It’s always a sharp turn from Remembrance Day to Independence Day – from sorrow to joy – and several new television programs offer ways to navigate that transition in a meaningful way.
The Stronghold: Series – Kan 11 and online
Kan 11 just started broadcasting a series that is an expanded version of Lior Chefetz’s gripping, fact-based 2023 movie The Stronghold, about IDF soldiers trapped in the Sinai during the Yom Kippur War, and the first episode is available to watch on kan.org.il. Subsequent episodes will air on Sunday nights on Kan 11.
The series was set to run in October 2023 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, but when the October 7 massacre was perpetrated and a new war broke out, it was postponed.
The Stronghold is based on the memories of soldiers who were there and uses their real names. It focuses on the human cost of the war, although the politics of how it was handled are never far away. It opens with the interrogation, conducted by the Agranat Commission, of the hippie-ish medical student Nahum Werbin (Michael Aloni of Shtisel and The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem), and then flashes back to his arrival at a remote Sinai outpost the day before Yom Kippur, expecting nothing more taxing than giving out aspirin and blister cream.
The outpost is commanded by Shlomo Erdinast (Daniel Gad of The New Black and Line in the Sand), a soldier from a “hesder” pre-military yeshiva, who is as shocked as his commanders when the Egyptian Army launches an all-out attack by air, land, and sea on October 6, 1973. He is forced to try to defend the 42 soldiers under his command with the scant resources he has at hand.
Nahum, who at 29 is the oldest and most experienced soldier in the outpost and who served in an elite unit before going to medical school, tries frantically to save critically wounded soldiers with very limited medical supplies. Outmanned and outgunned, the unit tries its best, but the casualties and deaths mount, and viewers should be prepared for graphic violence.
At the heart of the series is a conflict between Werbin and Erdinast about the way to proceed. Werbin thinks first and foremost of the wounded, many of whom can still be saved if the unit surrenders, while Erdinast believes that they cannot give up the fight until they are commanded to do so. It’s a debate that in some ways echoes what is going on now, as some people, including top military commanders, think the primary goal of the war against Hamas should be the release of the hostages, while others feel that there can be no ceasefire while the terrorist group is still in power.
While that debate is central to the whole series, some of the supporting characters, such as Schultheiss (Daniel Moreshet), the artistically inclined communications officer, get more screen time in the television version.
Defense minister Moshe Dayan (Nathan Ravitz) and chief of staff David Elazar (Ohad Knoller), who barely appeared in the movie, are fleshed-out characters in the series. But what’s most interesting about The Stronghold is the respect that the two heroes had for each other despite their differences.
The German – Yes Drama, Yes VOD, and Sting+
Another series that would work well to smooth the transition between the two holidays is The German, from Yes, which is running on Yes Drama, Yes VOD, and Sting+. It’s about a German Holocaust survivor (Oliver Masucci) who lives on a kibbutz in the early 1970s and who is recruited by the Mossad to help in the hunt for the infamous war criminal, Dr. Joseph Mengele.
Yes Israeli and Cellcom TV offerings
The Yes Israeli Cinema Channel and Cellcom TV will broadcast several Israeli classics for both of the holidays. Among the movies it will show for Remembrance Day are three set on the Lebanese border, all of which were based on the directors’ personal experiences: Joseph Cedar’s Beaufort, which won the screenplay award at Cannes, about IDF soldiers defending an outpost; Eytan Fox’s Yossi & Jagger, the story of two male soldiers in love; and Samuel Maoz’s Lebanon, which is told from the point of view of a tank crew.
In that murky period on Wednesday late afternoon when the two holidays meet, the Israeli channel will show Avi Nesher’s Image of Victory, a rousing and heartbreaking look at both sides in the Independence War.
Operation Thunderbolt/Entebbe
Also to be shown is Menahem Golan’s 1977 English-language film Operation Thunderbolt – nominated for an Oscar in very different times – telling the story of the famous IDF rescue of passengers on an Air France flight from Israel to Paris that was hijacked to Uganda the previous year. The movie is very dated, but has an all-star cast that includes Gila Almagor, Assi Dayan, Klaus Kinski, and Shaike Ophir.
Yehoram Gaon plays Lt.-Col. Yonatan Netanyahu, the sole fatality of the rescue mission, who was the older brother of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an economic consultant in Boston at the time. The mission, also known as Operation Entebbe, was renamed Operation Yonatan.
The Troupe – Yes Israeli; Ehud Manor tribute
Yes’s Israeli Cinema Channel will also screen several of Nesher’s other films during Independence Day, among them The Troupe, about an IDF entertainment troupe, the go-to movie for Israelis to watch on this holiday.
The great Israeli songwriter Ehud Manor wrote the lyrics to the film’s theme song. Manor died 20 years ago, and on this anniversary, he is being honored with a tribute on multiple Kan platforms for Independence Day, including the broadcast of a tribute concert on Kan 11 on Independence Day eve.
The Israel Prize-winning lyricist, who wrote and translated more than a thousand songs, penned many tunes now considered among the best of Israeli music. He collaborated with Israel’s top composers, including Matti Caspi, Nurit Hirsch, Boaz Sharabi, and many others.
Manor’s best-known songs include such Israeli anthems as “Ein Li Eretz Aheret” (I Have No Other Country), “Brit Olam” (Eternal Covenant), “B’Shana Habah” (Next Year), “Lo Dibarnu Od Al Ahava” (We Didn’t Talk More About Love), “Yamei Binyamina” (Binyamina Days), and “Ahi HaTza’ir Yehuda” (My Younger Brother Yehuda), a tribute to his brother, who was killed in 1968 during the War of Attrition.
Manor’s songs have been performed by the greatest Israeli singers, including Matti Caspi (who composed the music for many of his hits), Chava Alberstein, Arik Einstein, Yardena Arazi, Ilanit, and just about everyone else you can name. “Balada L’Shoter” (Ballad for a Policeman), his song for the movie The Policeman, was voted one of the best-loved Israeli movie soundtrack songs of all time.
The tribute concert will be held in Manor’s hometown, Binyamina, hosted by Israeli journalist Roni Kuban and Israeli actress, comedian, and television presenter Rivka Michaeli. Among the performers will be Yuval Raphael, this year’s Israeli representative at the Eurovision Song Contest – a competition for which Manor wrote many songs – who will perform “Ein Li Eretz Aheret.” Amir Dadon, Shlomi Shaban, Shuli Rand, and many others will also perform.There will also be a hit parade of Manor’s songs, ranked by listeners, on the radio stations Kan Gimmel and on Kan Box on the Kan website. The beloved songwriter’s fans will be in for a treat, and others may enjoy discovering the gifts of this legendary lyricist.
