Filmmaker Iara Lee continues to be outspoken since returning from the freedom flotilla. Her footage from the Mavi Marmara offers some of the most compelling evidence of what took place the night of the Israeli attack, and Jared Malsin just interviewed her on her film and the importance of the flotilla:
“The media in this country [the US] is so controlled,” Lee said when asked about what media attention her footage received. “Thank God for the internet because over a million people saw [the video] on the first weekend.”
“The major networks, they’re not going to make any effort. They will show the loops, the doctored loops, that the Israelis provided, but they would not show raw footage as it is.”
She was referring to a set of videos related to the flotilla raid released by the Israeli military spokesperson’s office, including at least one that officials later admitted had been misleadingly edited.
The rest of Lee’s equipment, including thousands of dollars worth of cameras and hard drives, is still in possession of the Israeli government. She said her attorneys are opening several lawsuits to regain these possessions.
“The first thing they always do is confiscate the electronics because they know control of information is the most important thing,” she said.
“It’s very interesting to think that all of a sudden you are a part of history,” she said reflecting on her role in the incident.
“It seems to me that this event had such international repercussions that maybe this is the beginning of the end … diplomatically they are really shooting themselves in the foot.”
“Even though we lost all these innocent lives, it’s one of those things that maybe some good will come out of this horrible tragedy.”
“The level of awareness internationally has been raised and now we really need to capture people’s awareness and transform it into some sort of action. So, this is the next stage, how we get people to do something, rather than nothing, to take more baby steps toward justice.”
