Comments on: The Daily Lie – One of The Toronto Film Festival “Protest” Letter Authors Opines and Whines http://www.jewlicious.com/2009/09/the-daily-lie-one-of-the-protest-letter-authors-opines-and-whines/ It's a Jewish Blog! Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:17:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: themiddle http://www.jewlicious.com/2009/09/the-daily-lie-one-of-the-protest-letter-authors-opines-and-whines/#comment-1349975 themiddle Wed, 16 Sep 2009 04:11:20 +0000 http://www.jewlicious.com/?p=10291#comment-1349975 Xisnotx, forgive me but you're rehashing stuff I've been reading for days. I did write somewhere in my volumes of posts on this festival that countries try to do this kind of stuff all the time. The issue here, however, is that collusion is being suggested and has been denied. To my mind the "protest" writers don't care whether there was or wasn't collusion and don't care whether there is or isn't a "brand Israel" campaign (which is doing pretty poorly if it exists since I can't find any evidence of one and Naomi Klein, in presenting examples, had to reach back to the Paris Book Fair of two years ago, before this supposed campaign was launched). What they care about is riding the media attention that accompanies these events. It's free publicity and it can generate plentiful publicity. It's propaganda 101. Good for them. At the same time, we can call them on their falsehoods and misrepresentations. Xisnotx, forgive me but you’re rehashing stuff I’ve been reading for days. I did write somewhere in my volumes of posts on this festival that countries try to do this kind of stuff all the time. The issue here, however, is that collusion is being suggested and has been denied. To my mind the “protest” writers don’t care whether there was or wasn’t collusion and don’t care whether there is or isn’t a “brand Israel” campaign (which is doing pretty poorly if it exists since I can’t find any evidence of one and Naomi Klein, in presenting examples, had to reach back to the Paris Book Fair of two years ago, before this supposed campaign was launched). What they care about is riding the media attention that accompanies these events. It’s free publicity and it can generate plentiful publicity. It’s propaganda 101. Good for them. At the same time, we can call them on their falsehoods and misrepresentations.

]]> By: xisnotx http://www.jewlicious.com/2009/09/the-daily-lie-one-of-the-protest-letter-authors-opines-and-whines/#comment-1349974 xisnotx Wed, 16 Sep 2009 03:58:28 +0000 http://www.jewlicious.com/?p=10291#comment-1349974 I dont doubt TIFF made up its own mind on the merits of focusing on whatever city they chose, & I doubt it was susceptible to "pressure." but it seems kind of odd to suggest, if that's what you're doing, that the TIFF board had zero interest in & completely ignored efforts to get Tel Aviv chosen. & I see nothing wrong with them hearing what Gissin & friends had to say in plugging Tel Aviv. whether or not it was effective, who knows -- but I don't see any kind of sinister "hidden hand" thing with trying to get a film festival to consider focusing on your country's city. big whup. Another article on re-branding: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/world/middleeast/19israel.html?_r=2&hp “We will send well-known novelists and writers overseas, theater companies, exhibits,” said Arye Mekel, the ministry’s deputy director general for cultural affairs. “This way you show Israel’s prettier face, so we are not thought of purely in the context of war.” I dont doubt TIFF made up its own mind on the merits of focusing on whatever city they chose, & I doubt it was susceptible to “pressure.” but it seems kind of odd to suggest, if that’s what you’re doing, that the TIFF board had zero interest in & completely ignored efforts to get Tel Aviv chosen. & I see nothing wrong with them hearing what Gissin & friends had to say in plugging Tel Aviv. whether or not it was effective, who knows — but I don’t see any kind of sinister “hidden hand” thing with trying to get a film festival to consider focusing on your country’s city. big whup.

Another article on re-branding:

nytimes.com/20...
“We will send well-known novelists and writers overseas, theater companies, exhibits,” said Arye Mekel, the ministry’s deputy director general for cultural affairs. “This way you show Israel’s prettier face, so we are not thought of purely in the context of war.”

