The Israeli movie “Waltz with Bashir” has been criticised for dismissing the Lebanese narrative of the massacre of Sabra and Shatila [Getty]
A major cultural association in Rome is facing mounting criticism from Palestinian and Lebanese activists over its decision to screen an Israeli film at a fundraising event for Lebanon.
ARCI Roma is a large left-wing social and cultural association that coordinates dozens of grassroots clubs and refugee-support projects across the Italian capital.
However the activists accused it of promoting a “Zionist” narrative of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the name of solidarity.
The association has frequently organised fundraising events throughout the course of Israel’s war on Gaza and, most recently, hosted a film screening to raise funds for the Italian non-profit ARCS in Lebanon, in light of Israel’s offensive against its northern neighbour.
For the event, organisers chose to screen the 2008 Israeli animated film “Waltz with Bashir”, directed by a former Israeli soldier who recounts his participation in the 1982 invasion of Lebanon.
The decision sparked outrage online, with members of Italy’s Palestinian and Lebanese communities – many of whom had until now seen ARCI Roma as a space of solidarity – condemning the choice of a film that excludes Lebanese perspectives at an event supposedly raising funds for Lebanese people.
The New Arab spoke with a group of Palestinian and Lebanese activists, who wished to remain anonymous, and who argued that “neither the film nor the event gives space to those who have suffered from the occupation and Israeli wars”.
One of the group’s spokespeople said they had contacted the organisers to spell out their concerns, explaining that they, as members of communities directly affected by Israeli campaigns such as the 1982 invasion, found the film “hugely problematic and Zionist because of its narrative”.
The semi-autobiographical film focuses on the psychological trauma, recurring nightmares and PTSD experienced by soldiers who took part in the war, particularly those who “assisted” in the massacres of Sabra and Shatila – when Israeli-backed right-wing Lebanese militias killed up to 3,500 Palestinian refugees and Lebanese civilians over the course of two days.
Activists also criticised the film’s linking of the Nazi Holocaust to the soldiers’ trauma, noting: “As Palestinians, we already paid the price of the Holocaust. So, it’s not our battle here. The movie brings a European perspective into this, even into our own death”.
The activists said they proposed a list of alternative films by Lebanese and Palestinian directors, but that their suggestions “fell on deaf ears”.
Instead, they were invited to attend the event and share their criticisms during a debate. In the end, the organisers added another film, “Children of Shatila”, to the programme alongside the Israeli animation.
“For them, it was just a matter of opinion”, the activists told The New Arab, “as if we didn’t like the sound in this movie, or how the characters are portrayed – as if our objections are not really profound and genuine”.
According to the group, the organisers argued that “Waltz with Bashir” is “critical of the Israeli war machine”, pointing to the guilt expressed by the protagonist as he begins to recount his memories to a psychologist.
The activists, however, highlighted what they see as the film’s use of cinematic “tools” to elicit sympathy for the main character, arguing that scenes in which he shakes hands with Lebanese people and speaks Arabic serve primarily to “clean his image” of complicity in the massacres carried out by the Israeli army at the time.
They blamed what they described as a “white-centric vision of how conflict in our region is portrayed”, and the tendency of some Western organisations to “use any tool possible, regardless of whether it makes sense or not, to fundraise – while dismissing the voices of the communities affected”.
Their intervention comes at a time when more than 1.2 million people have been displaced due to Israel’s invasion of southern Lebanon and its intense bombing campaign across the country, including in Beirut.
At least 2,294 people have been killed since 2 March, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
The New Arab has reached out to ARCI Roma for comment.
