Last update - 00:00 07/10/2007
War veterans demand changes to 'politicized' Yom Kippur War film
By Asaf Carmel, Haaretz Cirresopondent
The Israel Broadcasting Authority has postponed screening a documentary on the Yom Kippur War, to enable changes to be made in the film at the request of some of the soldiers whose battles it portrays.
The documentary, produced by Ido Sela, was supposed to be screened Sunday, to mark the anniversary of the war's outbreak on October 6, 1973. However, IBA Director General Mordechai Sklar decided to postpone the broadcast for a week following a meeting on Friday with Sela and veterans of the Armored Corps' 14th Brigade.
The film had been screened for the veterans about 10 days ago, and afterward, several of them demanded that it not be shown on public television, charging that the film was politicized - among other things, several of those interviewed in it harshly criticize the Second Lebanon War - and distorted history. Sela responded that he had noticed two minor historical errors himself and intended to fix them, but refused to make any other changes. Itai Landsberg, who heads Channel 1's documentary department, backed him up.
Last Monday, however, after Channel 1 had already started showing trailers of the film, Sklar decided to hold a "clarification" session with Sela and the veterans. That decision sparked criticism in its turn.
"It is Sela's right as a producer to take a personal stand as long as he does not distort the facts, and it is the IBA's obligation, precisely because it is a state organ, to make his views heard," wrote Naftali Glicksberg, chair of the forum of documentary producers, in a letter to Sklar.
In response, the IBA said that Sklar "attached great importance to holding the meeting with the fighters and representatives of the bereaved families and hearing their arguments, particularly given that this is the brigade that paid the heaviest price of the war. In the end, a decision was made to postone the broadcast by one week, during which time a number of factual corrections will be made in the film."