Kerby Anderson

Tomorrow in theaters throughout America will be the film, In Our Hands: The Battle for Jerusalem produced by CBN.  June 5 marks the 50th anniversary of the 1967 six-day-war in Israel. This film is an accurate depiction of what took place and will help tell the story that few people in America know about that battle.

Arab nations surrounding Israel had a battle plan to wipe Israel off the map. The young Jewish nation was out manned and outgunned. Not only did Israel survive, the troops moved into Jerusalem and even occupied the Golan Heights.

Production for the film took about a year to complete. Gordon Robertson was in studio with me to promote the film and talked about the various permissions they had to receive from the Israeli government to shoot in the actual places where the battles took place. The arms and uniforms are authentic or reproductions. Some of the most pivotal battle scenes were shot at Ammunition Hill. The film is told through the compelling stories of the Israeli paratroopers.

One of the most memorable scenes shows a woman who gives a flag to the battalion commander. She explains that she brought the flag to him because it flew in the old city before they left in 1948. She wanted him to hang the flag on the city once again.

In the last 50 years, archaeologists have uncovered some of history’s most important archaeological finds in and an around Jerusalem. These discoveries were only possible because Israel was able to occupy the city after the six-day-war.

There are some dark stories in the film. There were Israeli deaths and causalities. People were injured both physically and mentally. But the movie does try to provide light in the midst of the dark reality.

Michael Medved calls it, “One of the best, most moving films I’ve seen this year, and a fitting 50-year commemoration of a crucial turning point in world history.” I hope you go to a theater tomorrow to see it.