Palestine 36, a film about the self-destructive Arab Revolt of the 1930s in Palestine under the British Mandate, received a rapturous welcome Saturday at the antisemitism-plagued Toronto International Film Festival.
The film’s stars and crew brought props with them to the red carpet, including a Palestinian keffiyeh dipped in fake blood, and signs that read “Stop the Genocide [sic] in Gaza.” None called for the release of Israeli hostages.
The Arab Revolt was an armed rebellion by Palestinian Arabs against British rule, which often took the form of pogroms against Jewish communities in the Land of Israel. The revolt, which was crushed by the British, was a strategic blunder, as it convinced the Jewish population to organize for its own self-defense even as the British disarmed the Arab population. That later helped Israel triumph in its War of Independence in 1948.
Pro-Palestinian activists ignore much of that history, celebrating the Arab Revolt as a glorious uprising, instead of what it actually is — a symbol of the enduring futility of Palestinian enthusiasm for violence.
The festival was already mired in controversy, after organizers tried to cancel, and then reinstated, a film about a retired Israeli general who rushed to his family’s defense under attack from Hamas on October 7.
Canada has become an increasingly hostile environment for Jews, thanks to Muslim immigration and left-wing politics. The Canadian government has said that it will recognize a Palestinian state later this month, despite the ongoing war, the lack of defined borders, and the fact that Palestinians are led by an authoritarian government.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Zionist Conspiracy Wants You, now available on Amazon. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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