Eyal Sivan has been the target of a witch hunt for an entire week. Since publication of reports that he will direct a film supported by the Rabinovitch Foundation he's been called "anti-Israeli" and "pro-Palestinian," but he's remained silent. "I've been abandoned," he says, and claims that the reports were intended to influence the decision of the public committees.
Last Wednesday an item appeared in the press stating that Sivan had been chosen to direct a film called "Jaffa" as part of a combined project of channel 8, the Rabinovitch Foundation, and the Jerusalem Cinematheque. The item did not speak about the film itself; instead it pointed its arrows at Sivan, calling him "anti-Israeli," "pro-Palestinian," and claiming he "presents Eichmann as a nice person" in his 1999 film "The Specialist". Minister Ya'akov Edri called Sivan "anti-Jewish", and MK Yoel Hasson wrote to the Rabinovitch Foundation asking: "Is it possible that he should enjoy public money in the state he loathes so much?"
In this interview Sivan breaks his silence, confronting the accusations for the first time. "The series of reports are character assassination, an indictment and a verdict without trial," he says. "People are not allowed to judge and decide for themselves, they have contempt for them and they are directing their thoughts."
You've remained silent for a week. Why have you chosen to respond? "I don't create for the readers of Ha'aretz, I believe in the screen and the public and in each person's ability to look, think, and form his own opinion without guidance from above. This is out of control."
So the campaign has succeeded? "Yes. Once a person is called an anti-Semite, a Hamasnik, anti-Israeli, it takes root. I've been convicted in a public kangaroo court without the right of defense, without proof, on the basis of rumors. Without the State Comptroller, without reports, without the law. I've been thrown to the dogs... it isn't clear why I'm being allowed to breathe."
This isn't the first time the 43-year old Sivan has been at the center of controversy, as in 1987 his film "Aqabat Jaber, Passing Through", which dealt with Palestinian refugees, created an uproar. Sivan was born in Haifa and grew up in Jerusalem; in 1985 he went to Paris for a vacation and stayed there for nearly 20 years, making films connected to the Middle East. "It's true that I lived in France, but I make films that take responsibility for what is happening here. I have only an Israeli passport... I am Israeli, and this is what gets everyone so angry."
Why do you annoy so many people? "Perhaps I am the child who calls out: 'The emperor has no clothes!' Perhaps it's because I love the people I film, and I present them as human beings."
Sivan's new cinematic project, "Jaffa", to be produced by Arik Bernstein and Osnat Trabelsi, is about the Jaffa brand and its connection to Israel. "This is a film that will combine tons of photographs and posters and archival films," says Sivan. "There is no one person who has the truth, and this is precisely the argument — there are those who believe that they have the exclusive truth. I have questions."
What really makes your blood boil? "Being called an anti-Semite. For me that is a terrible curse, making anti-Semitism banal. Finkielkraut called me a Nazi... It's enough to look at talkbacks to see the confusion between anti-Semitism and criticism, between discussion and a desire for equality. Anyone who speaks about equality in Israel is accused of anti-Semitism. It's a wave that's become a maelstrom."
Source : Merav Yudilovitch — Ynetnews, 06.08.2007