Beginning on September 11, 2003, and continuing into December, the Ames Public Library presented an astonishing thirteen films under the title ”Palestine Unabridged.” Not a single one of the movies was even remotely balanced, let alone sympathetic to Israel.
Some Ames residents, disgusted by this massive propaganda fest, requested that a five minute statement be read prior to the showing of one of the movies, ”Jenin, Jenin.” That particular film goes beyond mere championing of the Palestinian cause, portraying Israelis as hateful, cold-blooded murderers. Replete with all manner of canard, enhanced by dishonest editing — including the insertion of footage taken from other times and places — “Jenin, Jenin” amounts to a cinematic blood libel against the Jewish people.
Among those who have refuted the lies of “Jenin, Jenin” are an official UN investigative unit; Dr. David Sangan, an IDF physician who personally witnessed what actually transpired; a French-led team that produced the fair-minded documentary ”The Road To Jenin”; and even Thabet Mardawi, a Palestinian who fought in Jenin and was later interviewed on CNN.
Needless to say, the UN, CNN, and Mardawi cannot exactly be accused of partiality to Israel. Why, then, hasn’t ”The Road To Jenin,” the much more objective documentary, been shown at the Ames Public Library? Why were those concerned Ames citizens — the ones who in the interest of fairness wanted their comment read — turned down flat?
Indeed, although adult services librarian Lynne Carey acknowledged the anger generated by the ”Palestine Unabridged” filmfest, she was quoted in the November 13 Iowa State Daily as saying, ”We haven’t considered pulling the program despite the concerns.”
Why wasn’t pulling the program even considered? Is not such close-minded determination indicative of a lack of responsiveness from public employees mandated to serve everyone, without prejudice? Why was ”Palestine Unabridged” dedicated to the memory of Rachel Corrie, the American pro-Palestinian activist whose death has been used by the anti-Israel Left as another stick with which to beat Israel? And who decided to bring Corrie’s aunt and cousin, who do not even live in Iowa, to the library for a ceremony marking the inception of the series?
Rachel Corrie was the U.S. flag-burning member of the aforementioned terror-enabling International Solidarity Movement. She was accidentally killed when she entered a closed military zone, during an IDF operation aimed at destroying tunnels used by terrorists to smuggle weapons from Egypt into Gaza.
Has the Ames Public Library or, for that matter, Duke University’s Perkins Library done anything to honor the memory of another young American woman, a Duke University graduate — a librarian, in fact — who was killed in the Middle East? I speak of Dina Carter, murdered along with eight others when a Palestinian thug blew up the Frank Sinatra Cafeteria on the Hebrew University campus.
Ms. Carter had been a librarian-archivist at the Jewish National Library on Mount Scopus, and on the day of her death she was registering for courses to improve her professional skills. Unlike Rachel Corrie, she never mutilated a U.S. flag.
Sorry, but I feel no sympathy for Gina Millsap, the head librarian at the Ames Public Library, who is now unhappy that her library is being called anti-Semitic. Quite ironically, she is active in the laughably- named Intellectual Freedom Round Table of the American Library Association. Tell us, Ms. Millsap, exactly how did ”Palestine Unabridged” — a publicly funded, three-month-long program promoting only one viewpoint — contribute in any imaginable way to freedom of inquiry?
I doubt that many will be fooled by condescending gestures. Belatedly, those who organized this travesty requested that The Ames Tribune list and review a number of pro-Israel books, and the newspaper did so. But has that made things right and equitable? Do the reviews really pack the visual and emotional wallop of week after week of pro-Palestinian films?