]]> By: themiddle http://www.jewlicious.com/2009/09/the-daily-lie-one-of-the-protest-letter-authors-opines-and-whines/#comment-1349970 themiddle Wed, 16 Sep 2009 03:30:08 +0000 http://www.jewlicious.com/?p=10291#comment-1349970 Xisnotx, that is the same article that the "protest" writers have been bandying about as evidence of some massive conspiracy. The film festival has denied it unequivocally. They have said they came to their decision to highlight Tel Aviv independently. The only way to dismiss such a denial is to call the organizers of the film festival liars. They wrote, "Furthermore, the City to City series was conceived and curated entirely independently. There was no pressure from any outside source. Contrary to rumours or mistaken media reports, this focus is a product only of TIFF’s programming decisions. We value that independence and would never compromise it." Isn't that perfectly clear? Gissin said that "that plans are in the works for a major Israeli presence at next year’s Toronto International Film Festival, with numerous Israeli, Hollywood and Canadian entertainment luminaries on hand." That isn't what happened at the festival though. Not even close. I repeat my contention that this is a person pulling a career enhancing stunt by preening for a Jewish media outlet. Maybe he hoped the three people he named would be appreciative of a public thank you, maybe he thought somebody would think he actually was doing something proactive to promote Israel, but I don't see how Israel can influence either a major foreign international film festival to put on a slate of films or how Israel can influence a large foreign museum to exhibit scrolls. By the way, it appears that John Greyson had extensive conversations with the festival attempting to influence them not to have a Tel Aviv spotlight. He appears to be quite influential based on the impact he's had in this situation and on the basis of his claim to be personally acquainted with the organizers of the TIFF for two decades. Does that count as influence-peddling? He is clearly an advocate for the Palestinians and is one of the board members of the recently founded Toronto Palestinian Film Festival which now has acquired a much higher public profile. Xisnotx, that is the same article that the “protest” writers have been bandying about as evidence of some massive conspiracy. The film festival has denied it unequivocally. They have said they came to their decision to highlight Tel Aviv independently.

The only way to dismiss such a denial is to call the organizers of the film festival liars. They wrote, “Furthermore, the City to City series was conceived and curated entirely independently. There was no pressure from any outside source. Contrary to rumours or mistaken media reports, this focus is a product only of TIFF’s programming decisions. We value that independence and would never compromise it.”

Isn’t that perfectly clear?

Gissin said that “that plans are in the works for a major Israeli presence at next year’s Toronto International Film Festival, with numerous Israeli, Hollywood and Canadian entertainment luminaries on hand.” That isn’t what happened at the festival though. Not even close.

I repeat my contention that this is a person pulling a career enhancing stunt by preening for a Jewish media outlet. Maybe he hoped the three people he named would be appreciative of a public thank you, maybe he thought somebody would think he actually was doing something proactive to promote Israel, but I don’t see how Israel can influence either a major foreign international film festival to put on a slate of films or how Israel can influence a large foreign museum to exhibit scrolls.

By the way, it appears that John Greyson had extensive conversations with the festival attempting to influence them not to have a Tel Aviv spotlight. He appears to be quite influential based on the impact he’s had in this situation and on the basis of his claim to be personally acquainted with the organizers of the TIFF for two decades. Does that count as influence-peddling? He is clearly an advocate for the Palestinians and is one of the board members of the recently founded Toronto Palestinian Film Festival which now has acquired a much higher public profile.

]]> By: xisnotx http://www.jewlicious.com/2009/09/the-daily-lie-one-of-the-protest-letter-authors-opines-and-whines/#comment-1349962 xisnotx Wed, 16 Sep 2009 02:45:19 +0000 http://www.jewlicious.com/?p=10291#comment-1349962 admittedly I haven't digested your voluminous investigations. at first glance, I think you may be understating the role and effectiveness of Gissin & the "Brand Israel" campaign in Toronto. The consulate in Toronto was chosen as a testing ground for the re-branding campaign, & they've been hard at it for months: http://www.cjnews.com/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15198&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=86 "Upon his posting to Canada last year, Gissin made it clear that his mission was to 'make Israel relevant. to Canadians and use Toronto as a test market for the Israel brand during his term. [...] "Gissin said the upcoming Toronto campaign is the outgrowth of partnerships with local Jewish business leaders who are not afraid to 'combine their businesses with their love for Israel.' "According to Gissin, the campaign launch could not have been achieved without the help of a triumvirate of high-powered business leaders in the community, namely Sidney Greenberg, vice-president of Astral Media; Joel Reitman, president and CEO of MIJO Corporation; and David Asper, executive vice-president of Canwest Global Communications Corp, all of whom have dedicated resources to Brand Israel. “This trio has come together in a significant way to help Israel create a $1-million campaign based solely on new brand thinking,” Gissin said. 'Never has there been this [scale] of combination of business and philanthropy for Israel.' [...] "The consul general also alluded to other major plans for next year in his Brand Israel attack arsenal. "He revealed the Dead Sea Scrolls are scheduled for exhibition in Toronto in 2009 and that plans are in the works for a major Israeli presence at next year’s Toronto International Film Festival, with numerous Israeli, Hollywood and Canadian entertainment luminaries on hand. "With the help of the Canada-Israel Cultural Foundation, Israel will also have a 'significant presence' at this year’s TIFF, he said." admittedly I haven’t digested your voluminous investigations. at first glance, I think you may be understating the role and effectiveness of Gissin & the “Brand Israel” campaign in Toronto. The consulate in Toronto was chosen as a testing ground for the re-branding campaign, & they’ve been hard at it for months:

