The ghosts of Tantura shall not let go until the last of the witnesses and the descendants die. The ghosts of Tantura may not let go until the truth comes to light and Israel acknowledges it. That’s how it is with truth, it never relaxes its grip. Despite all the efforts to conceal it and eliminate those who expose it, it keeps popping up. Alon Schwarz’s disturbing documentary “Tantura,” that was screened Friday and Saturday at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, should have been shown at an Israeli film festival. It has the power to bring these ghosts to rest and force Israel to finally acknowledge the truth. This will not happen, of course.
There were few names in my childhood that were more loaded than “Tantura.” Tantura was the magical beach with the blue lagoons where we went to after Father bought our family’s first car, with reparations money from Germany. A trip to Tantura – who then had heard of “Dor Beach”? – thrilled us more then than a flight to New York today. But it wasn’t just the turquoise water. I knew that the white sand was drenched in blood. Tantura was where Gideon Bachrach died. He was the only son of physicians Albina (Bianca) and Arthur Bachrach, my grandparents’ good friends. I was named for Gideon. I knew that the beach at Tantura was soaked with his blood. I didn’t know, of course, that
— source haaretz.com | Gideon Levy | 23 Jan 2022