Israelism
Erin Axelman & Sam Eilertsen / United States / 2023 / 84 min
Two young American Jews are raised to love Israel unconditionally, but their lives take a sharp left turn when they experience the plight of the Palestinians. A film about Jewish identity on both sides of the generation gap.
Simone and Eitan are raised to defend the state of Israel at all costs. Eitan joins the Israeli military. Simone supports Israel on ‘the other battlefield:’ America’s college campuses. When they witness Israel’s mistreatment of the Palestinian people with their own eyes, they are horrified and heartbroken. They join the movement of young American Jews battling the old guard over Israel’s centrality in American Judaism, and demanding freedom for the Palestinian people. Their stories reveal a generational divide in the American Jewish community as more young Jews question the narratives their synagogues and Hebrew school teachers fed them as children.