No criticism of Israel
I considered going to this film festival in London and so had a look at their website. Here's what I found:
No mention of any films or TV shows showing the plight of the Palestinian people upon whom Israel currently imposes a de facto policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide. No films or TV shows criticising Israel at all. Makes you wonder how independent Seret-International is from the propaganda issued by the Israeli apartheid government.
Hollywood at least made films depicting the American genocide of the American Indians in reverse: casting native peoples as murdering savages attacking groups of 'defenceless' white men and women (like the Israelis, the American invaders were armed whilst their victims were not) driving their wagons in a circle in fear of being scalped (a ritual introduced by the white invaders). It was all lies of course and the so-called 'savages' were just defending themselves against invasion, theft of their land, broken promises, and a systematic genocide far greater than anything the world has seen before or since.
On the other hand, Israel's indigenous people - the Palestinian people - don't even get a mention in Seret films and TV shows even though they are being treated worse than animals by Israel. Why? Because in the internet age when the public are better informed, unlike the stereotyped American Indians in Hollywood propaganda films of the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s, it's hard to get away with any portrayal of a people as the aggressors when they continue to be ravaged by Israeli apartheid for the past 70 years.
750 000 Palestinians were driven from their homes by the Israelis the month Israel was set up in 1948, handed to them by the British, who have done nothing since to right the wrongs they caused. Israel as a state was never legally endorsed by the United Nations, but since 1948 the Israeli government, as an occupying force, has invaded and stolen Palestine. Palestinian homes continue to be demolished against International Law, Palestinians are tortured and incarcerated, their children put in prison (2018), men executed in cold blood in the street in broad daylight even when they've already been shot and are lying helpless (2017), their executioners celebrated as heroes.
Deprived of educational opportunities and decent basic healthcare, harassed at military checkpoints every day of their lives, and shot in the head for simply standing too near an Israeli fence (see the videos on youtube 2018), the Palestinians that the mainstream media largely ignores are being made to suffer as the 'civilised west' stands idly by, avoiding any real action or criticism of Israel's crimes. And in the USA's case, openly blaming the Palestinian's for getting themselves shot. It seems that the US establishment - best friends with an Israel that practices the same dark racism - has yet to evolve beyond its rapacious policies against indigenous people of colour.
No, even Seret would find it difficult to turn all this into convincing entertainment or 'art' outside of a captive Israeli audience fed on its own self-deceptions of Godliness and Holier-than-thou entitlements to a stolen country where ethnic cleansing is somehow permitted as righteous. But in reality there is no evidence of Yahweh in the actions of the Israeli State, and no evidence of the horrific truth upon which Israel is built in anything Seret produces.
From the Seret website: "Israeli films are the eyes and ears of a new generation of filmmakers. They reflect a melting pot of cultures, religions and social backgrounds, encouraging audiences to rethink their views." What melting pot? From outside of Israel it looks more like a cauldron, smoking and boiling away whilst the international community turns a blind eye.
Or this statement also on the Seret website, which takes on a special significance when we bear in mind the disabled Palestinian man in Gaza today, shot to death in his wheelchair by the Israeli army: "The Ruderman Family Foundation believes that inclusion and understanding of all people is essential to a fair and flourishing community. Guided by Jewish values, Ruderman foundation advocate for and advance the inclusion of people with disabilities throughout our society; and model the practice of strategic philanthropy worldwide."
It's a shame such 'strategic philanthropy' is never extended to Gaza or the West Bank by Seret or its foundation sponsors.
In this context, is it any wonder the Seret Film Festival in London has been boycotted? After reading their website and seeing what they're about, any involvement in Seret becomes the height of collusion in bloody murder.