going to solve anything when he exacerbates things by saying they’re going to build more settlements because people are killed."

DEADLINE: You mean his reaction to the terrorist murder of a Jewish family in the settlement while they slept?

SCHNABEL: I feel terrible those people were killed, but to justify it with that creates more hate. For President Obama to veto the notion that it would be illegal to do that, I’m extremely disappointed in him. He’s a guy I believe in. I loved when he came out initially against the settlements and his speech in Egypt generated the sense of possibility for democracy. He gives great speeches, but what the hell is going on? We can’t let the Jewish lobby create this blind, blanket support of something that’s inhumane. We’re not free, as long as that continues.

My mother was the head of Hadassah, and I believe in the Jewish homeland as a democratic place, but for everyone who lives there. You shouldn’t have to be Jewish to be free in Israel. The Palestinians are not our enemies. The whole civil society is held hostage by fanatics on both sides. Young people, Israelis and Palestinians, just want to be able to go to school and come home at the end of the day and not get blown up. There are a lot of young people who are soldiers and don’t want to be soldiers. Does anyone want to be a soldier?

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By Jen Chung in News on March 16, 2011 5:08 PM

Comments [rss]

moe pintour

Miral is Anti-Israel the same as Ghandi is anti-British.

Americans don't seem to realize the hopeless two state dream is over. 500K Israelis are living in Palestine today. 500K. Sorry, but Israels land grab of 1967 is going to cost them their privileged over the indigenous people of Palestine. There will be one state there with equal rights for all. There is already an Arab majority being lorded over by a Jewish minority...this isn't going to last.

Shayna

What is peaceful and non-violent about killing people in Itamar? Whether settlements are justified or not, killing never is.

freddynyc

In response to that question - I don't care, but I'd bang it most definitely....

cr17

A non-violent solution to this issue? Insha'Allah!

"Young people are tired of their leaders, tired of Hamas" & "The whole civil society is held hostage by fanatics on both sides." - Now saying that is going to ensure no one sees your documentary because if there's one idea that the anti-Israel crowd loves to scream and yell about it is how Hamas is the "democratically elected government of the Gaza Strip" and they're incredibly beneficial to the Palestinian people ("They've built schools! They've built hospitals!"), and conveniently forgetting the fact that other political parties are no longer allowed to exist in Gaza as they're a threat to Hamas, and Hamas's headquarters are located under the main hospital in Gaza. Same goes for the complete absence religious and sexual tolerance, freedom of the press (try writing anything critical of Hamas), etc. The Palestinians have been fucked over as badly by their own leadership as they have by Israel.

Mordicai

The whole thing is a giant clusterfrag, but isn't that what makes a populist uprising...a potential occurrence?

cr17

Very true, but people have to believe that there's a chance of overthrowing their governments without being massacred. Sure, they'll take some casualties, but the threat of a massacre is usually enough to keep people quiet.

Fivish

The author is not living in the real world. Democracy is being used by the Islamofascists to oust the moderate dictators and install vicious Islamic governments with no democracy, no freedom, and no womens rights. This happened in Gaza to the surprise of the West. Leftists cannot understand the mentality of the Islamofascist, its so far removed from their intellectually elite frame of reference. Just as they failed to understand Hitler so they fail to understand the Islamofascists. But the man in the Arab street is not looking for democracy, he wants a caliphate and an Islamic world devoid of Jews and Christians. The Left through their naivety and anti-semitism are hastening their own demise. Useful Idiots!

canofpeas

Would an Islamofascist be comparable to a zionazi? They probably both have about the same amount of body hair.

Mordicai

& the way to change this is...bombs? Oppression? But I mean, you are the genius who somehow manages to know what "the man in the Arab street" is looking for. Kudos for that, that is pretty impressive. Apparently they want the...same thing as Hitler! Hitler Hitler Hitler!

unretrofiedforu

Exactly. I guess his idea of a good foreign policy is to continue to 'do nothing' and blame the 'left elite'. Instead of, you know, rethinking American foreign policy.