Israeli director: I may not have won at Venice if Jane Fonda was on jury

and pals? Better we give them zilch and stop the terror. America supports Israel.

of the Lebanese war of 1982.A boycott will silence the inetnded mesage of the film for people at large to see and conclude that the Lebanon action in 1982 was ill conceived and turned into a 20 years nigtmare. Your logic and other critics singulary focused on Israeli art is nothing more then Israel bashing.A government fell after the 1982 lebanon Peace Galil action turned into a war. The political life of then PM the most couragious ahaker and mover you was instrumental in achieving a peace agreement with Egypt which last until today He shared with Anwar sadat a Nobel price for it.Begins downfall as the PM was precisely a sing the Israeli society and our political leaders are subject to consequences for their actions in a democartic way.Its tru that the architect of the deceit of its own government,Arik Sharon paid a price for this wrongfull war.18 years later Sharons political fortune turned in his favor.But that only becayuse the dishonnest and stupidity of Arafat and Palestinians

better. Its in line with the level of intelligence displayed in the rest of your postings.

Haaretz - sloppy editing - the story in the film is about a four-man tank crew...in any case I think the Fonda boycott was related to the film on Tel Aviv. As for Tess - as others have written in the talkbacks - let's see your true credentials when you produce boycotts against Zimbabwe (3 million displaced persons), Russia (Chechnya), China (Tibet), Darfur, Hamas (women, Fatah and gay rights), Sri Lanka (Tamils), Australia (Aborgines)...need I continue with the list of human rights violations around the world ? You and your like-minded friends continue to be trapped by silly and superficial analogies between Apartheid S.Africa (the dispute over a marriage) and the Israeli/Palestinian struggle (the dispute over a divorce) ... The occupation of Palestinians against their will is wrong and most Israelis seek a two-state solution...your calls for boycotts are going to push extremists on both sides into a single state debacle.

...definitely worth a warm cookie and a cold beverage or the other way around of course.

...you might also note, none of that laundry list of countries you provided were mentioned in this article. Food for thought.

But he won! what is there to whine about. But actually thanks , for reminding us of the boycott . sincerely

i agree! It seems like nothing else has ever worked :( Its about time all this bloody conflict stopped, yet we only see more colonization, more violence, more injustice. What a sad world we live in, where boycott is the only answer!

... "occupied territory" since it was - again, according to the petition - built on destroyed Arab villages. When will people learn that the term "occupied territory" is a euphemism for Israel?

Suppose a number of nations agree with you and boycott Israel totally - art, science, medical etc. Would it be okay if Israel in turn boycotted these countries? For example, suppose an Israeli scientist comes up with a cure for cancer.

"Israeli art and education should be boycotted exactly because art and education ought never to be boycotted." Madame, Thank you for your candor. Your special treatment of Jews nicely fit EU definition of antisemitism. Your idea that somebody cares about winning by some Israeli guy/gal some prize is grossly exaggerated. To be consistent you should boycott Haaretz talkback. Hope never hear from you.

You have these armchair terrorists constantly attack injustice, occpuation, war crimes, you name. Funny that they do it only when the subject is Israel. At the same time, trully terrible genocide, war crimes, opression and occupation at unimaginable scale occur and they ignore this. The accusation of only a single country and people is called racism. Why are we trying to even defend against these racists? Let them use our democracy and freedom of expression to spew their garbage.

Hypocrite

When you boycott China, Sudan, Iran, US, UK, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Venzuela, Cuba, Pakistan, Zimbabwae give me a call.

