Mubeen Patel’s Post

“In the late 1990s, Israeli graduate student Teddy Katz researched a large-scale Israeli massacre that had allegedly occurred in the Palestinian village of Tantura in 1948. His work later came under attack and his reputation ruined, but 140 hours of audio testimonies remain. “Director Alon Schwarz revisits former Israeli soldiers of the Alexandroni Brigade and confronts them with Teddy's recorded audiotape interviews as well as visiting former Palestinian residents of Tantura in an effort to re-examine what happened in the village and explore why ‘The Nakba’ is taboo in Israeli society. “The now elderly ex-soldiers recall their unsettling acts while disquietly pausing at points they either don't want to remember or won't speak of. Audio from Katz's 20-year-old interviews cuts through the silence of self-preservation and exposes ways in which power, silencing, and protected narratives can sculpt history. “The film provides a rare look at Israeli society's first-generation and how the country's founding myth has shaped reality for generations. The film brings never before seen archival footage from 1948 alongside intimate interviews with ex-Israeli soldiers, Palestinian residents, and historians.”