We had a very successful night showing My Neighbourhood, followed by Jeff Cohen's presentation. Jeff had visited the family portrayed in the film and talked about the family's continued battle to get their house back from Israeli settlers.
We had many questions about the occupation, the US involvement in supporting it, and the role of established religion in this country in hiding Israeli's apartheid practices from our citizens. Several audience members talked about their Jewish upbringing and how difficult it was reconciling the ideals of their religious beliefs with the horrors of the racial humiliation and ethnic cleansing being done in the Jewish state.
Jay had liberated a Nazi concentration camp as a young, Jewish soldier in World War II. His remembrance of that time coupled with a sad recognition of fascist tendencies in the state of Israel made us all think about the use the Holocaust by religious groups in denying human rights to Palestinians.
We had a nice crowd at the event. Close to 40 people saw the film and listened to Jeff Cohen's talk.
