When the Wilkinson Library hosted a screening of a film last April that
examined Israeli peace activists protesting against the State of Israel, a
global issue became a lively local discussion.
That discussion continues with the upcoming screening of the award-winning
documentary UNMASKED: JUDEOPHOBIA-The Threat to Civilization. Wilkinson Library will once again host the
film followed by a Q&A and discussion with acclaimed Director and Producer,
Gloria Greenfield.
In
this film, director Gloria Greenfield travels throughout Israel, Europe and
North America covering the contemporary rise of anti-Jewish ideology. Using interviews with 70 Jewish and
non-Jewish experts in the fields of history, law, literature, media,
philosophy, political science, psychology and sociology, Greenfield seeks
to understand the forces that view the existence of a Jewish state and the
Jewish community as the source of the world’s problems. Those interviewed include author and lawyer
Alan Dershowitz, Senator Joe Lieberman, Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky,
author and anti-Semitism expert Robert Wistrich, Nobel Prize laureate Elie
Wiesel, Wall Street Journal writer and former Jerusalem Post editor Bret
Stephens, British Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Canadian MP Irwin Cotler, former
U.N. ambassador John Bolton, British attorney Anthony Julius, Israeli Deputy
Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Jerusalem Post columnist Caroline Glick and many
others.
Greenfield developed the premise of this film
after she premiered her documentary, The Case for Israel: Democracy’s Outpost. Speaking in front of Christian, Jewish and
secular audiences in North America and Israel, she learned that Israel’s right
to exist as a Jewish state, was widely questioned. “It became clear to me that there was confusion
about why the Jewish state was being singled out, and many people thought that
attacks on Israel had something to do with policies or territories,” Greenfield
explains. Instead, Greenfield suggests
that this hatred towards the Jewish state is about a refusal to accept the
Jewish people’s right to self-determination and Israel, the Jewish homeland, as
one of world’s legitimate nation-states.
To unmask the issue of Judeophobia, this film
provides a basic understanding of the history of conflict in the Middle East
and documents how hatred towards the State of Israel and the Jewish community
is rapidly accelerating in the world. The film then suggests that as this hatred
continues and others groups are demeaned by similar intolerance, western
civilization will suffer as a result. “I
believe that good and decent people do not tolerate hatred once they are aware
of it,” says Greenfield. She said the purpose of the film is to “awaken all the
good and decent people to stand up and speak against it.”
Gloria
Greenfield brings over 30 years of experience with Jewish issues. Her previous film credits include The Case for Israel: Democracy’s Outpost
(Doc Emet Productions, 2008) and Chazak,
Chazak, v’Nitchazek: Bold Ideas from Three Leaders (PEJE, 2010). Among the
positions that Greenfield held prior to founding Doc Emet Productions, where
she serves as President, are strategy manager for the Partnership for
Excellence in Jewish Education, director of the Adult Learning Collaborative
for Combined Jewish Philanthropies, and executive director of The David
Project, where she broadened the organization’s mission to focus on Jewish
leadership development and launched groundbreaking Israel advocacy programs for
American students in Israel. In May 2005, the Bureau of Jewish Education of
Greater Boston awarded Greenfield their Keter Torah Award for her contribution
to Jewish education.
A reception with Gloria Greenfield and sponsors
Ziva and Andrew Dahl and Marlene and Martin Silver will begin at 5:30 p.m. in
the program room at the Wilkinson Public Library. After the reception, the film will begin
promptly at 6:00 p.m. Following the
screening, Gloria will be available to discuss the issues raised in the film
and the polemic surrounding the existence of a Jewish state.
