With due respect to supporters of the Jerusalem Film Festival – which, according to Mayor Moshe Lion, has the world’s second-largest gala opening of a film festival – it would have helped to have more guidelines as to how to get to the Sultan’s Pool.
Prior to the gala opening, a notice was sent advising ticket holders to arrive early, as the event would start at 8 p.m. sharp. In typical Israeli fashion, the notice was ignored, and the event was delayed by stragglers, many bearing over-fried fish and chips.
Construction is in progress at the Sultan’s Pool, which caused confusion among some attendees not familiar with the area. That was exacerbated after the screening, as exits led to different parts of the city, and there was no signage. What rankled most, perhaps, was that, prior to the screening of Tell Me Everything, no one mentioned Moshe Edery, who was sitting in the front row, and arguably has been the prime contributor to the Israeli film industry’s development.
Jerusalem will be brimming with entertainment and leisure-time options throughout the rest of July and August. Coming Wednesday, July 29, at the Yad Ben Zvi campus, is the Tatzrif Festival, featuring Ehud Banai. The Banai family is deeply connected to Jerusalem, even though hardly any of its members live in the Holy City. Nonetheless, there is a constant pull to Mahaneh Yehuda, of which the family patriarch Eliyahu Banai was a founder.
Eliyahu played the oud and was also a popular storyteller. Music and storytelling are part of the Banai DNA, which has so far been passed down from generation to generation, now spanning the fourth generation. Eliyahu’s children were all musical. So are most of his grandchildren and, now, several of his great-grandchildren. Banai’s appearance at the festival is within the framework of the 120th anniversary celebrations of the Ohavei Zion Synagogue in Nahlaot, where the Banai family used to attend services.
Early this month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, and Mayor Lion helped lay the cornerstone for the Atarot Heritage Center – among the initiatives marking the 50th anniversary of the Entebbe rescue operation led by the prime minister’s older brother, Yonatan, who fell in action. The date of the cornerstone laying coincided with Herzl Memorial Day.
Atarot Airport, built by the British Mandate authorities in the 1920s, was taken over by Jordan following the 1948 War of Independence, and was used as a regional airport. After the Six-Day War in 1967, Atarot became part of Israel, and daily flights were operated by El Al and Arkia until 2000, when it was closed due to the Second Intifada.
Heritage center to focus on Israel's Operation Yonatan
Many plans were made to develop the site, but it remained more or less abandoned till Jerusalem went on a construction binge. The heritage center will be a tribute to Israeli courage, tenacity, and resilience, with a key focus on Operation Yonatan. Netanyahu recalled that when Atarot was still an airport, he frequently boarded planes there.
Before the airport was built, early settlers had established Moshav Atarot, which was destroyed during its defense against hostile Arab attacks. The new heritage center will also include that chapter in the area’s history. Netanyahu mentioned that the site of the moshav, which is the northernmost outpost of Jerusalem, is now an industrial park which provides employment for thousands of Jews and Arabs.
The third Aish Tisha B’Av documentary, While We Were Celebrating, will be screened on Wednesday, July 22. Produced and directed by Jamie Geller, Aish’s global spokesperson, and Aish Studios, the full-length documentary takes viewers across three continents as it recounts antisemitic terrorist attacks that made 2025 a nightmare year for Diaspora Jewish communities.
The film illustrates a pattern whereby Jews are consistently being attacked on Jewish holy days. The worst attacks of the past year took place on Yom Kippur, on Hanukkah, and between Purim and Passover in Israel, with Iran raining down deadly missiles. On the days when Jews gather to fast, to pray, and to celebrate, there have been vicious attacks. While We Were Celebrating explores the human stories of survivors, family members, and eyewitnesses who are still living with trauma but have not abandoned hope.
Geller traveled to Bondi Beach in Australia, Manchester, England, and Haifa, where the Iranian missile attacks killed an entire family. “I sat across from people who were lighting candles, singing songs, and building memories when their worlds were torn apart,” said Geller.
“What I found, over and over again, were people who refused to give in to the fear and trauma. They were broken, but each one was the picture of resilience, a hero of the Jewish people who all had the same unflinching, unapologetic message of holding the happiness and the hope, the pain and the joy, and wanted to use this platform to tell the Jewish world: ‘We will celebrate again!’
'This is a story that I had to tell'
As with the two previous Aish films, this film will be available free of charge from the evening of July 22. Communities, synagogues, and educational institutions are encouraged to register for group screenings at aish.com/9av.
The wars of the Jews are heating up. The haredim are fighting among themselves because some of them see the need to serve, and are changing from their black suits and frock coats into khaki uniforms. Extremists among the haredim are not only staging mass protest demonstrations against the draft, but also against coffee shops that open on Shabbat.
Deputy Mayor Adir Schwarz, in defending proprietors, said Jerusalem is big enough for all its inhabitants – Jews, Muslims, Christians, secular and religious, and everyone should just live and let live.
So long as patrons are not boisterous and upsetting the neighbors, there is really no reason for objecting to places where secular people can meet on weekends. But sometimes, proprietors of such establishments should be wary of the location. Yoel Ben David, whose patrons were involved in a scuffle with haredim who objected to his courtyard café at the corner of 8 Agrippas Street, should have realized he was courting trouble. The location is close to yeshivot and synagogues.
But we Jews, whether secular or religious, are a stiff-necked people, and Ben David refuses to be intimidated. He has considerable support from secular patrons, so he intends to keep his business going on Shabbat.
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