Best Israeli war movies

An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.

In an unprecedented and candid series of interviews, six former heads of the Shin Bet — Israel's intelligence and security agency — speak about their role in Israel's decades-long counterterrorism campaign, discussing their controversial methods and whether the ends ultimately justify the means.

During the First Lebanon War in 1982, a lone tank and a paratroopers platoon are dispatched to search a hostile town.

A sociological study of two men in the Israeli army who are lovers. The others in the unit react to their situation, suspecting, but not always understanding. One will leave the military soon, a few months away, as a snowy and desolate outpost is guarded from attack.

BEAUFORT tells the story of LIRAZ LIBERTI, the 22 year-old outpost commander, and his troops in the months before Israel pulled out of Lebanon. This is not a story of war, but of retreat. This is a story with no enemy, only an amorphous entity that drops bombs from the skies while terrified young soldiers must find a way to carry out their mission until their very last minutes on that mountaintop.

1948: an Egyptian filmmaker is creating newsreel stories about a volunteer force tasked to liberate Palestinian farmers. The journey propels him towards a chance encounter with a tenacious young leader of a nearby commune that will set in motion events that will change their lives forever.

The film takes place in 1973 during the Yom Kippur War in which Egypt and Syria launched attacks in Sinai and the Golan Heights. The story is told from the perspective of Israeli soldiers. We are led by Weinraub and his friend Ruso on a day that begins with quiet city streets, but ends with death, destruction and devastation of both body and mind. Various scenes are awash in the surreal, as Weinraub's head hangs out over a rescue helicopter's open door, watching with tranquil desperation as the earth passes beneath, the overpowering whir of the blades creating a hypnotic state. It is not a traditional blood, guts and glory film. There are no men in battle, only the rescue crew trying to pick up the broken pieces.

A beautiful anti-war movie. It describes the surreal journey of two Egyptian soldiers as they're coming back to Cairo from the Six-day War of 1967. One is an aspiring actor, whose biggest role so far was that of Shakespeare's Shylock (the irony of fate), who contributes the role of the sad clown (played by the Arab-Israeli actor Salim Daw).

In 1948, immediately before a ceasefire takes effect, four volunteers fighting for Israel are ordered to take Hill 24, overlooking the road to Jerusalem.

The unbelievable story of Leonid Bernshtein, a young Jewish soldier who rose to become the leader and led the operation to destroy the secret facility of the notorious Nazi V2 ballistic missiles.

One fence, four fans, and the game of their lives. This is a story about 4 men and a radio.

The Ohaion family is mourning the death of one of their relatives. In keeping with tradition, they gather together in the home of the deceased and stay there for seven days. Forced to put up with one another day and night, the brothers and sisters soon let their bitterness and arguments override the sense of communal reverence. The atmosphere becomes unbearable and long-buried truths finally surface.

Based on real events that took place in the "Mazakh" bastion, the Yom Kippur war, the Sinai front. After a surprise Egyptian attack, 42 soldiers under the command of a young lieutenant from the Seder yeshiva, struggle to repel the enemy attacks during which many of the fighters are injured or killed. At the same time in the TAGD bunker, the Tel Avivian reserve doctor is fighting for the lives of the wounded fighters and calls for urgent evacuations that do not come. After a week of siege and fighting, the soldiers will have to choose whether to continue fighting under the orders of their commander, or to follow the plan of the reserve doctor - a plan that may save their lives. Will they decide to give up the values they were raised on and surrender, or will they fight to the last bullet?

What had initially started out as a Jewish revolt against the Roman occupation, quickly turned into a fierce civil war. The combination of religious messianic zeal and the friction between social classes proved disastrous and resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple.

Shlomi, a young Israeli soldier, flees back to his girlfriend in Tel Aviv only to discover that the military elite is convinced he was kidnapped in the fog of war.

The story of a platoon of Israeli soldiers in Lebanon of 1986, shortly before Israeli withdrawal, and the dilemmas they face in having to fight against Lebanese guerilla in a hostile but civilian area.

