It all started with an announcement on my computer screen that the ESRA Cinema Club was showing Shlomi Eldar’s award-winning documentary film, Precious Life, on February 21 at Yad Lebanim in Raanana.

 “A film not to be missed - one of the best films ever shown at ESRA Cinema Club” – quoted Audrey Goodman.

Born without an immune system, four-month-old Palestinian boy Mohammad Abu Mustafa will die without a bone marrow transplant, a procedure that can only be done in an Israeli hospital. A desperate plea from his doctor friend at Tel Hashomer to save Mohammad's life leads Israeli journalist Shlomi Eldar to document this complex and emotional story. While deeply controversial - particularly in Israel where Precious Life premiered at the recent Jerusalem Film Festival - the film has won acclaim for its raw depiction of courage and the fight for the safety of a family, regardless of religion and politics.
I had seen the film at the cinemateque in Tel Aviv last July and was extremely disappointed that although nominated for an Oscar in the foreign language doc. category it was outdistanced.

However I was fated to see the film again. I had particularly wanted to meet Shlomi Eldar, the director of the film, and hear what he had to say.

The film is profound in every sense. Not only does it portray the ultimate goodness in human beings, but deals with the conflict between us and the Palestinians at a level which everyone living in our neighborhood should understand. Sadly many do not.

Shlomi Eldar describes the doctor from Tel Hashomer who tended the baby, as an ‘angel’.  Shlomi, the high profile Channel 10 news reporter, is an angel too. He went to extraordinary lengths to make the film without ever knowing in advance what would be the result of his intervention or what dramatic and horrifying events were to occur during the span of the making of it.

The film has been and will be shown in many countries around the world. I asked him if government leaders and opinion makers in Israel had seen it? Hoping that he might answer, “We had a special showing at the Knesset and most MKs showed up”.

But he replied: “Well, I sent it to Bibi but he has yet to acknowledge it and I also sent it to Obama but as yet have had no reply”.

I feel strongly that we should tell everyone we know about Precious Lives so that it will have more showings all over Israel, which is probably more important than in any other place.