Firth: A Screenplay or a Sham?

The film that director Michael Winterbottom is now working on in which two British policeman, Thomas Wilkin, and Geoffrey Morton,hunt down the unarmed Avraham “Yair” Stern, storm his apartment on Mizrachi Street in Tel Aviv and kill him is, according to those who have presumably also seen the screenplay, taken completely from a British viewpoint.

The Jewish characters are portrayed in a highly negative manner. The screenplay is written to show atrocities committed solely by Jews who are described as terrorists.

Laurence Coriat provided the screenplay, which, according to Joel B. Pollack writing in Andrew Breitbart’s Big Hollywood blog, embodies an anti-Israel bias. Pollack wrote his piece in February 2011 and the screenplay may well be different once the final draft is approved.

Coriat, however, in 2006, apparently signed an open letter accusing Israel of harming Lebanese infrastructures, omitting however to mention the cause of Israel’s military response: Hezbollah’s unprovoked attack within Israeli territory and the killing and kidnapping of Israeli soldiers.

It seems it is open season now on Jews to rewrite history with an anti-Israel and ant-Jewish bias while studiously avoiding any labeling of Arabs and Muslims - todays and yesterday’s true terrorists - as such due to self-imposed British political correctness.

Much of what really took place during those days of extreme passion and rage is left out in the film. Atrocities committed by British soldiers and police are ignored, which casts yet more doubt on the credibility or fair and balanced nature of the script.

What a one sided piece.

The Irgun and Stern gangs were terrorists, end of. The writer lists a series of alleged British atrocities, yet ignores the vile acts of both groups: the bombing of the King David Hotel, the torture and murder of two British sergeants (Martin and Paice) whose bodies were boobytrapped in order to kill more British soldiers, the brutal assaination of Count Bernadotte, a man who spent WW2 SAVING thousands of Jews!.

The writer ignores that just TWO British deserters were involved in the Ben Yehuda bombing, and that it was an attack by Arabs using British trucks. Not ‘by the British’ There were more British trucks than men!.

And the 16 year old killed?. Farran, the British soldier accused was eventually found not guilty simply because there was one piece of evidence, and that was extremely circumstancial.

The Stern and Irgun were so vile that even the Haganah fought WITH the British to hunt their members down. Stern was such a fanatic that in 1941 he even met with Nazi agents and agreed to attack the British in Palestine in return for an agreement for Hitler to allow Europe’ Jews to be sent to Palestine.

Thank god for REAL Jews like David Ben Gurion who refused to condone men like Begin or Stern. Men like Ben Gurion fought for Israel’s freedom without resorting to murder.

If modern attempts to portray Hamas, the PLO, Hezbollah as freedom fighters instead of the murdering terrorists they actually are is disgusting, then frankly so is the idea that the Irgun and Stern gangs, and men like Begin and Stern were freedom fighters and heroes.

Nor the disgusting attempts to equate British policy with the Nazis. We are the people who stood alone against the Nazis, we are the people who liberated the likes of Belsen.

Was British policy in hindsight wrong or at times badly flawed?. Yes.

But that was and is no justification for the acts of the two terrorists groups from 1944-48 in Palestine.The Irgun and Stern Gangs were terrorists and murderers, not heroes.

“What a one sided piece.”

What a one-sided response.

The Irgun and Stern gangs were terrorists, end of. The writer lists a series of alleged British atrocities, yet ignores the vile acts of both groups: the bombing of the King David Hotel,

Except that that was done with the active participation of your hero, David Ben Gurion, for the simple reason that that “flawed” little venture, the British Mandate, had just frozen all Jewish immigration and settlement in Israel, and also had all its intelligence files at the King David Hotel. Far from being a “vile act,” it was a humanitarian and surgical strike that put an end once and for all to the British Mandate, may it rest forever more in pieces.

” the torture and murder of two British sergeants (Martin and Paice) whose bodies were boobytrapped in order to kill more British soldiers,”

Note that the Irgun and Lechi were fighting a revolutionary war against the British, so soldiers were fair game, as are Israeli soldiers, who are almost never the target here, because they have a nasty tendency to shoot back. Instead, civilians are the intended victim, 83% of the time. I don’t know about Lechi, but the Irgun went to extraordinary lengths to avoid civilian casualties.

the brutal assaination of Count Bernadotte, a man who spent WW2 SAVING thousands of Jews!.

And that I don’t defend. Lehi was completely in the wrong, and let’s leave it at that.

And the 16 year old killed?.

Which one? There were several, one allowed to die while in a British jail of his untreated, festering wounds, inflicted by British soldiers .

Farran, the British soldier accused was eventually found not guilty simply because there was one piece of evidence, and that was extremely circumstancial.

Farran was the officer. He was the sole man accused, because he was responsible for the actions of his men, whom he should have identified. Good enough for British Mandatory officials, perhaps, and their apologists.

The Stern and Irgun were so vile that even the Haganah fought WITH the British to hunt their members down.

In other words, were informers. Try reading Long is the Journey to Freedom, by Yaakov Meridor (is it available in English?) for another view of these vile quislings.

Stern was such a fanatic that in 1941 he even met with Nazi agents and agreed to attack the British in Palestine in return for an agreement for Hitler to allow Europe’ Jews to be sent to Palestine.

Nothing fanatical about that. He chose the survival of millions, or at least hundreds of thousands of his fellow Jews over British colonial pretensions. Sorry the deal wasn’t realized. Oh, but wait. They were Nazis, right? And Nazis are bad, right. So leave them to it. At least the British wouldn’t have to get their hands dirty killing “sixty million Jews if you don’t bloody well behave.”

Thank god for REAL Jews like David Ben Gurion who refused to condone men like Begin or Stern. Men like Ben Gurion fought for Israel’s freedom without resorting to murder.

Ben Gurion was a traitor and a collaborator. You have a funny notion of fighting. The British were there. They were the enemy. Attacking their soldiers was self-defense, not murder.

If modern attempts to portray Hamas, the PLO, Hezbollah as freedom fighters instead of the murdering terrorists they actually are is disgusting,

because they attack civilians? Murder infants in their beds? Fire rockets at school busses?

then frankly so is the idea that the Irgun and Stern gangs, and men like Begin and Stern were freedom fighters and heroes.

who have no such history, and in fact took extraordinary precautions to avoid civilian casualties (http://www.hirhome.com/israel/deir-yassin.htm).

Nor the disgusting attempts to equate British policy with the Nazis. We are the people who stood alone against the Nazis,

You mean the Soviet Union, French and Dutch free armies, and the United States didn’t even get to help? Please. Britain and its colonies of course fought bravely against the Nazis in Europe and the Japanese in Asia and the Pacific. But the alternative was pretty bleak. Even there, I’d suggest a look at Lin Yu Tang’s Between Tears and Laughter (Doubleday, 1940) for some perspective on British war policy.

we are the people who liberated the likes of Belsen.

Eventually, sometime towards the end of the war, after the damage was all done, somebody would have to liberate Bergen Belsen. As much antipathy as I might have for some of the UK’s behavior in the ‘40’s and ‘30’s, I would not accuse them of continuing to administer the extermination camps and continuing where the Nazis left off. But this is not a big item on the inventory of British virtues.

Was British policy in hindsight wrong or at times badly flawed?. Yes.

Ha! Big of you.

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