cjnews.com/ind...

“Upon his posting to Canada last year, Gissin made it clear that his mission was to ‘make Israel relevant. to Canadians and use Toronto as a test market for the Israel brand during his term.
[...]

“Gissin said the upcoming Toronto campaign is the outgrowth of partnerships with local Jewish business leaders who are not afraid to ‘combine their businesses with their love for Israel.’

“According to Gissin, the campaign launch could not have been achieved without the help of a triumvirate of high-powered business leaders in the community, namely Sidney Greenberg, vice-president of Astral Media; Joel Reitman, president and CEO of MIJO Corporation; and David Asper, executive vice-president of Canwest Global Communications Corp, all of whom have dedicated resources to Brand Israel.

“This trio has come together in a significant way to help Israel create a $1-million campaign based solely on new brand thinking,” Gissin said. ‘Never has there been this [scale] of combination of business and philanthropy for Israel.’

[...]
“The consul general also alluded to other major plans for next year in his Brand Israel attack arsenal.

“He revealed the Dead Sea Scrolls are scheduled for exhibition in Toronto in 2009 and that plans are in the works for a major Israeli presence at next year’s Toronto International Film Festival, with numerous Israeli, Hollywood and Canadian entertainment luminaries on hand.

“With the help of the Canada-Israel Cultural Foundation, Israel will also have a ‘significant presence’ at this year’s TIFF, he said.”

]]> By: themiddle http://www.jewlicious.com/2009/09/the-daily-lie-one-of-the-protest-letter-authors-opines-and-whines/#comment-1349953 themiddle Wed, 16 Sep 2009 01:42:17 +0000 http://www.jewlicious.com/?p=10291#comment-1349953 Xisnotx, the TIFF has denied that they are playing a role in Israel's branding strategy. The whole assertion by Gissin was idiotic to begin with since Israel had nothing to do with what TIFF decided to do. He was taking credit, on behalf of Israel yet, of something that had nothing to do with Israeli policy or decision-making. It's as if I would take credit because some other site chose independently to give our website an award. The Israelis are morons. If they actually have a budget of $10 million to "rebrand" Israel, they should use it to brand the Palestinians as peace-destroyers for passing up on peace and state offers three times in the past decade. Why not put pressure on the Palestinians to come to peace? Why are all these supposed peace advocates not pressuring the Palestinians instead of Israel. As for Jane Fonda, I want to tell you that hers is the best piece of writing that has come out of this entire situation. I was planning to post about it, but I've been busy trying to unravel - without any tools a journalist might have - who is behind this group of "protesters." The language they used was so aggressive and almost doctrinaire, taken together with the fact that they attacked Tel Aviv of all cities, seems truly extreme and quite odd. Xisnotx, the TIFF has denied that they are playing a role in Israel’s branding strategy. The whole assertion by Gissin was idiotic to begin with since Israel had nothing to do with what TIFF decided to do. He was taking credit, on behalf of Israel yet, of something that had nothing to do with Israeli policy or decision-making. It’s as if I would take credit because some other site chose independently to give our website an award.

