A hit job?
A hit job?
It started last week with Backspin carrying an item from Reuters that Steven Spielberg is preparing to make a movie of Israel's effort to track down and kill the perpetrators of the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre. Backspin notes that the book on which the movie is to be based has been "discredited" but offers no details.
Devarim follows up with the story from the NY Times on "Spielberg's Next Gamble." In particular Devarim is worried:
I can't decide what will be worse: humanizing the Mossad agents too much (leading audiences to wonder what kind of sick people could have so many doubts and still go through with the assassinations) or not making them human enough (leading audiences to believe that the IDF is made up of a bunch of heartless killing machines).
Sha! comes to the rescue and explains how the Jonas book has been discredited.
July 06, 2005
Playing With Fire
Therefore, Spielberg's alleged reliance on one Yuval Aviv, an Israeli living in New York who contributed significantly to the 1984 book Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team by Canadian journalist George Jonas, is likely to worsen the situation. According to one of today's Haaretz articles , Yuval is something of a con man who spins fabulous yarns about espionage to eager reporters and anyone else who will pay him for information.
As far as Devarim's concerns, I cannot address them. However about 30 years ago, I read a book, 'The Hit Team" by David B. Tinnin. As I recall it made the agents look human and not without remorse or too emotional.
The success of the movie from my standpoint will be based on how much background Spielberg uses. He should use the
hardhitting journalism of Sports Illustrated:
Though he didn't know what the money was being spent for, longtime Fatah official Mahmoud Abbas, a.k.a. Abu Mazen, was responsible for the financing of the Munich attack. Abu Mazen could not be reached for comment regarding Abu Daoud's allegation. After Oslo in 1993, Abu Mazen went to the White House Rose Garden for a photo op with Arafat, President Bill Clinton and Israel's Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres. "Do you think that ... would have been possible if the Israelis had known that Abu Mazen was the financier of our operation?" Abu Daoud writes. "I doubt it." Today the Bush Administration seeks a Palestinian negotiating partner "uncompromised by terror," yet last year Abu Mazen met in Washington with Secretary of State Colin Powell.
If Spielberg is unwilling to shine a light on Abu Mazen's role the movie will be a waste.
Crossposted on
Israpundit and
Soccer Dad.
Posted by David Gerstman at July 7, 2005 01:33 AM
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1
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BobW
said:
I expect, at most, one reference to Munich and a 2 hour plus movie about Lillehammer, Norway.
Our enemies are sophisticated propagandists.
Kol tuv,
BobW
Posted by: BobW on July 7, 2005 02:38 AM
A hit job?
It started last week with Backspin carrying an item from Reuters that Steven Spielberg is preparing to make a movie of Israel's effort to track down and kill the perpetrators of the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre. Backspin notes that the book on which the movie is to be based has been "discredited" but offers no details.
Devarim follows up with the story from the NY Times on "Spielberg's Next Gamble." In particular Devarim is worried:
Sha! comes to the rescue and explains how the Jonas book has been discredited.
As far as Devarim's concerns, I cannot address them. However about 30 years ago, I read a book, 'The Hit Team" by David B. Tinnin. As I recall it made the agents look human and not without remorse or too emotional.
The success of the movie from my standpoint will be based on how much background Spielberg uses. He should use the hardhitting journalism of Sports Illustrated: If Spielberg is unwilling to shine a light on Abu Mazen's role the movie will be a waste.
Crossposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.
Posted by David Gerstman at July 7, 2005 01:33 AM