Maybe the Swiss need shock therapy - There notorious neutrality - let swiss leave of the money of: war criminals money, drug lords ; thief and alike. They do not mind where the money comes from, what misery it brought, who it was stolen from (the weakest and most vulnerable)- not only they fail to give aid (which is illegal in most cases in civilized societies even in the most simplest of cases- e.g. not rendering help to someone struck by a car) - they go further - they actually profit from it and pass laws to protect 'confidentiality' knowing very well that blood money is deposited in their banks and they live o it like the vampires that they are. They signed a deal with Iran recently, their president hugs the Iranian president - no matter how many people are tortured in Iran, no matter how Iran exports terrorism, etc, etc. At best Neutrality should be not to support evil doing - but for the swiss it is means lets profit from evil, lets protect its funding so it is able to continue

Her name doesn't sound too native,but since she's 72....she probably forgot.

The Toronto film boycott was defeated by Jews from Toronto and around the world buying up tickets on line. Whether or not the seats were filled, the boycott failed. Not long ago a wine boycott failed in the same way. Gotta love hardball politics.

"Without fully knowing it, I have been deeply traumatized since 1982, as has a whole generation of Israelis, people who are now running the country. Making 'Lebanon' and finally confronting what happened in that war, has given me my true feelings back and I can cry real tears once more." This comment by the director reminds me of the argument made by Anthony Julius in his book on TS Eliot: that Eliot, if he ever at all regarded his own anti-semitism as something that was a bad thing, chiefly regarded it as something that he ought to feel bad about, but not as something that he ought to apologise for. Similarly, Mr. Maoz seems to regard the invasion of Lebanon as something that happened to the Israelis, just as Americans usually regard the US war in Vietnam as something that happened to the Americans. But the truth is that the real victims of Eliot's anti-semitism were Jews, just as the real victims of the invasion of Lebanon were the Lebanese.

till your blue, It wont change anything. Childish lies and using a name invented by a gay Arafag still mean nothing to anyone. The world feels safer w/ Pals caged. Especially the many Arab countries who could also have 'camps' & could care less about the Pals, the bottom of the ME barrel. Known as terrorists for many years of proving the reputation. Who cares? The film won the prize and Hanoi Jane was soaking her teeth in the glass by her bed. The howling dogs will always bark for blood.

. . . that Jane Fonda's title role in her last movie, "Monster-in Law", might actually not have been much of a stretch for her. Her compulsion to take on "causes" for which she eventually feels the need to apologize is getting a little tiresome. She has changed sides so many times in her "political" and personal life that her opinions have lost whatever impact they might once have had. She should retire from making public pronouncements. All the world is NOT a stage.

Sounds like a great film! The problem is that the other side doesn't engage in this type of self examination. In the short one it works in their favor. Israeli Jews condemning Israeli policy is often accepted internationally as proof and everyone is exempt from "anti-Semitism". But in the long run their mentally and phyically censored societies will never thrive culturally or intellectually no matter how much love they get from the mentally ill far left.

To Mr. Swiss, I think the Swiss hardly are in a position to lecture anybody since they conveniently take to the sidelines in any conflict....and are more than happy to accept bank deposits from dictators around the globe.... Enough hypocracy, please.

Indeed it is. In 1977 Jimmy Carter of all people. Time to sue those trying to boycott Israel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_boycott In 1977 the Congress of the United States passed a law that then-President Jimmy Carter signed, and according to which fines would be levied on American companies which cooperate with the boycott. For the surveillance after the implementation of this law, an office called the "Office of Antiboycott Compliance" was opened in the United States as part of the American trade ministry.

THANKYOU!! For making the whole article and Petition clear. I do not believe that anyone really reads the articles before jumping in with a smart remark any longer. It would be really good to be able to have a civil discussion about issues on the board once in while without the hurling of nationalistic, anti-religious, anti-humane epitaphs that help no-one and hurt everyone. A big part of the problem also was that Canmedia the company that sponsors TIFF is supported to a degree by government(taxpayers)funds and many were unhappy to see Tiff being used as a Yardstick to measure Israel's new PR Campaign Immage and especially showing Tel Aviv celebrating just after the tragedy of Gaza was not the correct time for this film. I do not believe it is a-s here. We have a large Jewish and Israel population and as long as they do not try to shut down other people's right to free speech and opinion, the same rights that they have then every one is happy.

