(Photo: Kate Raphael)
Twenty Palestine solidarity activists briefly interrupted the screening of The Invisible Men at the Roxie Theater on Saturday night to protest the San Francisco LGBT International Film Festival’s relationship with the Israeli government. KC Price, Executive Director of Frameline, which presents the annual festival, was introducing the film when the group “mic-checked” him and presented Frameline with an award for being the “Grand Pinkwasher of 2012.”
(Photo: Kate Raphael)
The award consisted of a giant pink sponge and a scroll, which read:
‘In recognition of Frameline’s unwavering support of the Israeli government
Its leadership in silencing queers who want their film festival to stand up for the human rights of Palestinians
“Its willingness to ignore the international outcry against Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, Gaza and the international freedom flotilla
Its craven pursuit of funding from corporate raiders and terrorist governments
And its steadfast defiance of the demand by Palestinian queers to stop partnering with the Israeli Consulate
Friends of Israel Apartheid hereby honors FRAMELINE as
GRAND PINKWASHER 2012
And proudly presents you with the
FIRST ANNUAL PINK SPONGE AWARD’
Reaction from the audience was mixed. Some people erupted in applause when the protesters revealed their “Stop Pinkwashing Israeli Apartheid” t-shirts, and there was a hearty round of applause when they finished reading the scroll. An equally loud chorus of boos followed.
Price and the other Frameline officials present were quiet during the reading of the scroll, but then ushers stepped in to hustle the protesters out of the theater. Filmmaker Yariv Mozer, whose appearance at the festival was funded by the Israeli consulate, followed the protesters out to argue about the value of the cultural boycott. One activist asked how he felt about the call of Palestinian queer organizations for Frameline to end its relationship with the consulate.
“I disagree with it,” he responded. “I am sponsored by the Israeli government. I could not make films without the Israeli government….I am helping Palestinians, risking jail to help them….Israel is not some perfect pink society; we have homophobia too….But what’s happening with Israelis is that they still live in a society which is somehow more liberal and democratic than what is happening in the West Bank and Gaza. These regimes that are controlling the West Bank and Gaza are very primitive.”
“‘In recognition of Frameline’s unwavering support of the Israeli government
Its leadership in silencing queers who want their film festival to stand up for the human rights of Palestinians”
The disingenuousness and irony are delicious. Agreeing to show a film sponsored by Israel is not “unwavering support” for “the Israeli government.” People who shout down a filmmaker have no right to talk about other people being silenced. By all means, go out and make a documentary about Palestinian queers in the West Bank.
He was not shouted down, the audiolink proves.
gays don’t get played … israel’s pinkwashing effort is beginning to backfire and just wait until it picks up steam … clever gays will get back at you ten-fold zio-propagandists
So Yariv Mozer did not spend time understanding the word “Pinkwashing”. Could have read it in the plane.
His earlier documentary was about how difficult it is being a soldier when attacking a country. (Guess what: about himself, being an Israeli soldier, attacking Lebanon).
But don’t forget, he is “helping Palestinians, risking jail to help them.” Show your gratitude for the dude who put his life on the line to kill innocent civilians!
Movie sponsored by, as the site says: Consulate General of Israel Pacific Northwest, Israel Center & LGBT Alliance of the Jewish Community Federation, LGBT Alliance Jewish Community Federaton [sic].
A lot of care for Palestinians from these, I guess.
Filmmaker Yariv Mozer, whose appearance at the festival was funded by the Israeli consulate
Not only his ticket to SF they payed for. In the audio he says, in his third sentence, from 0:07: The film is sponsored by the Israeli government. I am sponsored here by the Israeli government. And this Government of Israel (GoI) sponsoring is essential, not marginal: Otherwise [...] I will not be able to do films like this. But the GoI sponsoring of the film is not mentioned on the “credits” page of the film. link to mozer-films.com
Some good BDS news:
Barrington Levy Cancels Gig in Apartheid Israel
link to usacbi.org
Also:
Nino Katamadze cancels Apartheid Israel gig:
link to refrainplayingisrael.blogspot.com.au
Let it roll, baby!
