Farewell Israel: Bush, Iran, and The Revolt of Islam
by Joel Gilbert
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DVD details
Director: Joel GilbertBrand: Music Video Dist
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 145 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-11-20
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Highway 61 Entertainment
Product features:
- This DVD is a historic journey, from the birth of Islam, through it's 1200 year reign over the civilized world, to the last 300 years of Islamic decline, overtaken and dominated by the West, then humiliated by a Jewish state. Islam's historic trials with Jews, and its relationship with conquered non-believers, help illustrate the Islamic world view - through the eyes of Muslims. At the dir
DVD Reviews of Farewell Israel: Bush, Iran, and The Revolt of Islam
DVD Review: A critical review
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm from Israel, but I feel this provocative and interesting documentary needs some criticism of its flaws in order to extract valuable information from it and put it in its proper context.
Although this documentary rapidly provides a crash course in everything from the basics of the Muslim religion, the history of Islam, and the full history of Israel and Israeli wars, the ultimate goal is to portray and make its point about Islam being at its core a repressive, expansionist, often violent, and above all, a misunderstood religion. The primary goal is not a historical documentary, but a didactic exercise to illuminate our Western eyes and make us understand an alien way of thinking and its consequences.
For example, it explains the two different types of peace, the Muslim concept of justice, and the fact that even the famously tolerant Muslim rulers of old only allowed other religions in their countries as inferior, primitive versions of themselves, forcing many restrictions and humiliations on them, not because they were intolerant in practice, but because they interpret tolerance as something different from Westerners!
This movie posits that even so-called moderate Arabs, if they are religious, are bound to the grand view of the world dominated by Islam. Non-Muslims are either eradicated or subjugated under the superior Islamic worldview that overrides all previous religions. I.e. other religions are tolerated only because they are precursors to Islam, but they are inferior and misleading and must therefore be treated with disrespect.
In addition, this view of the world that sees a dominating worldwide Islam as the apex of social evolution and the true goals of God explains how Israel and the Western powers become such an incredibly incitant and wounding insult when they dominate Arabs and flex their power, thus undermining God's plan
This is all very illuminating, and despite the fact that I personally sensed and understood much of this beforehand, it was refreshing to see it all presented so systematically.
But then there are the flaws:
1. The documentary may feel one-sided and biased for Israel to some. All of the fanatics and bad things Arabs did are presented, but the extremist Israelis, namely the Zionist settlers who believe it is their religious right to grab more land and settle it, as well as some military excesses in the past, and some mistreatment of Palestinians are almost never mentioned.
BUT, this does not mean that these are comparable. What 'objective' documentaries usually do is call it a cycle of violence, unfairly comparing some Israeli military excesses, insensitivity, abuse and mistakes to the constant Palestinian killing of children, unfair demands, hatred, and fanatic drive to obliterate Israel.
But this should not be a problem as this documentary has a purpose that goes beyond documenting the history of violence as explained above.
2. Lack of a discussion-based presentation, much more footage of the people involved presenting their views, and thus more proof. This movie is didactic and offers its unapologetic opinion as fact, whereas I would have preferred greater emphasis placed on interviews and footage to present its case.
But this doesn't disqualify its case. What this means is that you have to take it with a grain of salt, do your own research and thinking and choose whether to accept its opinions or not. I chose to accept it, but with limitations, as I will explain below.
3. Some editing feels like cheating. Mubarak's speech seems to be cut-off so that it will sound like he is confirming the evil plan narrated by the documentary, but he could be referring to something else. The anti-peace leaders are portrayed as strong, while the leaders this documentary doesn't like (e.g. Peres), are shown nodding off during an interview. Etc.
So be careful, but don't throw out the baby with the bath-water. This is like a subtler version of Michael Moore - it is manipulative but that doesn't mean he is wrong. Think it through for yourself!
4. The final problem I have is my strong skepticism on the idea that all religious Muslims have a unifying religious ideal of world domination for which they all fight for. By far the strongest argument against this viewpoint is the fact that Arabs fight each other.
Moderate rulers fight with fanatics, Hamas kills Fatah, Palestinians kill Jordanians, countries refuse to take in Palestinians, Iraq fights itself, etc. Perhaps they simply differ on their approach although their ultimate goals are the same, but would they kill each other this often if they all agreed on the basics? You decide!
A telling example is this movie's treatment of Sadat. According to this movie, Sadat was using diplomacy to obliterate Israel by appearing to go for peace. But then it shows Sadat making statements about how religion should be separate from state, and how he jailed and angered many Muslims, until he was assassinated. If he was going for religious Muslim domination over Israel, why was he so hated? This segment is the most confusing part of the documentary and it does not make its point well at all. That's not to say it is wrong, but there is too much evidence that contradicts it.
Is Egypt really still plotting to wipe out Israel despite peace agreements or has it learned to 'tolerate' and cooperate somewhat with its neighbour even though it may hate it? What about Jordan? Did it become moderate after the six-day war and finally give in to co-existance with Israel or is it just smoldering and waiting for its chance to obliterate Israel? Who knows. This documentary says they all want world domination due to religion, but offers no proof and aren't there varying interpretations of Muslim law?
On the other hand, we have Palestinian polls, over 70% of which support suicide bombing and vote for Hamas, and Palestinian official policy and education that instructs children how Israel has no right to exist, all seemingly confirming the notion that the majority want Islamic rule, violence and expansionist goals simply because they are religious.
And as for the title and pessimistic conclusion, once again, it is a valid consistent point based on its viewpoint, but are things really that black and white? As a warning when dealing with Arabs, this should get 6 stars out of 5, but as a comprehensive viewpoint, I'm too skeptical.
So in summary, I think this is a valuable and educational viewpoint on Islam, but I think it simplifies things too much. Watch it and learn, then complement it with your own research.
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