Crystal City Entertainment Adapting Yardena Schwartz's 'Ghosts Of A Holy War' For Film

The narrative feature will be based on the bestselling book examining the 1929 Hebron massacre that ignited the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Published on Feb. 26, 2026

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Crystal City Entertainment is developing a narrative feature adaptation of Yardena Schwartz's bestselling book "Ghosts of a Holy War: The 1929 Massacre in Palestine That Ignited the Arab-Israeli Conflict". The book is a thoroughly researched, even-handed examination of the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict, drawing from historical records, personal accounts, and previously undiscovered letters.

Why it matters

The film adaptation aims to bring much-needed historical understanding of the 1929 Hebron massacre to a wider audience, as the events of that tragedy continue to reverberate and shape the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict. By illuminating the chilling echoes of 1929 in more recent violence, the project hopes to provide clarity on the deep-rooted forces behind the conflict.

The details

The story began when a family in Memphis, Tennessee discovered a box of century-old letters in their attic, leading them on a journey to learn about the young man who wrote the letters from Hebron in British Mandate Palestine, and the massacre that took his life in 1929. Schwartz drew from these letters, archival research, and interviews with Israelis and Palestinians in Hebron to tell this little-known chapter of history that is considered the ground zero of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

  • In 1929, a massacre of the Jewish community took place in Hebron.
  • On October 7, 2023, Hamas carried out a massacre that echoed the events of 1929.

The players

Crystal City Entertainment

A production company that is developing the film adaptation of "Ghosts of a Holy War".

Yardena Schwartz

An award-winning journalist and the author of the bestselling book "Ghosts of a Holy War: The 1929 Massacre in Palestine That Ignited the Arab-Israeli Conflict".

Jonathan Rubenstein

The founder of Crystal City Entertainment and a producer on the film adaptation.

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What they’re saying

“There is an urgent responsibility to bring this story to the screen now. History itself is under attack, with revisionist narratives gaining traction and reframing the region's past. We cannot have an honest conversation about the conflict without a clear understanding of the dramatic events of 1929. Yardena's work powerfully shows that the tragedy of October 7 was not an isolated eruption of violence, but an echo of brutality that long predates the establishment of the State of Israel.”

— Jonathan Rubenstein, Founder, Crystal City Entertainment (Deadline)

“While researching the 1929 massacre of Hebron's Jewish community, I realized that this little-known chapter in history was ground zero of the Arab-Israeli conflict, key to understanding the widely overlooked forces that continue to inspire so much violence. My hope while writing Ghosts of a Holy War was that readers would gain a deeper understanding of the hidden roots of this conflict, and see that peace will only be possible when these forces are addressed. I look forward to seeing this adaptation bring this much-needed historical understanding to a wider audience, so that history might stop repeating itself.”

— Yardena Schwartz (Deadline)

What’s next

The film adaptation is currently in development by Crystal City Entertainment.

The takeaway

This project aims to shed light on the little-known 1929 Hebron massacre, which is considered the ground zero of the Arab-Israeli conflict. By illuminating the historical roots of the ongoing violence, the filmmakers hope to provide a deeper understanding of the forces behind the conflict and the path towards lasting peace.