Israelism

 

Israelism is a 2023 American documentary about the portrayal of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in American Jewish institutions. Directed by Erin Axelman and Sam Eilertsen, it has screened at various film festivals in the United States and won a Brooklyn Film Festival Spirit Award.

The film is critical of Israel's treatment of Palestinians, and of the American Jewish community's education on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It follows two American Jews as they learn about the conflict and come to revise their views. The film also includes interviews with academics and political activists.

Israel is central to the political and cultural life of the American Jewish community. But it has also become a deeply divisive subject, as painful cracks have emerged within the Jewish community over the Israel-Palestine conflict, inspiring argument, protest and even censorship. ISRAELISM explores the past, present and future of the relationship between American Jews and Israel. Dozens of American Jewish thinkers, community leaders and activists share stories of falling in love with Israel, and competing visions for a Jewish future, while Israelis and Palestinians describe how their lives are affected by the decisions of a community half a world away. Israelism asks how and why Israel became the cornerstone of American Judaism, what the consequences have been, and what will happen as divisions continue grow.