The Israelis are morons. If they actually have a budget of $10 million to “rebrand” Israel, they should use it to brand the Palestinians as peace-destroyers for passing up on peace and state offers three times in the past decade. Why not put pressure on the Palestinians to come to peace? Why are all these supposed peace advocates not pressuring the Palestinians instead of Israel.

As for Jane Fonda, I want to tell you that hers is the best piece of writing that has come out of this entire situation. I was planning to post about it, but I’ve been busy trying to unravel – without any tools a journalist might have – who is behind this group of “protesters.” The language they used was so aggressive and almost doctrinaire, taken together with the fact that they attacked Tel Aviv of all cities, seems truly extreme and quite odd.

]]> By: xisnotx http://www.jewlicious.com/2009/09/the-daily-lie-one-of-the-protest-letter-authors-opines-and-whines/#comment-1349946 xisnotx Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:38:07 +0000 http://www.jewlicious.com/?p=10291#comment-1349946 tm, fonda is backtracking: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-fonda/expanding-the-narrative_b_286406.html enuff for you? tm, fonda is backtracking: huffingtonpost...

enuff for you?

]]> By: xisnotx http://www.jewlicious.com/2009/09/the-daily-lie-one-of-the-protest-letter-authors-opines-and-whines/#comment-1349939 xisnotx Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:55:19 +0000 http://www.jewlicious.com/?p=10291#comment-1349939 Toronto film fest calls Israeli PR strategy into question http://jta.org/news/article/2009/09/15/1007888/toronto-festival-calls-israeli-pr-strategy-into-question Toronto film fest calls Israeli PR strategy into question
jta.org/news/a...

]]> By: themiddle http://www.jewlicious.com/2009/09/the-daily-lie-one-of-the-protest-letter-authors-opines-and-whines/#comment-1349936 themiddle Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:41:59 +0000 http://www.jewlicious.com/?p=10291#comment-1349936 The recipe looks great. The recipe looks great.

]]> By: richard wazana http://www.jewlicious.com/2009/09/the-daily-lie-one-of-the-protest-letter-authors-opines-and-whines/#comment-1349929 richard wazana Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:17:08 +0000 http://www.jewlicious.com/?p=10291#comment-1349929 I highly recommend Kathy Wazana's moroccan chicken. It's excellent. I highly recommend Kathy Wazana’s moroccan chicken. It’s excellent.

]]> By: Jewlicious » National Post in Canada picks up our story about the possible connection between Palestine House and the Toronto Film Festival “protesters” http://www.jewlicious.com/2009/09/the-daily-lie-one-of-the-protest-letter-authors-opines-and-whines/#comment-1349918 Jewlicious » National Post in Canada picks up our story about the possible connection between Palestine House and the Toronto Film Festival “protesters” Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:43:36 +0000 http://www.jewlicious.com/?p=10291#comment-1349918 [...] of the Toronto International Film Festival? Is he the “scholar” to which Kathy Wazana referred in her letter claiming that the group checked with “scholars” before publicizing the open letter to [...] [...] of the Toronto International Film Festival? Is he the “scholar” to which Kathy Wazana referred in her letter claiming that the group checked with “scholars” before publicizing the open letter to [...]

]]> By: Jewlicious » Is Toronto Film Festival Protest Organized by Palestine House? An Investigative Report http://www.jewlicious.com/2009/09/the-daily-lie-one-of-the-protest-letter-authors-opines-and-whines/#comment-1349901 Jewlicious » Is Toronto Film Festival Protest Organized by Palestine House? An Investigative Report Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:56:18 +0000 http://www.jewlicious.com/?p=10291#comment-1349901 [...] Jewlicious » The Daily Lie – One of The “Protest” Letter Authors Opines and ... [...] [...] Jewlicious » The Daily Lie – One of The “Protest” Letter Authors Opines and … [...]

