After it was screened at the
Tribeca Film Festival, the Anti-Defamation League's
Abraham Foxman issued a statement denouncing the film, stating that it "belittles the issue (of antisemitism) ... and cheapens the Holocaust. It is Shamir's perverse, personal, political perspective and a missed opportunity to document a serious and important issue."
The New York Times reviewer
Neil Genzlinger states that while these ideas deserve a thorough and dispassionate discussion, Shamir has not provided it: "...it feels like just another day on the Op-Ed page."
The Boston Globe reviewer Ty Burr wrote "Unlike many agit-docs,
Defamation wants to get you thinking, and it knows the epithet "
self-hating Jew" can be used as a club by those who don't want you to think at all." His review was positive, highlighting how the film argues that raising "Israelis to define themselves as a nation of victims...is a disservice to modern complexities — and, not coincidentally, makes it almost impossible to see any other people as victims." The review in the
Los Angeles Times praised the documentary for showing "how accusations of anti-Semitism can easily be exploited for political purposes." The reviewer commended the filmmaker for his fairness writing that "even though
Defamation, which is sprinkled with unexpected moments of wry humor, will be inescapably controversial,
Yoav Shamir strives admirably to be evenhanded." ==References==