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Israeli Director Criticizes Calls for Film on War to Be Boycotted From Venice Film Festival
Director Amos Gitai attends the ”Why War” photocall during the 81st Venice International Film Festival at Palazzo del Casino on August 31, 2024 in Venice, Italy. Photo: Daniele Cifalà via Reuters Connect
Israeli director Amos Gitai criticized on Saturday the nearly 350 members of the film industry who wanted his film to be boycotted from the Venice Film Festival.
“Why War,” which made its world premiere on Saturday out of the competition, was inspired by a correspondence in the early 1930s between Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud about how to avoid war. The film “traces the roots of war, and embarks on a search for an explanation of the savagery of wars that inhabit our world.” It was co-produced in Italy and shoot in Vienna, Tel Aviv, Berlin, and Paris.
“Why War” and Dani Rosenberg’s Hebrew-language film “Al Klavim Veanashim” (“Of Dogs and Men”) was the focus of an anti-Israel open letter signed by figures in the film industry and published on the opening of the Venice Film Festival last week. They claimed the films were “created by Israeli production companies that are complicit in whitewashing Israel’s oppression against Palestinians.” They further slammed the Venice Film Festival for showcasing both films, saying they are against “the artwashing of [Israel’s] Gaza genocide against Palestinians” at the prestigious film festival.
Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, Gitai said “Why War” did not receive any funding from the government of Israel and insisted that those who wanted the film boycotted from the Venice Film Festival had not even seen the movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He further noted that his film examines the topic of war in general, and not “the intoxicated Israeli-Palestinian relationship.”
“The film is not actually focused on Israel-Palestine, although they love always to think that they are the center of the world,” Gitai said. “There is no center of the world. The planet is round. [It’s] a very important conflict, but they are not the only one on the planet.”
“Everything is based on these great two thinkers,” he added. “Karl Marx probably inspired Albert Einstein, because it’s a very Marxist piece about money and greed, or industry. Freud is about the human soul and why these smart animals want to make war.”
In a previously released “director’s statement” about his film, Gitai said “Why War” does not feature any iconography or photographs from war and the destruction it causes because he believes that just further amplifies war. Regarding the current Israel-Hamas war, the director said on Saturday that he thinks current media coverage on the situation, from both Israel and the Palestinians, just makes the conflict worse and “prolongs the war.”
“If we look at Israeli TV, they will only show you atrocities of Oct. 7, the rape of the women, the burning of the kibbutzim. If I’m a normal Israeli and I see these images, I’ll say, ‘Let’s kill them all,’” he said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “[And] the Arab networks, Al Jazeera, will show you just the destruction of Gaza, so the savagery and the destruction of tens of thousands of homes in Gaza and the killing of tens and thousands of people … that most are not terrorists … civilians, children. There is now polio, a lack of food. [If I’m] a Palestinian and I only see these images, they will not see the Israeli images, [I would] say, ‘Let’s continue the war.’”
“The iconography prolongs the war so we decided to make an anti-war film without images of war,” he added. “We need to find new ways of rebuilding this beautiful region … even in spite of the wounds and the tragedies and bad memories, we need to build something different. This cannot go on.”
The director also reportedly said the Hamas terrorist organization ruling the Gaza Strip and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government both need to be removed from power in order for there to be peace in the region.
“The two groups have to understand that the proposition of being under Hamas is not a good proposition. There will be no rights for women, no Christians of the Orient, no LGBT rights, nothing. The Iranians already went this way when they got behind Khomeini and they’re stuck with it,” he stated, referring to the Islamist regime currently ruling Iran. “We the Israelis have to get rid of the extremist, nationalist, right-wing, racist, ultra-religious government that we have. The two groups have to do some cleaning on their stuff and then maybe a new bridge can be constructed. It’s not there now but we have to keep the idea that one day, it will come, and I think it will come.”
The post Israeli Director Criticizes Calls for Film on War to Be Boycotted From Venice Film Festival first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Tucker Carlson Launches Docuseries Exposing the ‘Truth’ About 9/11 After Previously Saying He ‘Hates’ 9/11 Truthers

Tucker Carlson speaks on July 18, 2024 during the final day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Photo: Jasper Colt-USA TODAY via Reuters Connect
Media personality Tucker Carlson announced late last month a new five-part documentary series supposedly exposing the “truth” about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, after previously saying he “hates” the 9/11 truther conspiracy theories about al Qaeda’s suicide attacks on US soil.
“For nearly 25 years, the true story on 9/11 has been withheld from the American people. Why? We decided to find out for ourselves,” Carlson, a popular right-wing podcaster, posted on X, announcing the documentary series.
The first episode of the series was released on Thursday, the 24th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks in which nearly 3,000 people were killed on US soil.
