‘A Lot of Anti-Israeli Feeling Is Antisemitism,’ Says Writer of Golda Meir Film

Shiryn Ghermezian

Helen Mirren in character as Golda Meir in a scene from the Bleecker Street/ShivHans Pictures’ film “Golda.” Photo: Sean Gleason, courtesy of Bleecker Street/ShivHans Pictures

The screenwriter of the recently released film Golda, a biographical drama about former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, said in a new interview that he hoped the movie would “help people understand” Israel’s history and provide some education to audience members who are critical of the Jewish state.

“There is antisemitism and there is anti-Israeli feeling, and the two crossover,” Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Nicholas Martin told Yahoo UK. “If the truth is told, I think that a lot of anti-Israeli feeling is antisemitism in disguise.”

“When people are talking about Israel, they usually don’t know what they’re talking about, and they have no sense of the complexity and the nuances of Israel’s history,” Martin continued. “If we are ever going to diffuse this tremendous problem, this tremendous hatred felt between these two communities, the only way it will be done will be through learning and education.”

Golda, directed by Israeli filmmaker Guy Nattiv, stars British actress Dame Helen Mirren as Meir and focuses on the late prime minister’s time in office during the Yom Kippur War in October 1973, when she was forced to make hard-pressing decisions for her country.

Martin said Golda is the first film about Israel in the English language that is “accurate” in its portrayal of the country. He added that he hoped the movie would be “useful” for audiences and shed a new light on Meir, who received criticism for some of her decisions during the Yom Kippur War.

“I’ve had very, very positive feedback from Israeli historians who have been saying that they felt that the movie was very accurate,” he noted. “So I think we have changed the narrative, or certainly moved the narrative on with regards to Golda, and that’s been very gratifying. And it’s been very gratifying for her family who have always felt that. Her grandsons have always felt that their grandmother’s reputation needed rescuing, and I think we’re on the way to doing that.”

Meir died in December 1978 at the age of 80 from lymphoma.

When Mirren was first cast to play Israel’s first and only female prime minister in Golda, criticism piled up about the casting of a non-Jewish actress to play an iconic figure in Israel’s history. The film’s director defended the decision ahead of the film’s world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in February.

Martin also weighed in on the issue, telling Yahoo UK: “I don’t think that argument that only Jewish people should play Jews holds water.”

“I just think if someone has done a really, really good job, that’s all that matters. I’m only really interested in talent, I’m not interested in people’s identity,” he explained. “The fact she’s not Jewish, did that stop her from inhabiting this character? I don’t think so, her family don’t think so, and the audience don’t think so.”