By Jerry Alatalo
he Real News covered an event recently where men and women discussed America’s relationship with Israel, and trying to answer a proposed question of whether it was good or bad for the American people. During one of the presentations the following documentary film, “Valentino’s Ghost”, became the focus and several short clips were shown to the audience. The film in its entirety was available for viewing on YouTube with a length of 1-hour 48-minutes, and it’s a guaranteed good bet the film won’t “premier” during the upcoming AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) conference.
The film has received praise and awards in European countries and other regions of the world, but film festivals in the United States have been cautious or fearful of retaliation from powerful Zionist organizations, therefore refusing to show “Valentino’s Ghost”. Even the Sundance Film Festival has buckled and declined including the documentary, suggesting to its producers that the film “is too political”.
The film will cause those who’ve received their news of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Middle East affairs from the corporate media to reconsider all they’ve come to know and take for granted. Documentary films, in particular those made with high quality production standards like “Valentino’s Ghost”, are perceived by many as a powerful tool for communicating information about the world’s complex and difficult to understand issues and phenomenon.
Films of this quality and power have the potential to make a real and significant difference when it comes to widely distributed increase of understanding on issues like Israel and Palestine, terrorism, Islamophobia, and wars in the Middle East.
Every remaining presidential candidate will speak at the AIPAC conference but for Senator Bernie Sanders. The Sanders campaign told conference organizers he wished to speak via video conference to accommodate his busy Western states campaign schedule, but were given the response that AIPAC has recently ended its practice of addressee remote participation.
It’s appreciated that readers have time constraints, often trying to keep up on reading followed blog posts, so posting nearly 2-hour videos is something we try to refrain from. Making note of the film’s title “Valentino’s Ghost” and watching it later when time becomes available is a worthwhile option, especially for those concerned and frustrated about highly manipulated, extremely biased, historic media reporting on Israel, Palestine and the Middle East.
The men, women and children of the Middle East have experienced far too much sadness and pain for decades, and the basis or foundation for beginning to turn the tragic situations in the war-ravaged region around is the total truth – told without spin, slant or reservation. “Valentino’s Ghost” goes a long way toward establishing that long-awaited, much-needed, truthful foundation.
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The full documentary had been posted on YouTube violating copyright and is no longer available there. To view, visit www.valentinosghost.com for details. Here is The Real News post which provides clips from the film plus an excellent and thoughtful discussion about Israel’s influence.
(Thank you to TheRealNews at YouTube)
n perhaps his strongest condemnation to date, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon spoke out recently against Israel’s continued illegal settlement-building actions on the occupied territories, calling on the international community to work toward resumption of negotiations leading to an independent nation of Palestine – “…before it’s too late”.
THE ONENESS of HUMANITY 