PrintMarch 10, 2011
A flow of anti-Israel poison -- from Israel, to Britain, to the heart of the U.S. capital
Western culture -- whether expressed in books, plays, movies -- increasingly spews anti-Israel hatred across the globe. It's become a radical-chic campaign by a growing number of writers, directors, actors and other performers to demonize and delegitimize the Jewish state -- often laced with not-so-subtle anti-Semitic stereotypes.
A couple of recent examples:
In Britain, a TV mini-series, filmed mainly in Israel, depicts Israeli soldiers as vile brutes persecuting Palestinians. TV critics loved it. The first episode drew nearly 2 million viewers.
An Israeli embassy spokesman said the show set a new high -- actually a new low -- in anti-Israel propaganda. IDF troops, he noted, were portrayed as blood-thirsty, whle Palestinians were cast in the role of helpless victims. For their part, Israeli civilians were shown as wealthy, uncaring families splashing in their swimming pools.
"In my 15-year career, I have never seen anything like it in the Western meda," the Israeli embassy spokesman told London's Jewish Chronicle. "I'm aware of artistic freedom, but nevertheless I feel this is worse than anything I've seen."
Israeli media noted that the director of the TV series, Peter Kosminisky, has a Jewish grandfather.
Could such anti-Jewish, anti-Israel horrors take place in the U.S., where polls show strong support of Israel among rank-and-file Americans, but where media and other cultural outlets don't necessarily reflect "vox populi"?
You bet. You don't have to go farther than the nation's capital, where the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington funds Theater J, which stages productions like the anti-Semitic "Seven Jewish Children, a Play for Gaza" and a pro-Palestinian play like "Return to Haifa." Not only is the leitmotiv of these dramas denigraton of Israel, but Theater J brackets such shows with panel discussions featuring groups and individuals who regularly attack Israel. A Theater J board member is reported to have told an anti-Israel demonstratin that Israel "ethnically cleansed, humiliated, harassed, imprisoned, serially murdered and assassinated over 300,000 Palestinians."
Theater J partners with J Street, another anti-Israel group that masquerades as being "pro-peace," "pro-Israel. No great surprise that J Street urged President Obama not to veto a recent UN Security Council resolution condemning Israel.
A few examples amid a cultural anti-Israel tsunami propagated by liberal chic elites in Europe and North America -- plus, sad to say, in Israel as well.
