A few days ago, the Kuwaiti government announced that it will ban all screenings of Death on the Nile, a cinematic adaptation of Agatha Christie's famous murder mystery.

The reason for the ban is that the film's star is Gal Gadot, the famous Israeli actress and former Miss Israel.

Kuwait's Al-Qabas newspaper claims that the ban was imposed following outrage from social media users in Kuwait, owing to Gadot's support of the Israeli army and her criticism of Hamas during the 2014 war in Gaza.

Yes, you read that correctly: the film is banned because its star is a patriot and is critical of an internationally recognized terrorist organization that has carried out thousands of deadly terror attacks in Isreal, including the indiscriminate firing of rockets that massacred, maimed, and orphaned innocent human beings since the mid-'80s.

Previously, Kuwait also banned Gadot's 2017 film Wonder Woman.  Lebanon, Qatar, Jordan, Tunisia, and other Islamic countries in the Middle East and North Africa also banned the film.

Last year in May, Gadot faced a vitriolic online attack over her tweet about the Hamas-led rocket attacks conflict in Israel. 

The following is the gist of her post:

My country is at war. I worry for my family, my friends. I worry for my people. This is a vicious cycle that has been going on for far too long.

I pray for the victims and their families. I pray for our leaders to find the solution so we could live side by side in peace. 

Israel deserves to live as a free and safe nation, our neighbors deserve the same.

She didn't call for vengeance against any nation.  She didn't name any terror organization.  It was just a prayer for peace and hope for freedom, peace, and safety for Israel and all its neighbors.  A reasonable statement by all means. 

But Islamists and totalitarians never appreciate nuance.  You either totally submit to their groupthink or else venom is mercilessly spewed.

Gadot was, among other bigoted insults, called a Zionist war criminal because of her two years of mandatory service in the Israeli defense forces.

The anti-Semites of the world are active again.  They have developed ways to conceal their bigotry and claim that their opposition is only policy-driven.  Since they cannot openly express hatred for Gal Gadot because she is Jewish, they call her a Zionist.

Zionism is a Jewish nationalist movement that had as its goal the creation and support of the Jewish national state of Israel.  This is a movement of patriots.  Every nation is founded on religious and cultural tenets.  Israel has every reason to be proud of its heritage, especially since it was formed after centuries of struggle and continues to be surrounded by enemies.  A nationalistic fervor also unites people and serves as a morale-booster.

Quite often, words gain a totally new meaning owing to frequent usage by bigots.  The words "Zionism" and "Zionist" are now coded anti-Semitic insults that come from bigots.  Instead of being blatantly anti-Semitic, these are dog whistles, which are understood perfectly among other anti-Semites who hear them.

When confronted, they say: "We aren't against Jewish people; we are against Zionism."

It is ironic that religious-nationalist dictatorship nations that govern strictly by religious laws have the audacity to condemn the nationalism of another country.

The ban on Gadot's films is an act of discrimination with anti-Semitism at its core.

According to the Times of Israel, 2021 was the worst year for anti-Semitic attacks in a decade, seeing an average of ten incidents a day, with the likelihood that many more incidents have not been reported.  Reports also say anti-Semitism is on the rise in the U.S., with one in four Jewish Americans saying they have been targets of bigotry.

It is interesting to note that the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel is never applied to life-saving medical inventions, pharmaceuticals, or surgical technologies pioneered by Israeli scientists and doctors.  Israeli agricultural innovations and desalination technologies that are crucial for water management in desert countries are never prohibited.  Governments know that boycotts such as these would devastate their lives, so they restrict their anti-Semitism to boycotting movies and soft drinks.

So far, there has been no condemnation for the ban from either the Biden administration or Hollywood, both of which never cease to hector everyone about standing up against bigotry. 

In fact, Hollywood itself has displayed a shocking trend of anti-Semitism in recent times.

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, which was launched late last year, excluded mention of the Jewish founders of various big Hollywood studios.  The museum presented scant reference to many of Hollywood's great Jewish auteurs.

Showbiz people such as Emma Watson, Susan Sarandon, Roger Waters, Dua Lipa, Viola Davis, Javier Bardem,  Penelope Cruz, and even Israeli-born Natalie Portman have expressed pro-Palestinian views.  Recently, Whoopi Goldberg indulged in a ludicrous attempt to de-Judaize the motives behind the Holocaust.

Hollywood has also been accused of portraying rude caricatures of Jewish people in its films.

Back in 2014, around 200 Hollywood biggies including Sylvester Stallone, Seth Rogen, and Bill Maher signed petitions critical of Hamas and defensive of Israel.  Hopefully, these individuals will reiterate their stand.

Washington's record on confronting anti-Semitism has also been disgraceful.

The Obama administration openly championed the Palestinian cause.  Some Democrats have even used the terms such as "apartheid state" to describe Israel. 

The Democrats are usually silent when Hamas fires rockets into Israel.  Congresswomen such as Palestinian-American Rashida Talib and Somalian-American Ilhan Omar are rabidly anti-Semitic and loudly pro-Palestine.  The AOC-led Squad opposed funding of Israel's Iron Dome that shields the embattled country from aerial terror attacks.  Sen. Bernie Sanders, who was raised Jewish and even lived in Israel, recently expressed support for Palestinian causes.

Hence, both Hollywood and Washington have abandoned the U.S.'s closest ally in the Middle East and the region's only pluralistic democracy.

South Africa during its Apartheid era from 1948 to 1991 was subjected to a variety of international boycotts and sanctions to protest against its institutionalized discrimination of non-white people.  Historians have said these embargoes played a crucial role in ending the darkest chapter in South African history.

A similar movement is desperately needed to confront systemic anti-Semitism.  Civilized countries and key individuals should break ties with counties that practice discrimination motivated by anti-Semitism and hate for the state of Israel.

In 2020, President Trump's peace deal led to the normalization of relations between Israel and Islamic nations such as the UAE, Bahrain, Jordan, Oman, Morocco, and Sudan.

There is no place for systemic bigotry in the modern world.

The Jewish people have relentlessly been the target of unspeakable persecution all through history.

Those choosing to remain silent have to understand that they cannot be a neutral party in this, ignoring or tolerating bigotry is the equivalent of endorsing bigotry.

Endorsing bigotry is also bigotry, so it is time for these bystanders to engage in introspection about their stand and whether they want to be on the right side of history.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons (cropped), CC BY-SA 3.0.