RE: “what’s happening with Israelis is that they still live in a society which is somehow more liberal and democratic than what is happening in the West Bank and Gaza. These regimes that are controlling the West Bank and Gaza are very primitive.” ~ Yariv Mozer
MY COMMENT: The word “primitive” virtually leaped out of my computer monitor’s screen at me!
FROM MERRIAM-WEBSTER:
SOURCE – link to merriam-webster.com
RE: “These regimes that are controlling the West Bank and Gaza are very primitive.” ~ Yariv Mozer
SPEAKING OF “PRIMITIVE”, SEE: Israel’s bizarre decision to give up on education – and its future, by Ami Kaufman, +972 Magazine, 12/03/11
ENTIRE ARTICLE – link to 972mag.com
ALSO SPEAKING OF “PRIMITIVE”, SEE – “Rabbi Aviner: Women must not wear pants even when alone”, by Neta Sela, Ynet News, 05/02/08
One of Religious Zionism’s most prominent leaders defines trousers as a ‘self-prohibition,’ says women ‘must dress modestly also when alone and in the dark’
ENTIRE ARTICLE – hhttp://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3538781,00.html
P.S. I wonder what Barbara Streisand will have to say about this. That is, if Babs can tear herself away from raising money for the IDF long enough to read about what is actually going on in Israel.
RE: “what’s happening with Israelis is that they still live in a society which is somehow more liberal and democratic than what is happening in the West Bank and Gaza. These regimes that are controlling the West Bank and Gaza are very primitive.” ~ Yariv Mozer
MY COMMENT: Racist, much? I wonder where in the world such overt, rancid racism comes from.
SEE: “Academic claims Israeli school textbooks contain bias” ~ By Harriet Sherwood, guardian.co.uk, 8/07/11
Nurit Peled-Elhanan of Hebrew University says textbooks depict Palestinians as ‘terrorists, refugees and primitive farmers’
ENTIRE ARTICLE – link to guardian.co.uk
• VIDEO of interview with Peled-Elhanan (08:48) – link to youtube.com
P.P.P.S. ALSO SEE: Is Change possible in Israel? (VIDEO, 07:49) – link to youtube.com
Prof. Haim Bresheeth tries to answer this question – why can some Israelis change, and support the Palestinian cause, but change seems elusive in Israel? Should we wait and hope for such change?
Church of England backs Palestine motion in spite of strong Israel lobby pressure.
link to electronicintifada.net
But what’s happening with Israelis is that they still live in a society which is somehow more liberal and democratic than what is happening in the West Bank and Gaza. These regimes that are controlling the West Bank and Gaza are very primitive.
Yuck. Cultural essentialism. The point is Mr Mozer that Israel controls what happens in the West Bank and Gaza. There is a military occupation and seige, all done courtesy of Israel, which treats its own citizens (Jewish) democratically and treats everyone else savagely, whether it’s a Gazan being put on a diet, a fisherman forced to jump out of their boats into the sea and drown for the amusement of Israeli seamen, occupied Palestinians losing residency rights, being imprisoned and tortured, lands stolen from them, homes demolished etc. You call that liberal and democratic?
Wake up.
Mozer: “These regimes that are controlling the West Bank and Gaza are very primitive.”
Inanna says: “Yuck. Cultural essentialism. The point is Mr Mozer that Israel controls what happens in the West Bank and Gaza.”
Exactly. He omits the reality of politicide:
“Politicide is a process that covers a wide range of social, political and military activities whose goal is to destroy the political and national existence of a whole community of people and thus deny it the possibility of self-determination.
Murders, local massacres, the elimination of leadership and elite groups, the physical destruction of public institutions and infrastructure, land colonization, starvation, social and political isolation, re-education, and partial ethnic cleansing are the major tools to achieve this goal.”
Baruch Kimmerling “Politicide: Ariel Sharon’s War Against the Palestinians” p.4
LMAO.
This is all a giant lose-lose for Israel.
