LEORA CHAI WORKING ON NEW FILM
By Megan Sprague

Statesville Record & Landmark
feb/05/leora-chai-working-new-film/entertainment/
Feb 5 2009

Leora Chai’s name might sound familiar to Mooresville residents who
enjoyed her locally filmed NASCAR movie. Now, the local director and
producer said she’s taking it to the next level with an investigation
into the World War I "Freedom Fighters of Nili."

"Coming from a bi-continental family and having lived in Israel,
I wanted to look deeper into that history and the stories I’ve been
told since age nine," Chai explained. "It just feels like the right
time to delve into that."

The Freedom Fighters of Nili were a spy group in Israel started by
the Aaronsohn family, mainly brother and sister team Aaron and Sarah.

Chai’s Web site offers the following plot summary:

"When World War I broke out in 1914, Aaron and his friends had enough
of the brutal Turkish oppression and decided to act. Aaron and his good
friend, Avshalom Feinberg, organized a spy group, which became to be
known as Nili. Their mission was to aid the British by supplying them
with intelligence, to aid in their attack on Jerusalem in Dec. 1917."

"Aaron was a genius," Chai said. "He studied in Europe, was highly
intelligent, discovered wild wheat and worked with the British and
the United States to discuss dry farming issues (before forming the
"Freedom Fighters"). He also knew more about the landscape of Israel
better than almost anyone at the time. His work, I think, is often
overshadowed by his sister."

She said that Aaron could have brought the entire family to the
U.S. for a prestigious position at Berkley, but chose not to.

"The family had a deep pride and passion for Israel and wanted it to
become its own nation," Chai said.

Instead, Aaron returned with the funds to start an Agricultural
Experimentation Station in Atlit, just 12 miles north of Zichron
Ya’akov, where the family originated and formed the "Freedom Fighters."

Aaron soon reached out to London for help after his return, as the
Turks harshly ruled his homeland, and told the British of the Nili
and their works.

"The British didn’t believe him at first, but the more he spoke and
the fact that he knew the area so well, they started to believe he
was legitimate," Chai said. "They took him to Egypt to help gather
intelligence, where he secretly met with ships on moonless nights about
every two weeks and used sheets and smoke signals to tell the ship
it was OK to approach and speak. They would also exchange chocolate,
soap, sugar and money."

Sarah Aaronsohn was married and living in Constantinople, but she
joined her brother after she returned during World War I. Upon
return, she started to get involved and also supply the British
with intelligence. On her train ride home, she "witnessed genocidal
atrocities done to the Armenians by the Ottoman Empire," furthering
her passion for the cause.

"At the end of 1916, Aaron traveled to London to make contact with the
British. Sarah was left in charge to run the Agricultural Station as
well as organize intelligence," said Chai’s Web site. "She led Nili
as the field and headquarters leader."

Sarah did visit Aaron in Egypt for a time, but missed being at
home and working closely with Nili agents. In October of 1917 after
Sarah’s return, a tactical move gone wrong jeopardized the safety of
the Nili members.

"The British decided to go back to using messenger pigeons, and one
of them got loose and was discovered by a local police officer,"
Chai said. "The officer opened the scroll and freaked out, because
obviously it was a message written in code, indicating spies. It was
deciphered and there was definitive proof that spying was going on,
despite rumors going on for months that could not be confirmed."

Chai said that Jews at that time severely looked down upon any sort
of spy activity and several of Sarah’s neighbors went to her and
asked her to stop "that nonsense."

"Shortly after the note was discovered, they rounded up many of the
agents, including Sarah, who had stayed at her home, waiting for
the police to arrive. She had that ‘come and get me’ attitude," she
said. "They tortured her for several days, pulling out her fingernails,
her hair and beating her. She never told about any of the activities
the Nili had done, and the police decided to transport her to Nazareth,
possibly to hang her."

Sarah never made it. She requested to be allowed to go home and clean
up for the journey, and being a woman worked in her favor, according
to Chai.

"She went home and into the bathroom, wrote her last letter, and as
the guards stood outside her home, waiting for her, she shot herself
in the mouth," she said. "Sarah died four days later, but her work
lived on. She and Aaron’s works, as well as the rest of the ‘Freedom
Fighters’ assisted General Allenby in his invasion on December 12,
1917."

Aaron survived the war, but was tragically killed shortly afterward
in a mysterious plane crash.

"This part of history is so important and a lot of children learn
about it in Israel, but I think this is the first documentary ever
made about this, at least in English," Chai said excitedly. "I hope
I can distribute it to communities and schools eventually, because
it’s such a fascinating and epic story."

Most of the documentary will be filmed in Israel, with a few shoots
in Britain and possibly Egypt.

"There is a museum in Israel dedicated to the Nili ‘Freedom Fighters’
that has an archive not on display that is phenomenal, with diaries
and pictures that I will use," Chai said. "I’ve also located the
great nephew of the Aaronsohns who has agreed to be interviewed and
several other historians that will contribute."

Currently, Chai is raising money for the project and plans to get
started as soon as the money comes through.