UK propaganda film showcases Palestinian kids killed during Israel’s defensive actions, ignores jihad incitement

British director Michael Winterbottom has teamed up with Palestinian filmmaker Mohammed Sawwaf to showcase Palestinian children who tragically died last year during Operation Guardian of the Walls. But the film omits the surrounding circumstances. It is a one-sided tear-jerker, intended to tug at heartstrings, crudely using raw grief to demonize Israel and, inevitably, any Jew who supports the existence of the Jewish state. The film has a Hollywood presence, too; it is narrated by Kate Winslet, the actress who played Rose on the movie Titanic.

A year ago, Hamas launched a barrage of rocket fire at Israel, which defended itself. Israel had no choice. Hamas knew that innocent children would die in an Israeli defensive counterstrike, but a culture that promotes Islamic martyrdom and the obliteration of Israel from the River to the Sea has different priorities from our own. The Palestinians send innocent children to their deaths as human shields, raise them to believe that killing Jews in seeking Islamic martyrdom is the highest calling to which they can aspire, send them to jihad summer camp, and when the children are deemed old enough, pay them to slaughter Israelis via the infamous pay-for-slay program. 

Death is glorified in the way of Allah, and the Palestinians live out this vision daily.

(Sahih Bukhari 4.52.50) A man asked Muhammad, “Instruct me as to such a deed as equals Jihad (in reward).” Muhammad replied, “I do not find such a deed.” 

(Sahih Bukhari 4.52.44) “Allah guarantees that he will admit the Muslim fighter into Paradise if he is killed, otherwise he will return him home safely with rewards and war booty.”

But then Palestinians and their allies tell the Western world that Israel is a cold-blooded murdering nation for defending itself from the jihad. They instrumentalize the deaths of little children to do this.

People who know little about the history of jihad and the Palestinian determination to obliterate the Jewish state believe the propaganda.

You can already see the hate on this child’s face. He only knows what he is indoctrinated to believe:

The film will not soothe the grief of Palestinians. It will strengthen Palestinian hatred of Jews, a hatred that was demonstrably intense long before the founding of the Jewish state. 

The film will effectively throw fuel on the fire in service of igniting another global intifada. 

“Michael Winterbottom: ‘This is a film we made for people in Gaza,’” by Anealia Safdar, Al Jazeera, May 10, 2022: 

London, United Kingdom – A boy who adored Sergio Ramos and all things Real Madrid. A girl who wanted to become a journalist. A seven-year-old who had a brain condition and loved to eat tomatoes with every meal. A toddler who never grew tired of playing hide and seek behind a door. A seven-month-old boy who had just learned how to crawl and was showered in kisses by his siblings.

These are some of the 67 children who were killed in Israel’s 11-day bombing campaign on Gaza last May.

Some suffered violent deaths in their sleep, others were killed while at home or in their neighbourhoods as they played or ran simple errands.

The conflict erupted as tensions over occupied East Jerusalem rose. Israel claimed it was intending to damage Hamas’s military abilities, but rights groups and several governments were alarmed by the growing number of child casualties – the overwhelming majority of whom were Palestinian.

After watching news of the attacks from Britain, Michael Winterbottom, a celebrated director, decided to make a film remembering these young victims – and so he linked up with Mohammed Sawwaf, a Palestinian filmmaker on the ground.

Sawwaf sent about 100 hours of footage to Winterbottom, who edited the documentary, narrated by Kate Winslet, in a dark cutting room in London.

For about 80 minutes, the audience witnesses mere moments of lifetime pains….