I have been thinking so much about this, even as San Francisco's Jewish Film Festival is about to launch. I'm heartened to hear the Jerusalem Film Festival's response to these sad and horrific events of the past week.

Discussion between screenings should be... well, lively. You'll see that we've just posted Caveh Zahedi's interview with Amos Gitai. I wonder if Gitai will be speaking as well.

I'm not only an Israeli but also someone who personally knows some of the people who signed this letter yet I can't but express my feeling of disgust after reading this letter. When they say that "Nothing justifies" what the Israeli military is doing in Gaza and in Lebanon, What they mean is that hundreds of missiles that were launched from Gaza after the Israeli withdrawal towards civilian areas (and without discrimination) are "nothing". They say that Hamas Leadership in Gaza which sends multiple suicide bombers from its territories is not responsible. The Palestinians in Gaza had the opportunity to try and build a functioning society after the Israeli withdrawal. Don't THEY have the slightest responsibility for the escalation of violence in the area? The (relatively) moderate Israeli government has openly stated its will to proceed with the withdrawal from other territories (and as an Israeli you know that this is quite a challenge) – is it the only one to blame? The Palestinians elected the Hamas that openly calls for the distraction of Israel and acts accordingly. Are they only an innocent victim of Israeli aggression?
Worse than that is the short sidedness regarding the Operation in Lebanon. Hezbollah is funded trained and armed by Iran and Syria for one purpose only: the destruction of Israel. This is not a Speculation. This is what its leaders say again and again. Over the last six years they have mounted an extraordinary effort to build an arsenal of tens of thousands of missiles pointed towards all of Israel just waiting for the moment when their Iranian masters would signal them to start the combined attack (this is the same Iran that's working its way to an atomic weapon and whose leader calls, almost daily, for the destruction of Israel). Even if the Palestinians (as a whole) have a justifiable cause for opposing Israel until they'll get their own country, the fight with the Hezbollah is a total and religious war (a Jihad in its total sense). There's no pragmatic end to it. There isn't anything Israel can do to reach a compromise with this terror organization that has practically made its own country and own army inside of Lebanon. So even when this organization attacks civilians with rockets we don't have the right to retaliate? Are we still the aggressors?
Even Arab countries (Such as Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia) recognize the threat of the Hezbollah and its Iranian masters. Even leaders in Lebanon (and by this I'm referring to the prime minister) say openly that they want (but can't) remove the Hezbollah. This, I think, puts those "Israeli filmmakers" (some of them aren't even living here) in the dubious position of supporting Islamic terror directed against their own people by automatically condemning Israel's right to fight against it. Civilians do get hurt by the combat actions that Israel takes, but Israel doesn't target civilians (unlike the Hamas and the Hezbollah). This is the unfortunate effect of fighting a terror organization that attacks with rockets located within a civilian territory. They locate their headquarters in buildings populated by civilians so those civilians become human shields when they attack. Israel is probably the only country that ever announced in advance that it is going to attack an adversary's headquarters just to avoid killing Civilians.
The forces that Israel is fighting right now are the forces of Islamic fundamentalism. Those are forces directed against secular moderation, against humanistic values, against the possibility of a compromise. What I find the most Ironic (or moronic) about this letter is the stating of solidarity with Arab filmmakers – a statement that is made by people who (at least technically) belong to country whose people are at this moment under attack, and a statement addressing people whose own ability to create will be under severe danger if those Islamic forces will have the upper hand.

You make a few valuable points, and I'm glad you've expressed them here. The crux, though, is: what to you make of the concerns expressed by several international leaders and organizations that Israel's reponse is "disproportionate"?

I understand why a person who lives outside of this region would regard Israel's response as "disproportionate". From a micro level perspective the Hezbollah kidnapped two soldiers and Israel is responding by what seems as a full scale war a clearly "disproportionate" retaliation. But this is not an isolated incidence but another move in a war that's being going on for a few months and that has the potential to escalate much much further. I'll just point out a few of the reasons why this conflict was unavoidable and why it exploded with such ferocity:
1. The Syrians who de facto controlled Lebanon left it half a year ago as a result of international pressure. The Syrians knew how to control the Hezbollah (after all they supplied it with some of its weapons and enabled the passage of most of its weapons from Iran) so that Hezbollah actions won't escalate to a war that will have them included. Now the Hezbollah can act more freely and establish what is basically a Shiite country in south Lebanon that doesn’t bow to any local authority (only to Iran). The hope for a free and democratic Lebanon (and Lebanon is the most modern and westernized Arab country in the Middle East) is a hope that the ultra fundamentalist Hezbollah will fiercely appose. Right now It is doing the best it can to unhinge this movement and to retain its autonomous power and by that to "prove" its importance in the safe-keeping of Lebanon.
2. The Iranians wish to use the Hezbollah to draw attention from the mounting international presser regarding their nuclear weapon program. Pulling the strings of the Hezbollah allows them to do that without being directly responsible for this escalation. Whatever will happen, Israel won't allow a country that publically declares its aspiration to wipe Israel to have nuclear capabilities. Even if Israel doesn’t attack Iran, The forceful action that will have to be taken to stop the progress of its nuclear program (this is an interest that many Arab countries share with some of the west European countries) Israel will still be Iran's main target. Hezbollah weapons were supposed to be the second front, the closer hand to Israel, which Iran would have operated. From Israel's perspective its time to break this arm.
3. The ties between the Hezbollah and the Hamas (money, weapons and guidance). For a long time the Hamas looked at the Hezbollah as an inspiration for a model to a political/terrorist entity. Now the Hamas is the Palestinian government, and the ramifications of the effort to turn Gaza to a terror state with Iranian weapons and control (via the Hezbollah) is a threat that Israel has to face, as soon as possible. To do that Israel has to attack not only the various "military" wings of the Palestinians, but also their main support. This takes drastic action.
4. The new government of Israel finds itself at a crucial moment when it has to establish its legitimization. The fact that this government is composed of politically moderate civilians (and not former army men), and the fact that its main policy is aspiring towards a minimizing of the conflict has paradoxically made it the perfect opportunity for the terrorist organizations (in Gaza and in Lebanon) to increase their efforts and to broaden their activities. If this government won't counter this challenge – it will be as good as gone in the eyes of the Israeli people.
5. Israel did strike hard in Lebanon but – most of the areas that were targeted were the compound of the Shiite/ Hezbollah in Beirut where its headquarters are located, villages in southern Lebanon (after most of the people evacuated) which host the Hezbollah fighters and ammunitions. Israel also hit infrastructures that can bring ammunitions from north to the south of Lebanon and from abroad (by sea or air, from Syria and Iran) but avoided from hitting infrastructures that would have destroyed Lebanon (water and electricity). If Israel was targeting civilians (as the Hezbollah is doing with over 2,000 rockets he fired towards Israel till this day) the numbers of casualties in Lebanon would have been in the tens of thousands and not at around 360.
What Israel is doing is comparable to removing a cancerous growth. Cutting up an organism that is using the blood and nourishment of the body (i.e. Lebanon)in order to destroy it. In order to have a chance of removing this organism the surgeon has to cut deep enough – without killing the patient. If this painful operation won't happen now, not only Lebanon will fall victim when it spreads, but chances are that it will escalate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to a much more destructive degree on both sides.
So you can think about many reasons this Israel- Hezbollah war is raging but it certainly isn't just about two kidnapped soldiers and a simple over retaliation of Israel.

(I would have never thought that my first comments in this wonderful site would be on matters so far removed from my love to cinema and so pessimistic. But, what can you do?)