Zeteo / August 7, 2024
Mehdi Hasan – Founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief of Zeteo:
For those of you who haven’t heard of the film yet or haven’t seen the trailer, Israel’s Reel Extremism is an on-the-ground examination of Israel and its society after many months of war, seen initially through the prism of viral social media posts from Gaza – and exclusive interviews with the soldiers behind them. These posts across TikTok and Instagram, some shared millions of times, show soldiers humiliating bound Palestinians, ransacking their homes, joking as they detonate schools and whole districts, and laughing as they launch high explosive ordnance into densely-packed areas. The award-winning team behind this Basement Films production traveled to Israel to interview soldiers, radical activists, rightwing politicians, and media personalities, revealing an Israeli Jewish society that, in the aftermath of October 7th, is gripped by vengeance and hate.
This is a documentary pitch that Basement Films, an award-winning production company in the UK, came to Zeteo with when no one else in the mainstream media on either side of the Atlantic was willing to consider it – and when you see the material in the final film, you’ll quickly understand why.
“Liberal supporters of Israel need to face this horrifying reality,” notes Simone Zimmerman, the Jewish-American peace activist featured in the documentary Israelism. It’s “hard to watch, but hard to look away from,” says Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator.
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