they killed hundreds of Thousands in Iraq and Afghanistan. Oh also the UK for Afghanistan and serbia. In a bit of a pickle aren,t you H old chap. That is the trouble with divided loyalties.

nation in the land of Israel.This director and the others need to understand that just because a lie is repeated enough does not turn it into a truth.The Pals are trying to occupy land that doesn't belong to them.Jane fonda and her like do not know history.She hurt Americans and now she hurts Israel.She is a very low soul with no connection to truth.Shame on her and the ways she conducted her life.She knows nothing of Israel.Let her be a smart person and not repeat things that are not true.she did it during viet nam and now again. She needs to be retired

Really wish I could see it but I'm so busy seeing all the Tel Aviv movies at the Toronto Film Festival. All the people I've seen at TIFF so far are raving about it being the best film fest in the world. I've also convinced at least 20 people to attend the Tel Aviv films. Too bad Hanoi Jane and lefty "brand" Naomi Klein. Take your boycott to Gaza City or Ramalla, where they appreciate gay rights and women's rights and good honest government.

Jane showed what she's made of at the ball game. No wonder she's right in rank and file with the lefty rap. She's an even darker side of the left, apparently.

....film director, but otherwise the Israeli people urgently need a "shock therapy", without it, I'm afraid they will never wake up from their "Sleeping Beauty" nap. Or they will only wake up when it's already too late.....

Samuel Maoz must have used more care in the making of the celebrated film Lebanon than he has in his critique of Jane Fonda. Had he read the protest she signed, he would know that she and the others who signed it did not call for a boycott of Israeli films or for those who submitted them to the Toronto Film Festival. It was a protest against the marketing of Tel Aviv.

I fully agree apart from the American film companies as they are in actuality the UK's (where you live remember) closest allies. It says a lot though when defending Israel against a boycott you mention some of the most odious regimes on Planet Earth as a defence. Should make you think really.

because it will affect individual Israelis, and until any boycotts impact on the general Israeli population the occupation will continue. Devestment is only one option we have to end the occupation, but that does not affected individual Israelis.

Why isn't there the usual Israeli triumphalism when an Israeli wins an international competition - this prize is second only to an Academy award. It would be a reasonable guess that the Israeli media don't want an extended discussion about occupation in light of the West Bank intrusion.

Sigh... Do you read the articles or only react to headlines. Because if you actually read the article, he did win - no conspiracy theories necessary. Not sure why I'm wasting my time here. Nobody wants to listen (as proven by your post) just spout their usual nonsense...

The occupation is wrong, but so are calls for cultural or academic boycotts of Israel ( within the Green Line, obviously ). If you use the logic of such calls, the US should be boyycotted for occupying Iraq and for killing much more civilians in Aghanistan ( in a war that is way less defensive than Israel's recent wars in Lebanon and Gaza were ), China should be boycotted for brutally occupying tibet and for violating the rights of many more humans than will ever be suppressed by Israel's occupation of the Westbank and East-Jerusalem. If ever a solution to the conflict will come from within the Palestinian and Israeli peoples, it will be people like Samuel Maoz who have laid the groundwork for that, and not hypocrites like Tess.

but as usual, the finger of blame points towards conspiracies without at least considering just maybe it was crap?

Let's also boycott: Chinese Films because of the slaughter in Tibet,Russian films because of the murder in Georgia, Iranian films and I'm certain Jane Fonda would wholeheartedly agree because of Women's inequality and because the Iranians have murdered their opposition. Definitely any Palestinian films since Hamas are responsible for the slaughter of their own people, Somalian, Sri lankan, Sudanese and above all American for its Imperialistic attitude, with troops stationed in 150 countries. Are you with the program Tess?

Israeli art and education should be boycotted exactly because art and education ought never to be boycotted. Strange logic... but only by affecting the important essentials will a boycott ever work. It will remind the Israeli public that no, everything is not right.