The announcement video claims that “the official story on 9/11 is a complete lie” and that “the 9/11 commission is a cover-up.” Carlson adds that “the 9/11 report is a joke.”
For nearly 25 years, the true story on 9/11 has been withheld from the American people. Why? We decided to find out for ourselves.
Get all 5 episodes of our documentary series at https://t.co/sLkXnGLauL on September 11. pic.twitter.com/ozRykv6vY8
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 28, 2025
Carlson, a controversial commentator and online provocateur, claims that the documentary will expose what truly happened, including what the US and foreign governments knew in advance.
The line about foreign governments is said in the video while a picture of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flashes across the screen, seemingly suggesting Israel was part of an alleged cover-up related to 9/11.
Carlson’s documentary was released just days after he said he would like to share “condolences” with the family of Osama bin Laden, the late al Qaeda leader who organized the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks
Video has also surfaced showing that Carlson previously suggested that those who spread conspiracy theories about 9/11 are “parasites.” He lambasted those who have claimed 9/11 was an inside job and said “there isn’t any” evidence to support the claim. Carlson also previously said he “hates” when people try to say 9/11 was some sort of cover-up, and that while he is open to theories about most events, those about 9/11 go too far.
Tucker Carlson Calls 9/11 Truthers “Parasites” pic.twitter.com/Cc4lOePGCG
— 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕞𝕤 (@drandelson) March 11, 2023
Carlson has made a series of controversial comments in recent months, drawing criticism even from conservatives and Republicans.
For example, Carlson drew outrage for platforming Holocaust revisionist and self-described historian Darryl Cooper last year. During their discussion on his podcast, Cooper appeared to downplay the Holocaust, argued that the US was on the “wrong side” of World War II, and suggested that the slaughter of six million Jews in concentration camps was “humane” because the Nazis did not have food to feed the “prisoners of war.”
In December, Carlson invited economist Jeffrey Sachs onto his podcast for a lengthy interview in which both men gave credence to the idea that Israel “controls” US foreign policy. Another, more recent guest floated the idea the US should have allied with Nazi Germany during World War II, saying, “It turns out I think the story we got about World War II is all wrong … one can make the argument that we should have sided with Hitler and fought Stalin.”
Carlson has criticized Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, repeatedly accusing the Jewish state of “blowing up churches and killing Christians.” He lambasted American Christian political leaders for “not being more critical of the destruction in Gaza.”
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Antisemitic Graffiti Strikes New York University Days Into New Semester

Illustrative: A student puts on their anti-Israel graduation cap reading “From the river to the sea” at the People’s Graduation, hosted for Mahmoud Khalil and other students from New York University. Photo: Angelina Katsanis via Reuters Connect
An unknown person graffitied antisemitic messages inside the Weinstein residence hall at New York University on Tuesday evening, prompting school president Linda Mills to issue a statement condemning antisemitism and imploring students to uphold the institution’s values.
“The targeting of a Jewish student is inexcusable raw hatred,” Mills wrote in a letter, shared with The Algemeiner by NYU spokesman John Beckman, to the campus community. “As a campus we must speak with a single voice in condemning this act — a terrible violation of our community’s rules and norms. We are providing support to the victim.”
She added, “NYU has a zero-tolerance policy towards antisemitism and other forms of hatred …We are committed to maintaining a community where all feel safe and welcome, to eliminating antisemitism and other forms of hatred. We ask everyone to join us in this effort to uphold our values and send an unambiguous signal about the kind of behavior we won’t stand for in our community.”
Mills also said the incident is being investigated by the NYU’s Campus Safety officers and the New York City Police Department (NYPD).
According to Washington Square News, an independent student newspaper which first reported Tuesday’s incident, NYU had seen another antisemitic only days earlier when a Jewish student’s mezuzah was stolen and later “voluntarily returned” under circumstances the university has not disclosed.
New York University was one of the first major higher education institutions to reform its disciplinary code to respond to the Jewish community’s concerns about rising antisemitism.
In 2024, it updated its Non-Discrimination and Harassment Policy (NDAH), including in it language which identified “Zionist” as a racial dog whistle that sometimes conceals the antisemitic intent of speech and other conduct that denigrates and excludes Jews.
The updated NDAH listed numerous examples of the use of “Zionist” in perpetrating discriminatory behavior, including, “excluding Zionists from an open event, calling for the death of Zionists, applying a ‘no Zionist’ litmus test for participating in any NYU activity, using or disseminating tropes, stereotypes, and conspiracies about Zionists” as well as “demanding a person who is perceived to be Jewish or Israeli to state a position on Israel or Zionism, minimizing or denying the Holocaust, or invoking Holocaust imagery or symbols to harass or discriminate.”
