Film review and interview with filmmaker
Pierre Rehov
Disclaimer: the views expressed here are
solely those of the author, weekly Judean Rose columnist Varda Meyers Epstein.
Pierre Rehov has one clear goal with his latest
documentary, Pogrom(s): to defend
his people, the Jews. The film shows us what happened on October 7th
in a brutally honest fashion. It’s difficult to watch. There are images and
footage from which the viewing public has been largely shielded. It’s what Jew-haters have been demanding all along,
proof. Not that it will satisfy them—nothing would, except perhaps for the
demise of the Jews.
Nevertheless, Pogrom(s) represents a valiant
attempt to document the events of October 7, delving into its root causes and
aftermath. The film clearly illustrates how antisemitic violence begets further
antisemitic violence, creating an insidious cycle. Given the extreme nature of
violence on October 7, the resulting acts of aggression—whether on college
campuses or in the streets of Amsterdam—have proven particularly severe. With
the help of expert testimony, the filmmaker effectively connects the horrific
events of that day to a complex interplay of Islamic fundamentalism, Nazi
ideology, and 20th-century “Palestinian” nationalism.
 |
| Filmmaker Pierre Rehov |
If the title of the documentary is any indication,
Rehov views October 7 as yet another pogrom in a long and storied history of
such events. But was October 7 indeed a pogrom according to the strictest
definition of the term? Was it comparable to the anti-Jewish riots that swept
through Russia following the assassination of Czar Alexander II?
Arguably, October 7 transcends the boundaries of a
pogrom by intent. October 7 was not a mob riot, but a targeted attempt at
genocide, with atrocities of unprecedented cruelty, all publicly broadcast on
social media for the world to see and hear. But however you land on the
question of how to define October 7, it is certain that Pogrom(s) will
give you much to think about.
Varda Epstein: You’ve been making films
about Muslim terror and the “Arab war against the Jews” as Ruth Wisse calls it, for more than two decades.
Why this particular subject? Do you feel called upon to do this work? What do
you give viewers that they won’t get anywhere else?
Pierre Rehov: After graduating from law school in
Paris in the 70s, I began a career as a journalist and quickly specialized in
cinema. This vocation led me to become a film distributor and then producer.
But I didn't get politically involved in any cause until September 30, 2000.
Returning from vacation, I stumbled across the France
2 report covering the death of little Mohammed
Al Dura. This “filmed death” was the starting point for the intifada that
bloodied Israel for almost six years, and gave rise to a propaganda campaign
whose results we are sadly witnessing on the international stage today. My
experience as a journalist and film-maker made me realize that this death,
attributed to Israeli soldiers, was nothing more than a staged event, and I
decided to find out for myself. So, with my head held high, I set off to Israel
and Gaza to uncover the deception.
In the process, I made my first documentary, and as no
one wanted it in France, I created a magazine distributed in newsagents, the
sole aim of which was to give away a VHS cassette of the report. The success of
this initiative exceeded all my expectations, and so began my new career, which
has outstripped all others, and I have since made more than 20 documentaries on
the conflicts of the Middle East.
I believe that my experience in many different fields
allows me to bring into films materials that few others can. Especially since I
was born in an Arab country, I have travelled to many Arab countries and I
spent time in Gaza and Judea Samaria to be in contact with Arabs who call
themselves “palestinians”.
 |
| Where children once played. The aftermath of October 7 |
Varda Epstein: Can you tell us a bit about
your background? I understand you experienced terror first hand. Can you tell
us about that? Is that early experience part of what drives you in your work?
Pierre Rehov: I don't really like to talk about this
experience. To make a long story short, I was 7 years old, we lived in Algiers,
and my school was targeted by the terrorist “Liberation of Algeria”
organization, the FLN. Several children died or were injured. In Algeria, as
elsewhere, when Arabs fight, they often target civilians, women and children
first, to instill terror. But it wasn't this experience that led to my
commitment to Israel. Rather, it's the sense of injustice felt by any Jew who
has been driven out of an Arab country, whose family has lost everything, and
who has been content to rebuild his life without asking anyone for anything,
while the Arabs of the Palestine region, many of whom were recent immigrants,
have received all the help they can get from the Western world and the UN.
 |
| A burned out shell of a home, post October 7 |
Varda Epstein: Your latest film is Pogrom(s).
