STORIES
Photo credit: Yaakov Saar/GPO
May 27, 2021
BEGIN'S LIFE EXPLORED AND REVERED
Documentary team members are interviewed and honored for the production of the film and its use of rarely seen archival materials to bring to life the complexity of Menachem Begin's youth, leadership, and Zionist ideologies.
IN THE NEWS
The Jerusalem Post
April 14, 2021
MIAMI JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL
Miami resident and UPHEAVAL Producer, Barry Gurland, expresses his awe of Menachem Begin. After reading Begin's autobiography and witnessing history nearly 42 years ago in Israel when Menachem Begin and Egyptian Prime Minister Anwar Sadat each took a risk for peace and met for the first time, Gurland conveys his respect for the leader who played a crucial role in building the nation of Israel.
IN THE NEWS
Miami's Community News
January 21, 2021
BEGIN'S LEGACY, SCHWARTZ'S VISION, BASHARI'S VOICE
Rem Bashari remembers growing up in a poor neighborhood in the city of Rishon Letzion, just south of Tel Aviv, and watching the dramatic changes in his community set into motion when Menachem Begin became prime minister in 1977. Learn how "Project renewal" impacted one man's life.
IN THE NEWS
Interrmountain Jewish News
November 24, 2020
EVERYDAY HUMOR
Yona Klimovitski, Menachem Begin's personal secretary for 10 years, recalled how Begin had a habit of telephoning journalists if he didn't like the articles they wrote." Can I speak to so-and-so? This is Begin speaking." When he put down the phone he would say, "They thought it was a hoax."
BEHIND THE SCENES
Upheaval
November 24, 2020
LET MY PEOPLE GO
Did you know that in Menachem Begin's first letter to Ronald Reagan requesting help with the release of Natan Sharansky, he also asked Reagan to grant permission for two Christian families, who were taking refuge in the Israeli Embassy in Moscow, to emigrate to the United States?
DOCUMENT
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
October 18, 2020
MAKING A COMMITMENT
HLI and StandWithUs hosted an online webinar on October 18, “Making a Commitment: The Fight Against Global Campus Antisemitism,” focused on campus antisemitism as a global problem, and how Prime Minister Menachem Begin's no-nonsense approach to anti-Jewish prejudice and discrimination could be emulated.
WEBINAR
The Fight against Global Campus Antisemitism
October 16, 2020
BEGIN AS ROLE MODEL
A full page spread appeared in The Jewish Voice focused on a global campus antisemitism webinar, its organizers and participants, and Hidden Light Institute's (HLI) "Menachem Begin Legacy Project." The program was organized by Tamara Berens, a young HLI board member and Krautheimer Fellow at Mosaic magazine, who co-hosted with Rena Nasar First of StandWithUs. Students participating hailed from Buenos Aires, London, Los Angeles, New York and Tel Aviv.
IN THE NEWS
The Jewish Voice
October 14, 2020
FAST FRIENDS
Hart Hasten, Indianapolis civic leader and a long-time friend of Menachem Begin, is one of the Menachem Begin documentary's executive producers. For more than 75 years, Mr. Hasten has modeled his life after Menachem Begin for "his honesty, his integrity and his pride in being a Jew." We recently had the opportunity to recognize Hasten when we showed Upheaval: The Journey of Menachem Begin at Indianapolis' very own Heartland International Film Festival.
IN THE NEWS
Jewish Post & Opinion
October 8-18, 2020
IN THE HEARTLAND
Upheaval had an early screening at the Heartland International Film Festival in mid-October. Due to COVID-19, festivals have been screenings films virtually to designated geo-blocked audiences with capped ticket sales. Jonathan Gruber, director, and Rob Schwartz, Executive Producer, participated in a Q&A with the Israeli Director of a documentary on David Ben Gurion.
FILM FESTIVAL
Heartland International Film Festival
May 1, 2020
CONGRATULATIONS, PNINA!
In May, Pnina Tamano Shata, an Ethiopian Member of the Knesset, Israeli lawyer, and journalist was recently appointed Minister of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption in the new Israeli government, the first ever minister of Ethiopian descent. Tamano-Shata was born in the village of Wuzaba in 1981 and came to Israel as part of the wave of Ethiopian aliyah known as Operation Moses in 1984. When Tamano Shata was interviewed for the documentary, she recalled: "I remember that in my first day when I entered the Knesset, I imagined one person and it was Prime Minister Menachem Begin, because he is one of my role models. He was the first prime minister who recognized the Ethiopian Jew as a brother, as a sister, as a part that will never be separated from Am Israel. He is a hero for the entire Jewish Ethiopian community."
CURRENT EVENTS
Ministry Appointment
May 1, 2020
GENIUS BEHIND OPERATION BROTHERS
Daniel Limor was responsible at Mossad headquarters and in the field for the undercover aliyah of Ethiopian Jews through Sudan in Operation Brothers during Menachem Begin's prime ministership. Talking about Begin's character, Limor expresses: "I think Begin was known as someone who... was maybe colorblind. He didn't care about what is your origin and what is the color of your skin. If you're Jewish, you're Jewish."
Limor was the inspiration for the Chris Pines role in Netflix's "Red Sea Diving Resort."
BEHIND THE SCENES
Upheaval
February 29, 2020
LESSONS FROM MENACHEM BEGIN
The Jerusalem Post featured an opinion piece highlighting Jewish pride, unity and lessons of leadership as the nucleus of the Menachem Begin Legacy project. Paul Gross, the author described Begin as "a man of deep convictions, [who] also saw the grand historical picture, and was capable of working pragmatically to seize the moment."
IN THE NEWS
The Jerusalem Post
December 1, 2020
IT'S ARMEGEDDON...
According to his June 7, 1981 diary entry, Ronald Reagan's initial reaction to Menachem Begin's bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor on June 7, 1981 read as follows:
Got word of Israeli bombing of Iraq-nuclear reactor. I swear I believe Armegeddon is near. Returned to W.H. at 3 P.M. More word on bombing. P.M. Begin informed us after the fact.
DOCUMENT
Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation
December 1, 2020
BOB DYLAN'S MUSE
Who knew that the bombing of Osirak would be part of pop culture? In 1983, Bob Dylan released the song "Neighborhood Bully," which references events in the history of the State of Israel, including Israel's bombing of the Osirak nuclear reactor with this line:
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad
The bombs were meant for him. He was supposed to feel bad
MUSIC
Bob Dylan's Infidel
December 29, 2020
HINDSIGHT IS 20/20
During a speech on October 28, 1991, US Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney made diplomatic history. In a breathtaking departure from the United States’ official condemnation of the bombing of Osirak at the time of the attack, Secretary Cheney addressed himself to David Ivry, Commander of the Israeli Air Force, saying: “Let me tonight in front of this group thank my good friend David Ivry for the action Israel took in 1981 with respect to the [Osirak] reactor.”
BEHIND THE SCENES
Upheaval