]]> By: Barry http://www.jewlicious.com/2009/09/the-daily-lie-one-of-the-protest-letter-authors-opines-and-whines/#comment-1349793 Barry Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:24:00 +0000 http://www.jewlicious.com/?p=10291#comment-1349793 That letter reads like a talking points memo. There are no original opinions expressed in it, just the usual list of lies and omissions that are characteristic of every "protest" letter of its kind. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that she all but plagiarized it from a stopthewar.org pamphlet. I appreciate all the work you're putting into writing about this issue, middle, but I want to paraphrase a comment I made from one of your other TIFF posts -- I would not waste my time arguing about 1948 or South Africa 1985 or Gaza 2009 with somebody as deluded as Kathy Wazana. People like her and Naomi Klein are shifting the topic of the debate into relatively uncharted territory, and you're responding to issues that are already settled according to their warped logic. The only responses that are relevant at this time are: 1. Re: "Israeli political interests hijacking of the TIFF" ... for now, let's leave aside the fact that they're trotting out the same old Jewish conspiracy theories, by implying an overlap between the programming M.O. of TIFF and the interests of the Israeli government. What matters is this: TIFF is a movie festival. The "protesters" are the only people making this into a political issue, no political controversy existed before they showed up and claimed it to be so. They claim that TIFF is being political, but no, THEY are being political and they are LYING by characterizing the TIFF in that way. End of debate, end of story. 2. Tel Aviv was NOT founded and built on destroyed Arab villages and anyone who claims otherwise is LYING. End of debate, end of story. There is simply no leeway on either of these points. She is inventing a controversy surrounding Tel Aviv's origins, and by doing so, they are shifting the debate from the reasonable to the ridiculous. It's just like with the Dead Sea Scrolls protests -- the whole world knows that they're writings of an ancient Jewish sect, and then one day you wake up and a bunch of maniacs are claiming that they belong to the Palestinian people. Once you start debating these people on any segment of their overall argument, then their whole argument comes up for debate. So once you start debating Gaza with Karen Wazana, then by association, Tel Aviv 1909 becomes similarly controversial. That letter reads like a talking points memo. There are no original opinions expressed in it, just the usual list of lies and omissions that are characteristic of every “protest” letter of its kind. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that she all but plagiarized it from a stopthewar.org pamphlet.

I appreciate all the work you’re putting into writing about this issue, middle, but I want to paraphrase a comment I made from one of your other TIFF posts — I would not waste my time arguing about 1948 or South Africa 1985 or Gaza 2009 with somebody as deluded as Kathy Wazana. People like her and Naomi Klein are shifting the topic of the debate into relatively uncharted territory, and you’re responding to issues that are already settled according to their warped logic.

The only responses that are relevant at this time are:

1. Re: “Israeli political interests hijacking of the TIFF” … for now, let’s leave aside the fact that they’re trotting out the same old Jewish conspiracy theories, by implying an overlap between the programming M.O. of TIFF and the interests of the Israeli government. What matters is this: TIFF is a movie festival. The “protesters” are the only people making this into a political issue, no political controversy existed before they showed up and claimed it to be so. They claim that TIFF is being political, but no, THEY are being political and they are LYING by characterizing the TIFF in that way. End of debate, end of story.

2. Tel Aviv was NOT founded and built on destroyed Arab villages and anyone who claims otherwise is LYING. End of debate, end of story.

There is simply no leeway on either of these points. She is inventing a controversy surrounding Tel Aviv’s origins, and by doing so, they are shifting the debate from the reasonable to the ridiculous. It’s just like with the Dead Sea Scrolls protests — the whole world knows that they’re writings of an ancient Jewish sect, and then one day you wake up and a bunch of maniacs are claiming that they belong to the Palestinian people. Once you start debating these people on any segment of their overall argument, then their whole argument comes up for debate. So once you start debating Gaza with Karen Wazana, then by association, Tel Aviv 1909 becomes similarly controversial.

]]> By: xisnotx http://www.jewlicious.com/2009/09/the-daily-lie-one-of-the-protest-letter-authors-opines-and-whines/#comment-1349693 xisnotx Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:55:52 +0000 http://www.jewlicious.com/?p=10291#comment-1349693 nobody puts tel aviv in a corner: http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2009/09/dirty_dancing_star_patrick_swa.html nobody puts tel aviv in a corner: nj.com/enterta...

]]> By: jkaplb http://www.jewlicious.com/2009/09/the-daily-lie-one-of-the-protest-letter-authors-opines-and-whines/#comment-1349289 jkaplb Sun, 13 Sep 2009 07:24:28 +0000 http://www.jewlicious.com/?p=10291#comment-1349289 This is great! Thank you for continuing to take the time to write such detailed posts. This is great! Thank you for continuing to take the time to write such detailed posts.

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