The movie is about the October 7 massacres, but not solely, because Pogrom(s)
actually covers a lot of ground. If you were to offer us a synopsis of the
film, what would it say?
Pierre Rehov: It would say that on October 7 Jews
suffered the worst massacre since the Holocaust solely because they were Jews,
but the very next day much of the world's media and governments, rather than
taking sides with the victims, condemned Israel for its willingness to defend
itself, a right that seems not to be granted to Israelis. Pogrom(s)
tries to explain why, and to do so revisits the history of the region. It also
says, to quote Guterres, that this massacre did not occur in a “vacuum” but in
the continuity of an anti-Jewish hatred inscribed in the ethos of Islam.
 |
| A sea of the burned out empty shells of what were once cars, set on fire with people still inside them on October 7. |
Varda Epstein: What was your chief
objective in making Pogrom(s)? What do you want people to get out of
seeing your film?
Pierre Rehov: Pogrom(s) is a cry of revolt
against a culture of hatred and the revision of history. Pogrom(s) says
to the world, “We said never again, but here we go again, and you're behaving
as you did in the last century.”
 |
| Hostages, whether dead or alive, were paraded through the streets of Gaza on October 7, jeered at, spat upon, and violently abused by the crowds. |
Varda Epstein: How did you decide what
images and footage to include? A lot of it was difficult to watch and see; it
must be difficult to get the balance right. How did you decide what to include?
What are some of the factors you thought about as you made choices about what
you would and wouldn’t show the world? Do you have any regrets in this regard—were
there photos or footage you wish you had included but that ended up on the
cutting floor?
Pierre Rehov: The choice of images was based on a
criterion set from the outset. They had to be revolting without showing too
much. I had access to a lot of material during the making of the film, and the
choices were extremely difficult because it's impossible to evoke such a
tragedy, when propaganda has already done its job to mitigate the ignominy of
the human waste who indulged in such an orgy of murder, rape and torture,
without showing a little. But at the same time, we had to protect the families
of the victims, respect the dead, and not encourage voyeurism. I don’t have any
regrets.
 |
| Terrorists paragliding into Israel on October 7. |
Varda Epstein: Who is your movie for? Will
Pogrom(s) change the mind of ardent antisemites? Educate the ignorant?
Will the film offer validation to those in anguish over the events of October
7?
Pierre Rehov: The film is aimed neither at
pro-Israelis, who know the truth and might just discover a few historical facts
that would reinforce their conviction, nor at pro-Palestinians who wallow in
lies and scoff at the truth. Antisemitism is a collective neurosis which, at
certain times, becomes a psychosis. The cure lies in psychiatry, not in the
presentation of facts. Some Israelis and Jews abroad thanked me after seeing Pogrom(s).
I simply hope that I have made my tiny contribution to what I consider to be
one of humanity's greatest causes: The defense of Israel and the Jewish people.
 |
| Antisemitic protests in the United States in the wake of October 7. |
Varda Epstein: Pogrom(s) includes
footage of University of Chicago Professor John Mearsheimer stating that “a
good number” of Oct 7 victims were killed by IDF. What struck me was the glee
on his face as he leaned in and said that. Is there a way to combat these
attitudes? Do you think your film is something we can show the deniers to
change their minds?
Pierre Rehov: This “professor” is an antisemitic
scumbag. He interprets the facts to suit his ideology. There's nothing to be
done with this kind of individual. Just let them get stuck in their certainty
until the day they let themselves go too far and find themselves caught by the
law. It's not my job to educate them. The work should have been done during
their childhood, by parents who, no doubt, were no better than them in human
terms. A negationist never changes his mind, because his intellectual
construction is based on non-existent facts that he has decided to accept as
established truth. A negationist can look at a photo of the Holocaust and say
it's a fake, or a photo of a charred baby and claim (as Al Jazeera dared to do)
that it's a creation of Artificial Intelligence. I don't waste my time trying
to convince these people.
 |
| The more hate, the more hateful displays of anti-Jewish hate, everywhere. |
Varda Epstein: What's next for Pierre
Rehov? Do you have another film in the pipeline?
Pierre Rehov: I'm currently preparing two films, which
it's too early to talk about, but which belong to the same field. I'm also
co-writing a book on the post-October 7 period in Israel and the Middle East,
which will be published in April by a major French publishing house.
***
To watch Pogrom(s)
and learn more, visit: https://pogroms.info/
Thursday, December 19, 2024
Elder of Ziyon
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