From Channel 2 Productions (WPBT):
Israel's Forgotten Heroes, a stirring tribute to the American men and women who helped make the dream of a Jewish homeland become a reality in 1948. Directed by Miami filmmaker Jerry Levine, this new documentary features archival footage, vintage photographs and first person accounts from several South Florida residents who participated in Israel's War of Independence.
Hal Linden presents this extraordinary story of the men and women, Jews and non-Jews whom, despite seemingly insurmountable odds, helped to make Israel what it is today. The program includes a look at many milestones in Israel's history but the focus is on these "forgotten heroes" who played a crucial role in the founding of Israel, whether by raising funds, assembling materials, or flying battle missions against Arab forces.
"When you asked people to do something, they did it," says Irving Schindler, who smuggled planes into Israel for the 1948 war, "and the help poured in." Recalling the grassroots effort to find pilots, Schindler describes a telephone campaign, "We wound up with tons of nickels. In the Astor Hotel we blocked out the phones and called every Jewish-sounding name that had been in the Air Force and was qualified to fly...We soon had quite a few."
From the World War II veterans who joined the battlefield in Palestine to the businessmen who donated time and desperately needed war materials, Israel's Forgotten Heroes captures the profound sense of mission and purpose demonstrated by these selfless volunteers.
