Public Comment

Hitherto silenced by Israeli censors, archives of disillusioned soldiers of the 1967 war have recently been given a fuller voice thanks to the perseverance of Mor Loushy, director of "Censored Voices." As the International Criminal Court evaluates possible war crimes in Gaza last summer, this new documentary released at the Sundance Festival showcases admissions of brutal behavior by Israeli soldiers fighting in the 1967 war. In spite of the heavy editing the film includes accounts of Israelis summarily executing prisoners and purging Arab villages in a manner that one fighter likened to the ‘Nazis treatment of European Jews’. 

Mor Loushy explained that her purpose in making the film was to reframe the prevailing Israeli narrative of triumph in 1967 in light of all the brutality of Israeli occupation and siege of Gaza. The custodian of the archives, Mr. Shapiro, an aging kibbutznik and philosophy professor, expressed horror at the audio sounds of terror and stated we can only expect more of the same if we don’t work a peaceful settlement of the festering conflict and “turn back all the occupied territories.”