Educational Media Reviews Online

Terrorism is all too familiar within Israel, typically involving Palestinians killing ordinary Israelis going about their daily lives. The incident analyzed here focuses on a terrorist act by Arabs against Israelis, but differs in several respects - it examines an incident that took place in 1978 with rare historical distance; the incident took place in England; and it involved an Iraqi perpetrator (though he was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine), who attempted to blow up an El Al (Israeli Air Lines) flight crew. The attack succeeded in killing Irit, a flight attendant, but not Yulie, the flight attendant sitting next to her. Yulie received shrapnel wounds, but recovered, and later became a filmmaker. This is her story.

In a series of flashbacks, news clips, and live action portrayals, Yulie recounts how her response to the terror attack evolved from fear and anger at her suffering and Irit’s death to a desire to understand her attacker’s motives and, eventually, to forgiving him and helping him seek parole from an English prison. Yulie, whose testimony helped to put the attacker in prison, initiates contact with a letter. His reply and their subsequent correspondence develop into a kind of friendship as Fahad, the terrorist, says he repents his actions and Yulie explains her feelings for Israel. She visits him in prison and confirms her belief that he no longer has blind hatred for Israel.

Scenes from a televised talk show debate between Yulie and Irit’s mother reveal difficult social, ethical, and political issues facing Israelis today. As the two women discuss their different views of Fahad - Yulie wanting to forgive him and help him get out of prison and Irit’s mother wanting him imprisoned forever and failing to understand how murder can be forgiven—the arguments emerge for negotiated peace versus total disengagement between Israelis and Palestinians.

Yulie Gerstel has worked with Michal Aviad on earlier films evidencing a “peace now” agenda, including Ramleh and For My Children. My Terrorist, however, takes a more objective view, balancing the arguments in favor of punishment and continued war to end terrorism against arguments supporting forgiveness and peace. Unlike Ms. Aviad’s films, Ms. Gerstel does not portray opponents of negotiated peace as fanatic or hateful. American viewers are likely to have no trouble identifying with Irit’s mother and her anguish, or her desire to fight terrorism, even if they subscribe to the peace agenda. The quality of the live action camerawork is excellent and contrasts sharply with the video’s dreadful English subtitles and poor audio. The conversation is rapid and subtitles shift too quickly for easy reading. To make things worse, English letter outlines appear against constantly shifting backgrounds, which makes them impossible to see clearly. Viewers will have to work hard to understand what is going on a good part of the time.

Recommended for college-level courses on modern terrorism and Middle East issues.