What they really need is the reactionary, evangelical vote in the US.
…but they can’t admit to themselves that the thundering jackboots are what they’re all about now.
So they’ll continue hopelessly chasing the seal of progressive approval — and damn themselves in the process.
“These regimes that are controlling the West Bank and Gaza are very primitive.”
Are those “primitive regimes” letting children, women and elderly, deliberately die of thirst? I don’t think so:
“Water torture
IDF confiscates water containers from Palestinians and Bedouins in Jordan Valley.”
By Gideon Levy (Haaretz)
“The containers are these people’s only water source. In recent weeks, Avi has confiscated about a dozen containers, leaving dozens of families with children in the horrific Jordan Valley heat, to go thirsty.”
link to desertpeace.wordpress.com
These are the tags for this movie, added by Frameline36 (F36, the SF International LGBT Film Festival):
Genre/Subjects: Discrimination, Documentary, Gay, Immigration / Exile, Jewish, Middle Eastern, Muslim / Islam, Politics
link to ticketing.frameline.org
Notice anything? I did. “Palestinian” omitted. Any movie description does not use this word, F36? “Muslim / Islam” added. Any movie description that does use one of these words, F36? “Jewish”: but for the sponsors: how so or why so F36? These four words, for sure, not the Mozer-films site uses/omits them this way. Nor does your own site elsewhere, F36.
The movie smells.
I’ve watched the trailer on YouTube. link to youtube.com
- Audio manipulation:
See the story about the scar, 1:07-1:48. The visual storyline is interrupted five times (shot of coffee cup, shot of someone else, even a hard jump). This allows for cutting & pasting the audio story. All in all there could be nine or more spoken sentences cut together or cut in half, in any sequence, while suggesting a continuous speaking.
- Retold story of car drive
The next sequence, 1:48-2:13 (car drive in the evening), may also include visual sequence manipulation: it looks like a car drive, but we cannot be sure the spoken words apply to the images shown.
- Unconvincing phone call recording
At 3:02, the distress phone call “Hey Yariv. Listen, the police are knocking” I say is fake until proven right with backup material. What happens? He calls Yariv! The director, payed by the GoI, will come to the rescue? Is the one you call first? His camera was already running?
Yariv Mozer, time to prove that you did not manipulate the story.
Yariv Mozer: I hope your film answers why Israel did not give them asylum in the first place. I heard it is such a tolerant country for gay people.
Oh, and yesterday your interview in The Times of Israel said this:
link to timesofisrael.com
This after you filmed & published their faces and their lives, zooming in on a visible scar in the face, and dragging them on the podium for the world premiere (just to show their face as recent as March 2012, to zoom in on the scar once more, to show that they speak Hebrew but not English, and disclosing that Louie and Abdu now live in the same city). Yeah, let’s be silent about their whereabouts. link to youtube.com
Really, I am not convinced you care a drop of water for Palestinians (gay or other). For every frame of truth in your film, I say you are disgustingly profiting from victims situations. For every manipulated frame in your film, I say you are a lier. Together, that is called Pinkwashing.
Oh and please stop claiming how you are the one who took risks. To you that is called taking “career steps”, or “money”.
Here are older quotes from you, again in The Times of Israel (June 22, bolding added):
link to blogs.timesofisrael.com
Well, if you cannot connect the dots you just wrote down on that very same page yourself, there is nothing much I can do for you. But wait, maybe there is another way to explain it. Please simply try to answer this question, Yariv Mozer: why, do you think, did they pay your movie and your ticket to SF?.
And proudly presents you with the
FIRST ANNUAL PINK SPONGE AWARD’
In other words, get clean, recipient.
Like someone physically blocking access to an abortion clinic, protesters like this aren’t exercising their rights, they are violating the rights of other people.
Or forcing people to pass through check points and denying them entry Fred?
Same reason German nationals weren’t allowed entry into Britain in WWII. The Palestinians are at war with Israel.
Fredfrog
No, you have that ass backwards, as usual.
The Palestinians do not have an army, do not have weapons, and are not in “Israel”.