NYU went further, recognizing that Zionism is central to the identities of the world’s roughly 15.7 million Jews, an overwhelming majority of whom believe the Jewish people were destined to return to their ancient homeland in the land of Israel after centuries of exile. “For many Jewish people, Zionism is a part of their Jewish identity. Speech and conduct that would violate the NDAH if targeting Jewish or Israeli people can also violate the NDAH if directed toward Zionists,” the university said.
The NDAH covered examples of behavior that have occurred across the US, both on and off college campuses, especially since the launch of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023.
Last year, NYU paid an undisclosed sum of money to settle a lawsuit brought by three students who sued the school for responding, allegedly, to antisemitic discrimination “with deliberate indifference.”
In resolving the case, NYU avoided a lengthy civil trial which would have revealed precisely who and which office received but failed to address numerous reports that — according to the court documents filed in November 2023 — NYU students and faculty “repeatedly abuse, malign, vilify, and threaten Jewish students with impunity” and that “death to k—es” and “gas the Jews” were chanted by pro-Hamas supporters at the school.
In May of this year, however, university officials withheld the diploma of a graduating student at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study who lied to the administration about the content of his commencement speech to conceal its claim of a genocide taking place in Gaza, an anti-Israel falsehood propagated by neo-Nazi groups and jihadist terror organizations.
“NYU strongly denounces the choice by a student at the Gallatin School’s graduation today — one of over 20 school graduation ceremonies across our campus — to misuse his role as student speaker to express his personal and one-sided political views,” university spokesman John Beckman said in a statement at the time. “He lied about the speech he was going to deliver and violated the commitment he made to comply with our rules. The university is withholding his diploma while we pursue disciplinary actions.”
He continued, “NYU is deeply sorry that the audience was subjected to these remarks and this moment was stolen by someone who abused a privilege that was conferred upon him.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Canada vs Israel Davis Cup Match in Halifax Will Be Closed to Fans Due to ‘Safety Concerns’

Israeli athletes competing in the Davis Cup 2025 Qualifiers Israel vs. Germany. Photo: IMAGO/Paul Zimmer via Reuters Connect
A series of Davis Cup World Group matches between Canada and Israel will be played this weekend in Halifax in a closed venue without any fans in attendance due to safety concerns, organizers announced Tuesday.
Tennis Canada said its decision to close off the Canada vs Israel matches on Friday and Saturday was made in consultation with the International Tennis Federation in light of “escalating safety concerns” by local authorities and national security agencies. The games were originally scheduled to take place at the Scotiabank Center, but it remains unclear if the venue is being changed. The series of matches will determine which country advances to the 2026 Davis Cup Qualifiers.
“Intelligence received from local authorities and national security agencies, combined with disruptions witnessed at other recent events both in Canada and internationally, indicated a risk of significant disruption to this event,” Tennis Canada explained. “Ensuring the safety of everyone involved, including athletes, fans, staff, volunteers, and minors, such as ball kids, remains our top priority.” Ticket holders will receive a full refund within 30 days.
Tennis Canada CEO Gavin Ziv said the “difficult decision” was made to maintain the organization’s “responsibility to protect people while ensuring that this Davis Cup tie can still take place.”
“We were forced to conclude that playing behind closed doors was the only way to both safeguard those involved and preserve the event itself,” Ziv explained. “While this outcome is very disappointing, it allows the tie to proceed in Halifax and ensures that our athletes can continue to compete at the highest international level. We are looking forward to returning to Halifax with Team Canada in the coming years to ensure we can fulfill our mission of promoting tennis and creating opportunities for fans and players to engage with the sport in Nova Scotia and across the country.”
Media will also not be allowed to attend the games. Halifax Regional Police did not say if the Israeli team received direct threats but noted that its local officers will be present at the games, according to the Associated Press. The tie will be broadcast on television on TVA Sports, and available for viewing online via CBC Sports’ livestream on CBC Gem, Cbcsports.ca, and the CBC Sports YouTube channel.
The Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs criticized the decision. “We all want to know: Are we a nation governed by peace, order, and good government? Or do we let fear and intimidation dictate our way of life?” CIJA wrote in a post on X.
“Cheering for Team Canada is part of what it means to be Canadian. Yet, a small group of extremists have hijacked the Davis Cup, silencing thousands of fans — many of whom traveled from afar — who simply wanted to show pride in their country,” CIJA CEO Noah Shack said in a separate statement. “Tennis Canada’s decision was made to protect Canadians in the face of serious threats. It is unacceptable that hate, harassment, and intimidation have made it unsafe to support our athletes in our own country.”
Tennis Canada faced pressure last month from hundreds of anti-Israel activists — including Canadian athletes and academics, and Olympic runner Moh Ahmed — to cancel the Davis Cup match-up with Israel because of its military actions in the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Hamas war. Both ITF and Tennis Canada insisted that Israel will not be banned from the competition.