Exodus Page #5

out of the water, sir, if we board her.

I'm convinced it's a bluff, of course.

Boarding party en route, sir.

Call your boarding party back.

Signal the Olympia.

I'm asking London for instructions.

If she stays where she is, no one will molest her.

They've threatened to dynamite

the Olympia if we board her.

Do you think they mean it?

Nearly two years ago, a Haganah ship

which we were detaining in the port of Haifa...

...did blow herself up. 236 refugees died.

General, I simply must get Karen off the ship.

Would you care to go on board the Olympia...

...and learn from the child

exactly what happened?

- Will they let me?

- loll try and arrange it.

If I succeed, you can do me a favour in return.

loll do anything.

If force, or coercion of any kind,

was used to get that child on board the ship...

...you must promise me to tell the entire story...

...at a press conference which I shall arrange.

- Do you agree?

- loll be glad to.

Reuben?

Send this every 10 minutes,

and keep on sending it.

- Could we interrupt, please?

- Yes.

This is Dr. de Vries. We elevated ourselves

into a medical committee.

Good.

It's our opinion the sanitary arrangements

on this ship are hopelessly inadequate.

Unless we make

some additional bathing and toilet facilities...

...we'll have a serious health problem.

All right, we'll try to take care of it.

There he is. This is Mrs. Fremont,

from Gen. Sutherland.

- How do you do? Hank?

- Yes.

We have enough scrap lumber

to build privies on deck?

I guess so.

Ten-holers. Knock some showers together, too.

Okay.

- Anything else?

- Not for the present, thank you.

This one to Haifa.

You wanted to see me?

Yes, Captain.

"Yes, Captain. " His Majesty's Jewish Brigade.

North Africa, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine.

The decorations are real.

Is that what Sutherland sent you to find out?

You lied to me about the girl.

She's not at the camp, she's on this ship.

And you forced her to come aboard.

- We don't force anybody. Tel Aviv yet?

- No.

Go on.

You're not listening.

I heard every word you said.

I lied to you about the girl. What else?

I'm taking her off this death trap.

Don't tell me what you'll do on this ship.

You'll do exactly what I tell you.

- Tel Aviv beginning to send.

- Fine.

How do you know the girl wants to get off?

I am trying to save a Jewish child.

Can't you understand that?

Don't you have any respect for human life?

Don't expect me to get hysterical

over one Jewish child...

...and don't you get hysterical, either.

You're late, lady. You're 10 years late.

Almost 2,000,000 Jewish children,

butchered like animals...

...because nobody wanted them.

No country would have them.

Not your country or any other.

And nobody wants the ones who survived.

Jewish flesh is cheap, lady.

It's cheaper than beef.

It is cheaper, even, than herring.

You and your respect...

Tel Aviv complete now.

If you can find the girl, if she wants to go,

take her. Take a dozen if you want to.

Kitty!

It happened so fast,

I couldn't even leave you a note.

I had to go, Kitty, to find my father.

When you asked me to go to America,

I didn't know, and...

Kitty, we're going to Palestine.

Karen, you don't know what it's like in Palestine.

And the British won't let you go, anyhow.

They'll have to, Kitty. They'll just have to.

Because we're not going back to Karaolos,

not ever.

Then let me take you to Palestine.

I can find a way.

- The man in charge, Mr...

- Ben Canaan?

Yes.

If you want to come with me,

you have his permission.

I couldn't leave now, Kitty.

I don't know how to explain it

to someone like you.

But we all came here together,

and now we're trying to do something.

And I must stay here, Kitty.

Gen. Sutherland calling the Olympia.

This is the Exodus. Come in, General.

I have received instructions

from the Colonial Office in London.

No attempt will be made to board the Olympia...

...but the harbour will remain blocked.

You may return to Karaolos whenever you wish.

If you choose to remain in the ship...

...provisions and medical supplies

will be sent to you as you need them.

Message completed.

Not even now?

Kitty...

...I couldn't.

It's like leaving your family when things are bad.

I know.

If you want anything, let me know.

Yes. Gen. Sutherland's your friend.

Tell him to let us go to Palestine.

They're just going to turn this ship

into another concentration camp.

Go back? Nonsense.

Did we escape for just ourselves alone? No.

We've done it for hundreds of thousands

of Jews all over Europe...

...who couldn't get out.

Also it makes news. World news.

I want your attention for a minute.

Now you all heard Gen. Sutherland

on the loudspeaker.

You must now make a decision.

You can go back to Karaolos...

The only way to go back to Karaolos

is by crawling!

...or you can stay aboard this ship.

Who are you making the propaganda for?

Them or us?

Quiet, please. There's another possibility.

You were picked by Haganah for this ship...

...so that your escape to Palestine

would have some meaning to the world.

If you still want it to have some meaning...

...if you want to finish what we began,

you can go on a hunger strike.

Now you're beginning to make a little sense!

We shall tell to the British,

"We spit on your food. "

And the little food we've got here,

we shall throw overboard.

We are going to Palestine,

or we're going to die right here.

Listen, please.

Now just stop and think for a minute.

To go on a hunger strike

is a very serious business...

...because once you strike...

...it can only end when you have won

or when you are dead.

What is so unusual about the Jews dying?

Is that anything new?

I stay right here.

There is no excuse for us to go on living...

...unless we start fighting right now.

So that every Jew on the face of the earth...

...can begin to start feeling

like a human being again.

You heard what I said.

Fight, not beg!

Fight!

Wait a minute.

Everybody aboard this ship...

...agreed to accept Haganah discipline.

I am now giving an order.

We will sit down...

...and we will maintain silence for 20 minutes.

Each one of us will listen to his own heart...

...and to his brain, too.

And then we will vote.

We will now maintain silence.

I saw the people on that ship.

They're not dangerous.

They're just poor, miserable people.

Why can't you let them go?

You must understand that we British

have shown, throughout our history...

...an extraordinary talent

for troublesome commitments.

Palestine is a British mandate imposed upon us...

...by the League of Nations...

...which makes us responsible

for keeping peace in the area.

The Arabs simply won't keep the peace

if we allow further Jewish immigration.

I don't know much about the mandate.

But I do know the Jews

were promised a homeland in Palestine.

During the First World War,

Britain needed and accepted Jewish support...

...from all over the world.

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