Please, no more money to buy more arms for Israel’s war on Gaza! I just finished emailing my American friends tonight to thank them for contacting our Washington senators regarding this issue.
Since 1969, my friends in the Middle East have remained baffled that the US is so involved. Why not let Israel battle out her problems without foreign involvement? Why do you guys care so much?
A microcosm of the heated American conflict over support of Israel was dramatized just weeks after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. In that winter, in New York City, a staged protest occurred – not as a march, not as a demonstration, and not even as a rally. Instead, it was a silent but pervasive campaign on public and private property all over New York City.
After the Oct. 7, 2023 attack and mass kidnapping by Hamas, some New Yorkers associated with the hostages decided to create a poster campaign to release calling for the release of hostages. As if New Yorkers could help out with that.
Flyers were devised that read KIDNAPPED across the top. The flyer was modeled after the Missing campaign on milk cartons prevalent in the 1980s and ’90s. A picture of the victim and some words about him or her were under the title.
Two thousand posters were created and affixed onto subway walls, light poles, and any standing column.
One would think this was a caring way to express anxiety and grief about the hostages. Perhaps it was intended to leverage political action via constituents on senators and representatives – hopefully assuming that the US could influence hostage negotiations.
Those putting up the posters found some comfort in doing something. They even enlarged the posters into big signs and went en masse to the home of António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General, pleading for his intervention.
Nim Shapira, director and producer, shows that the producers of the heartfelt poster campaign, pleading for the return of the hostages, just wanted to draw attention to these innocent people who were kidnapped. The more public pressure, the more hopeful they felt for a trickle-up pressure on the US government.
So, who could possibly be upset about the campaign? Doesn’t everyone want the hostages back?
The story Shapira discovers involves many New Yorkers’ reaction to the cry for the hostages’ return. “Where are the pictures of the Palestinians?” one young person asks angrily. Others shout that the signs are propaganda against the Palestinians. Some people tear them down. Police are deployed.
Going for the gold-plated Oscar, “Torn” begins its Oscar-qualifying theatrical screening Sept. 5 in New York and Los Angeles, with additional cities to follow. It poignantly, and perhaps not on purpose, reveals misunderstandings on both sides about the Gaza War and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Credits
Director & Producer: Nim Shapira
Executive Producers: Nim Shapira, Elad Schanin, Yarin Cerf, and Yuval Lion
Editor: Shay Mizrahy
Cinematography: Eyal Bau Cohen
Script: Nim Shapira and Shay Mizrahy
Original Music Score: Daniel Salomon
Featured Participants: Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, Alana Zeitchik, Liam Zeitchik, Nitzan Mintz, Dede Bandaid, and Nina Mogilnik
Release date: Sept. 5, 2025
Website: https://www.torn-film.com
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