And There Was Israel Apr 2026

The film (2018) is a 52-minute documentary directed by Romed Wyder that explores the complex geopolitical origins of the State of Israel. Billed as an "accessible, clearly argued essay" on film, it moves beyond traditional religious narratives to examine the 19th-century colonial imperatives and Western responsibilities that shaped the modern Middle East.

A central pillar of the film is its "erudite dissection" of how religious mythology was transformed into modern nationalism. It traces the ideological evolution of Zionism from the early writings of Theodor Herzl through the declaration of the state in 1948. Rather than viewing these events through a strictly theological lens, the documentary uses seven academics from fields like sociology, law, and history to frame the narrative as a secular "colonial project" influenced by the power structures of the Western world. And There Was Israel

The creation of the modern state of Israel is often presented as a historical inevitability—the natural culmination of an ancient people’s return to their ancestral home. However, the documentary And There Was Israel challenges this simplified narrative. By focusing on the window between 1896 and 1948, the film argues that the birth of Israel was not merely a spiritual homecoming but a calculated geopolitical event deeply rooted in 19th-century European colonialism and the desperate moral vacuum left by the Holocaust. The film (2018) is a 52-minute documentary directed