After being tried for his crimes and released on parole, the young Captain Ran Nesher receives a new mission: to command a squadron of Mirage aircraft that not long ago lost its revered commander in battle. The squadron's deputy commander, Captain Eitan Rom is threatened by the appearance of his new commander, who seems to him to be irresponsible and inexperienced to the point of endangering the pilots. The power struggle between them causes tensions and dysfunction of the squadron. When the two crash land together in enemy territory, they are forced to learn to work with each other to survive. Upon their return to the squadron and the outbreak of the Six Day War, the two face a decisive battle and realize that only through cooperation will they be able to lead the squadron to victory. Love also has a place. Eitan, who is in love with Galia, the operations officer, learns precisely from his rival Ran how to overcome his fears and succeed.

Stalags were pocket books whose plots revealed lusty female SS officers sexually abusing camp prisoners. During the 1960s, parallel to the trial held against Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, sales of this pornographic literature broke all records in Israel and hundreds of thousands of copies were sold at kiosks. The popularity of the Stalags only declined after a much-reported trial, in which their authors were accused of distributing anti-Semitic pornography. This film examines the notorious phenomenon, exposing the creators of this genre for the first time. It posits that the combination of pornography and the Holocaust also appears in canonic Holocaust literature and continues to be a widespread part of the representation of the Holocaust in Israel today.

It is Thursday and another war is hitting the northern part of Israel hard. Three brothers reunite in their childhood kibbutz to bury their father. Two days later the youngest has to go to war, and while he seeks guidance from his older siblings who have both experienced the battlefield, the homecoming soon spins out of control.

Tsili is a young girl caught in the middle of World War II. After her family is taken to a concentration camp, Tsili hides in the forest, free from hatred and men, until the arrival of Marek, a stranger who speaks to her in Yiddish.

In May 1948, shortly before the creation of the State of Israel, hundreds of immigrants from across Europe arrive in Palestine--only to risk arrest by British troops.

A romance ends for a woman when she discovers the nature of her boyfriend's nocturnal excursions. Rejected by the army, he carries out a vendetta against society. The woman places herself in danger when she stands firmly between the boy and his mission.

Eli is an Israeli soldier who manages to escape from a notorious Arab prison. He makes it back to Israel, where he finds Beno, another soldier who had spent 2 years of horror in the same prison. They organize a rescue operation against the prison. The soldiers must use both cunning and boldness if they are to help their fellow Israelis regain their freedom.

Military service in Israel is compulsive for all able-bodied Jewish men and women. Once their years of service is up they are granted a bonus which many use to travel to India to wind down and recover from their experiences. About 90% of them will use drugs during their travels and every year about two thousand of them will require professional help to recover from this drug use. The extreme psychotic break these people experience is commonly referred to as "flipping out".

At the end of The Six Day War of 1967, two soldiers, an Egyptian and an Israeli, encounter each other in the Sinai desert. Two soldiers - one goal: Survival.

The older dead brother of Assaf still lives in his mind.

From the year 3005, a delegate from the future arrives in 1985 to convince the present leaders make certain World War III happens, which he guarantees will make for a better future. Having already caused natural disasters and catastrophes by coming back from the future, he now tries to force his message on the world press and TV.

Israeli soldiers cross the border into hostile Arab territory to kidnap an enemy terrorist. After the man is captured, the Israeli unit receives warning of an enemy counter attack, and the unit is forced to trek through the desert on foot.

Somewhat autobiographical, the film opens right after the 6 day war, when Israelis euphoric with victory and the kids dress up as the captured Western Wall in Jerusalem. Now it is 1972. The film centers on a young boy, who is failing in school, and grounded from going on Passover trips with his classmates. Instead he must visit private academies (including military school) with his parents, who want him to do better in school. Foreshadowing to the coming war in 1973 and the defeat of euphoria.

After fighting the Arab armies, Assaf, an Israeli soldier, falls in love with an American living in the Arab district of Jerusalem. One day, he believes he recognizes a wanted terrorist.