Aaron Sorkin is developing a film based on The Unlikely Father of the Israeli Air Force for Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. is partnering with Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing, the social network) to develop a film about the unlikely father of the Israeli Air Force, Al Schwimmer.

Sorkin will write the screenplay and possibly direct the film. The film will be based in part on the article America’s Greatest Gift to Israel, published in Business Insider.

The film will tell the story of Al Schwimmer, a post-World War II arms smuggler who helped create the Israeli Air Force, which helped the nascent country survive.

It explains: “Schwimmer was a decorated World War II veteran from Connecticut. In 1948, in the aftermath of the Holocaust, a homeland for the Jewish state was being carved out of Arab territory, and countries such as Egypt and Jordan prepared to drive out these new neighbors.

“America, not wishing to inflame the Cold War in Middle Eastern countries, publicly announced that it would not provide military aid to Israel. Schwimmer masterminded a secret, illegal international operation that the article describes as part Argo and part Mission: Impossible.

“Schwimmer aligned himself with the Haganah, the Jewish underground paramilitary group, and assembled a ragtag group of World War II veterans who defied the American embargo to smuggle 125 military planes and more than 50,000 weapons into Palestine.

“Willing accomplices included Bugsy Siegel’s publicist, mobster Meyer Lansky, Pee-wee Herman’s father Milton Rubenfeld, and Frank Sinatra.

“Many rifles and other weapons came from Czechoslovakia and were used by the Nazis. Reports say this action helped save Israel by giving the country a fighting chance in the war by establishing air superiority.

“Later Schwimmer and his accomplices turned themselves in; most of them were Jews, and they argued that seeing the abject cruelty and genocide perpetrated against Jews during the Holocaust strengthened their resolve to make the right moral choice.

“Although they were spared prison sentences, Schwimmer and others were fined and stripped of their civil rights. Schwimmer refused to ask for clemency at the time, but was nevertheless pardoned by President Bill Clinton in 2001. He died ten years later.

The prevailing view was that their efforts prevented a second Holocaust.

It looks like it will be a great film project for Sorkin to be a part of. If you want to learn more about Schwimmer and his heroic exploits, there are documentaries you can watch, including the 2015 PBS doc A wing and a prayerwhich features interviews with Schwimmer and many of the surviving troops.

Source: deadline