A five-year-old Gazan girl has become a martyred symbol of Israeli brutality in one of three pro-Palestinian films short-listed for an Academy Award next month. Preface: The New York Times published a feature, “Decades of Palestinian History, Told By 3 Films With Award Hopes” (Feb. 11), interviewing the directors of the three films cited here. Their comments, and the reporting of Sara Aridi, a Times editor and writer, ignored the origins, context and complexity of the conflict and portray the Palestinians as victims rather than aggressors.

Israel, through blood, guts and tears, has achieved a military victory over Hamas terrorists. But in terms of public perception here and around the world, the Jewish state has suffered a stinging defeat – in part, and increasingly, through well-produced, deeply biased “historical dramas” that cast Palestinians as noble victims at the hands of violent, inhumane Jews.

Three of the five entries short-listed for Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards on March 15 deal with Palestinian history through a one-sided lens. Given the current political climate, with Israel widely seen as a pariah state, and Hollywood’s reputation as a bastion of progressive views, it seems certain these films will receive a great deal of laudatory attention on Oscar night, in front of a global audience, and going forward.

As Rachel O’Donoghue of HonestReporting observes in a thoroughly researched analysis, “a new genre is taking shape with lasting consequences: by framing Gaza through the moral language of historical atrocity, these films risk cementing distortions that will outlive the war itself.”

Each of the films is emotionally charged, fully sympathetic to the Palestinian struggle, presents Israel in villainous terms and makes little effort to back moral claims with sufficient facts and historical context. In large part, film critics have been so impressed with the emotional impact of these films that they pay little attention to the bias of the narratives – or they simply share the sentiment.

For example, in reviewing “All That’s Left of You,” the........

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