Ahead of the memorial in Tel Aviv marking 30 years since the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, and the world premiere of "Golem in Pompei" at the Tokyo Film Festival, François Picard welcomes legendary Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitai on the 2nd anniversary of Hamas' unprecedented attack on Israel, the deadliest in its history. As war rages in Gaza, Mr. Gitai offers a message of urgency: “Peace is obligatory,” he tells us. “The alternative is destruction, death... we have to find a way to live together.” For nearly half a century, Mr. Gitai has been recounting the marvels, complexities, and fragilities of Israeli society, as an artist, an activist and first-hand witness. For the Israeli filmmaker, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is unlike any other in the region. Iran and Lebanon do not involve a territorial conflict, he explains. As for the Palestinians “it’s also their country. And we have to find a peaceful way to shape a new future for the Middle East.” Rather than collapsing into tribal pain, and collective grief, Mr. Gitai invites Israelis & Palestinians to "think about the suffering of the other". In 1982, Amos Gitai interviewed the Palestinian Mayor of Nablus, Bassam Shakaa, who lost both of his legs in a 1980 assassination attempt by Israeli extremists. He asked the mayor if he remained optimistic. "And I loved his answer", remembers Mr. Gitai. "He said to me, 'Amos, we can't afford to be pessimistic, it's a luxury'.” And so Mr. Gitai reminds us: History is not only shaped by weapons and wealth, but by ideas. "That’s where culture comes in".
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