Emigrant filmer salutes Israeli flag

While Israeli-Canadian filmmaker Igal Hecht says his opinion took a back seat during his new documentary "My Flag," he took a very clear stand in an interview with Anglo File last week. "I am proud of what the Israeli flag symbolizes," he said, adding that, "with the unfair demonization of Israel by the [Israeli] left and unfortunately some of the North American Jewish left, I feel it is important that this flag flies high for all to see."

Hecht, an Ashkelon native now living in Toronto, approached dozens of Israelis for the film, asking them what the flag meant to them. "My Flag" - which will be screened next week at the Jewish Eye Film Festival in Ashkelon - depicts a society-wide identity crisis, he said. "I found that Israelis are unsure of where the country is heading," he said. "They want a country that is proud of what it has achieved... as opposed to feeling as if it has to apologize for its existence, as some Israelis want it to do all the time."

The one-hour-film contains funny but also inspiring moments, such as when Hecht, visiting a Holocaust museum, learns about a flag that was smuggled into Israel. "It made me think how important that flag was when the Jewish people longed for a home, and how now many Israelis - including us hypocritical yordim [emigres] in the Diaspora - take it for granted."