Submission: Community would benefit from understanding late alum’s political views

Last week has seen the abrupt departure of one of Israel’s most famous Bruins, Moti (Mordechai) Kirschenbaum. The day before he died was his 76th birthday, which he celebrated with the viewers of his 7 p.m. daily show. Immediately after his death, Israeli social networks were filled with laudatory statements and expressions of grief by journalists, politicians and intellectuals mourning one of Israel’s most prominent media personalities.

Kirschenbaum’s professional career crisscrossed the pivotal moments of Israeli journalism. During the early 1960s, Kirschenbaum moonlighted as the Hollywood reporter of an Israeli daily while working toward his graduate degree at UCLA’s Department of Motion Pictures, Television and Radio – now the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. In 1966, while still in school, he returned to Israel to take part in the establishment of the – at the time – only Israeli public television channel and then became the chief editor of the evening news. During the 1970s, Kirschenbaum produced and wrote for satirical skit TV shows, which were immensely popular and poked criticism at Israel’s government and ruling party. In 1976, Kirschenbaum’s work in television landed him the Israel Prize in the “art of radio, television and cinema.”

With the changing of the political guard in Israel, Kirschenbaum was dismissed from his position as head of programming at the Israel Broadcasting Agency and turned to independent productions on the stage and in documentary films. Later on, between the years 1993 and 1997, he returned to the Israeli public television now as its head. Younger generations of Israelis were exposed to Kirschenbaum as the host, together with veteran journalist Yaron London of the award-winning and popular evening show on current affairs, world news, scientific breakthroughs and cultural phenomena. “London and Kirschenbaum” began in 2002, during the height of the second intifada. In an Israeli media environment increasingly plagued by rating considerations and anti-democratic sentiment, the show stood out for its in-depth analysis and discussion. It frequently featured guests from Israeli critical academic circles and from the social and cultural margins of Israeli society, including many Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Members of the UCLA community interested in Israeli-Palestinian conflict should take note of certain political aspects of Kirschenbaum’s career. In 1970, following a spurt of armed violence in the recently occupied Gaza Strip, he released a film that sought to place Palestinian violence in the context of the conditions and bitterness of the Palestinian refugee camps in the Gaza Strip. In 1978, as head of programming he fought against attempts to censure the screening of “Khirbet Khizeh,” a TV drama depicting a short story on the Palestinian Nakba and a platoon of Israeli soldiers who take part in it. In general, his satirical creations provided criticism left of the Israeli consensus and always represented democratic principles, particularly that of independent media.

It should be noted that Kirschenbaum, though a “lefty,” never went beyond the Zionist pale. Indeed, radical critics of Israel, supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, would probably dismiss Kirschenbaum’s brand of “liberal Zionism” as hypocritical. There is merit to such an outlook but it misses an important point about Israeli society. Throughout its history, the Zionist movement maintained a liberal leaning and a tradition of self-criticism which has contributed to its internal cohesion, moral determination and international legitimacy. Anyone hoping for fundamental change in Israeli policies would benefit from understanding these moderate tendencies as genuine.

Degani is a UCLA graduate student in history.