Tantura (2022)

Tantura was a Palestinian village on the coast of present-day Israel, south of Haifa. During the Nakba, a massacre of the inhabitants took place here by the Alexandroni Brigade of what was then the Zionist fighting group, but which would later become the Israeli army, with somewhere between the 'dozens' and about 250 deaths. The ethnic cleansing was complemented by the deportation of the survivors and, later, the demolition of the village.

The Jewish-Israeli historian Teddy Katz of the University of Haifa wrote a thesis on this in 1998, featuring neatly recorded interviews with perpetrators and survivors. There is also some additional documentary evidence, but not much. Katz received a 9.7 for the thesis. Initially, the thesis went into the library and not much happened. But a few years later, a journalist tracked down the thesis, published an article about it, which led to a large, coordinated effort to destroy Katz and his reputation. They succeeded, partly because the veterans coordinated to adjust their story.

This documentary was released in 2022, which brought the case back to light. It is an Israeli documentary, and the emphasis therefore lies on the attempts to whitewash the history of the State of Israel, particularly the Nakba, and the undermining and obstruction of historians seeking to uncover the truth. Schwarz handles this well, clearly and structurally building his case to demonstrate how Ben Gurion realized from the very beginning that this was an important project for the legitimization of the State of Israel, a project that continues to this day.

(As seen on Prime)

Translated from Dutch · View original