Israel Matzav: How you can help save LATMA

Tuesday, July 09, 2013

How you can help save LATMA

In an earlier post, I described the financial predicament of LATMA, the group that makes the brilliant satire videos that I post every Friday. Earlier today, someone forwarded an email to me that they received from Ruchie Avital, who does the English subtitles for the show every week. I was apparently one of several people who asked if Ruchie could get the email translated into English, and I am posting it below.

Following many requests, here is the English translation of my recent status. Many thanks to the professional translator Ben Gross:

Okay, the moment has arrived.

Latma will be closing at the end of July, and the bad guys are already celebrating. Gloating, joyful statuses have already begun to appear here and there, alongside slanderous and angry statuses about the (imaginary, for now) possibility that we might begin airing on Channel 1.

We also read on the internet about our contract with Channel 1. In reality, there is nothing. We are being turned away, time and again, back and forth, for two years now, each time with a different excuse, and it seems that there is no end in sight. What is in sight is the end of July, when Latma’s budget runs out, and Latma will disappear.

The vultures on the Left can already smell the end. After four years of producing brave Israeli and Zionist satire that went against the stream, standing opposed to all the left wing incitement that everyone had already accepted, because they somehow convinced everyone that “that’s how satire works”. Four years where we pounded them, four years when Yariv Oppenheimer and his friends’ ears turned red from rage, when they discovered they were not immune to criticism and piercing satire.

The inciters, the boycotters and Israel’s enemies also got their fair share, from the Flotilla video on YouTube, which gathered millions of views, boosted the Israeli morale and changed the world’s viewpoint, through the “Abba” clip that infuriated the Swedes following the Aftonbladet blood libel, to our very own Tawil Fadicha, Palestinian Minister of Uncontrollable Rage. A character that never would have been created on one of the “regular” satire shows screwing up your heads on the television screen.

This is all going to end, because there’s no money left. We don’t have the astronomically huge budgets “It’s A Wonderful Land” has, we don’t have the unlimited support of organizations in Europe and elsewhere, who call themselves “Human Rights Organizations”. We don’t even have the cultural institutions budget or the haircuts that theaters like Habima get, the same theaters whose actors boycott the settlements. Standing against this sea of hypocrisy and evil, thanks to the amazing Caroline Glick, Latma subsisted until today with the help of proud Zionist Jews, who were touched by her enthusiasm and belief. But even that great force has a limit.

Today we look like a review of the sick and wounded. Caroline cares for two little children and two sick parents in the United States and travels there often, and how much more can we ask of her? Noam has his arm in a cast, but insists on coming to the filming, Ronit was lightly wounded from a stone throwing attack while traveling with her family in Judea and Samaria, but showed up for the filming two days later. I myself went through a health issue that immobilized me for two months, and I’ve not entirely recovered from it, but I’ve gotten up, come back, and continued working.
From our small studio in Petach Tikva, we kept producing editions, week after week. Persistently, without season, without taking breaks. With a lot of creative spirit, happiness and belief. But our morale has sunk and hit rock bottom. There’s a feeling of defeat.

So the bad guys win? The crows n the left are sitting on the branch and waiting. Already sharpening their beaks, already celebrating.

But you know what, that motivates me. Our answer to their evil and depravity will be more action. That’s how you always win. We won’t go down, damn it! We’ll get back on our feet, Latma will not disappear. We can’t let this amazing project fall. Latma must stay and must continue being the voice of the public that is being deprived by the media and the Left, the public that we were there for, like water to a fish, every week.

To do that, the public needs to help us. We need money. It’s that simple. Latma’s operating costs for a full month are approximately 220,000 shekels, a quarter of one episode – one! – of “It’s A Wonderful Land”. In a year we need approximately 2.6 million shekels, for an entire year. It’s not unreachable; it’s something that if we all get up and give what we can – we can reach it. “It’s A Wonderful Land” will put out barely three weekly episodes with that kind of budget, we put out 50 episodes. With half of that we can do half a year, with double that we can do two years, either way, it gives us the oxygen we need to get stronger and reorganize for the future.

It’s not enough to just hit “Like” or express sorrow and concern. This isn’t the time to cry, sit and whine about the country, about the left that’s taken over our lives, this is the time to act! Reach into your pocket and donate in the link below, by check, bank transfer, or credit card. Whatever you can, 20, 50, 100 however much you can. Shekel by shekel, we’ll make it.

Soon we’ll also make a fundraising film for Headstart. We will succeed, we can do it! Share, share, share, as much as you can! Send this to everyone, so it will be seen all over the country, for all I care, it can reach the haters too, who in their stupidity will share it as mockery, to defame and deride. Send it to the entirety of Judea and Samaria, to every single email, to everyone who cares about this country, that this country is important to them.

Let Latma Win!

http://latma.mrp-bsd.co.il/docs/P129/

The English translation of Bank details and EFT as shown on the page, if you prefer it over credit card payment:

Checks issued to:

Hahamama Hatzionit

and please send to:

Caroline Glick

P.O. Box 841

Mevaseret Tzion 90805

Israel

EFT, Bank transfer:

Hahamama HaTzionit

Account # 49089

Discount Bank

Branch # 510, Mevaseret Tzion

Thank you!