Censored Voices 2015

1967. The Six Day War ends with Israel’s decisive victory. The tiny country triples its size, conquering Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank. The streets overflow with victorious celebrations, but behind the euphoria hides other voices — the soldiers’ voices. One week after the war, a group of young writers, led by renowned author Amos Oz, decide to chronicle their experiences.

For two weeks Oz travelled throughout the country. Every evening, a number of young men from different regiments closed themselves up in a shelter, turned the tape recorder on and for the first and final time, spoke about what really happened during the war: pain, shame and misery. These discussions were compiled in a book, The 7th Day, which became an international bestseller. The book, however, tells only a fraction of the truth. The whole truth was censored by the army and has been hidden for all these years. The tapes expose abuse, deportation, murder of prisoners, rape, looting, lynching and degradation.

CENSORED VOICES provides a new look at Israel’s utopian war, but also a universal look — honest and pitiless — at men at war and how easily ideals evaporate on the battlefield.