NEW YORK – The U.N. General Assembly plans to go ahead with a screening of Julian Schnabel’s Miral Monday night despite protests from the American Jewish Committee.
“The screening will go ahead,” Jean Victor Nkolo, spokesman for the U.N. General Assembly, told The Hollywood Reporter on Monday, adding that the organization was looking to contribute to a discussion about a conflict that has been going on for a long time. “We really want to highlight the human side of this story,” including the effect on children, he said. “This is the kind of story that…reminds us to work even harder for a lasting peace that will be satisfactory for all sides.”
Nkolo also emphasized that the U.N. and the General Assembly are condemning “in the strongest terms” the Friday murder of five members of a family of Jewish settlers in the West Bank, which some of the children survived. “We very much regret” that the screening is taking place following such an incident, he added.
The American Jewish Committee had called upon U.N. General Assembly president Joseph Deiss to reconsider a decision to sponsor the Miral screening at the U.N., arguing the film portrays Israel “in a highly negative light” and is “blatantly one-sided.” The Weinstein Co., which is releasing the film, and Schnabel had defended the film in a response.
