A TV channel that plays old films has run “Exodus” several times today, back-to-back. It’s a 1960 film based on the novel “Exodus” by Leon Uris. The screenplay was written by Dalton Trumbo, one of the Hollywood Ten who refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1947 during the committee's investigation of communist influence in the motion picture industry. It stars people like Paul Newman, Eva St. Marie, Sal Mineo, Lee J. Cobb. It’s an unbelievably rancid piece of Zionist propaganda credited with garnering widespread support for Zionism & Israel in the US. It’s a heroic depiction of Zionist ethnic cleansing of Palestinians during the forcible expulsion from their own lands by Zionist militias in 1947-48. It was embarrassing to watch Newman in such a despicable role & disappointing to learn Trumbo had such regrettable political views. It must be said with some measure of satisfaction that despite the cast & writer the thing is a masterpiece of tedium. Last year, the Knesset criminalized Arab commemoration of the founding of Israel as a day of mourning. They want the mythological founding of Israel regarded as fact but their battle against truth & history is becoming a rearguard action. It's been a long time since 1960 & even longer since 1948 but the truth is finally being heard. Long live the Intifada!
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