The ISraelis, however, are at war with the Palestinians, with the aim of destroying Palestine in its entirety and supplanting it with the ethno-supremacist “Israel”. Hence the appalling mistreatment of a captive civilian population, considered by the laws enacted by the usurper state to be a lesser people.
“The Palestinians are at war with Israel.”
The “Palestinians” are a people, not a state entity. Only the former can “be at war” with a state. Fredo, you talk like a two-bit Nazi in the 1920′s, complainting about how “the Jews” were at war with the German state.
Funny, that. Since most of the checkpoints are not in Israel or even on the border with Israel. They are in the West Bank, and they stop Palestinians from going from one part of the West Bank to another, and don’t stop the Israelis “who are at war” with the Palestinians, according to you.
@Bumbleboor
Tell the Palestinians thousands of Israeli victims (or their dozens of American victims) about the weapons they don’t have. They have rockets 6 ft long, weighing 200 pounds and with 40 lb payloads of high explosives. Not to mention bombs packed with nails and rat poison so their victims are more likely to bleed to death.
“Tell the Palestinians thousands of Israeli victims ”
Their not victims of the Palestinians. They’re victims of you zionists, for insisting on an ethno-religious apartheid state, which requires you to brutally and demonically oppress the Palestinians in their own land. Of course they’re going to strike back at their oppressors.
Fredfrog
Ah, so in a moment, you switch from West Bank checkpoints, in an area where almost no Palestinians (except the PA kapos) are armed to the Gaza prison, and describe their bottle rockets which have victims at a ratio of around 10,000:1 (ie, 10,000 fired, one victim). Of course, you conveniently omit the constant Israeli bombing raids, where 1,000lb bombs are dropped in civilian areas, or the IOF incursions, and the non-combatant men women and children deliberately targetted and killed or maimed by them, just because they can.
Fred: Perhaps you need reminding that where “Israel” is is the ancestral land of the Palestinian people who were forced from it involuntarily by imposters. The same cannot be said for Germans not being allowed in England during WW2.
Oh Fred, what would we do without you? But please remember sources – you were told yesterday. Since you’re yet again giving me the opportunity, I will post this youtube video of the wonderful Mark Regev. Look at the other interviews too. Regev is one of the funniest comedians to come out of Israel.
link to youtube.com
Here is the link to an earlier rebuttal of mine to hoppy’s hasbara – much like Fredo’s:
link to mondoweiss.net
Included within are scanned pictures of the sources.
Stop being an idiot Fred. The crater these rockets create is the sight of of a soccer ball, which means the explosives are low grade if they even detonate at all. They means the only dave the inflict is what they collude with.
High explosives would leave craters.
Nails are nothing more than shrapnel dufus. Unlike the razor sharp shrapnel produced by Osraeli bombs that is reb hot.
“thousands of Israeli victims “
“Thousands” Fredblogs? Where are you getting “thousands” from? Aren’t you an order of mendacitude too high?
Let me guess, you are including the deaths of all Israeli soldiers, too?
Clutch those pearls, Fredblogs. Shall I move this divan closer in case you faint?
But not when those who move from place to place are palestinians, you for sure find some argument why they are not allowed to do so.
link to btselem.org
Perhaps supporters of Israel are not in a position to object to ‘violating the rights of other people.’
It’s certainly a tad surreal to hear someone who I am confident would defend firing rockets into a crowd of unarmed protestors (which did happen in the last intifada, and will probably happen in the next) getting up on their hind legs to object to somebody disrupting a movie.
Cite?
Yeah, I thought not.
link to worlddialogue.org
Fredblogs, point to such a violation. Exactly which right was violated at what moment and how was that done? (Repeated question. You could have answered this earlier after your first post here).
“….But what’s happening with Israelis is that they still live in a society which is somehow more liberal and democratic than what is happening in the West Bank and Gaza. These regimes that are controlling the West Bank and Gaza are very primitive.”…”
This argument is identical to one the apartheid regime of South Africa used to trot out.