Did anyone catch Boston Legal on Tuesday? In it Denny Crain (played with panache by William Shatner) learns (well, he's such a buffoon and a curmudgeon) that criticizing Israel is anti-Semitic. Bethany Horowitz (the very short lawyer) explains this to him--it's a very small country, surrounded by millions of Arabs, etc. Denny still doesn't really get it, and so, at the end of the show, as usual, he and his friend Alan Shore (James Spader) are out on the balcony drinking brandy and smoking cigars, and the subject comes up again. Denny asks Alan, didn't you think that Israel over-reacted when it attacked Lebanon last summer? Alan says, yes, but procedes to explain to Denny again why you shouldn't criticize Israel, and why Jews don't like it. (I can't remember the logic.) Since Alan is the "liberal" on the show, of course he is presented as more sensitive on this matter than Denny, the loveable conservative Neanderthal.
For daily ripostes to this line of reasoning, check out the irreplaceable MuzzleWatch, a blog from Jewish Voice for Peace that "track[s] efforts to stifle open debate about US-Israeli foreign policy.
First, before we start this discussion as why this program was deleted in KC: I believe that the Jews should have a homeland as established by the 1946 United Nations Structuring, including that Jerusalem become an International City.
ReplyDeleteThat said; the episode brought fourth that anyone that criticizes Israel on any of its political positions is anti-Semitic. If you don’t know who Larry Franklin is, that’s sort of supports the position.
Also Shatners “little person” made the statement that the only reason that the Palestinians are fighting Israel is-----that “they don’t like the Jewish religion”. She forgot to mention that the real reason that the Palestinians are more than miffed is the Jews continue to steal their land.
Considering how hot this issue is, I am guessing that somebody had a problem with the faulty reasoning in this matter.
I know that since I am not Jewish I am not qualifid in this matter.
Gene
Thanks for reminding me that Bethany said the Palestinians are fighting Israel because they don't like the Jewish religion. This is a typical mainstream "explanation" for the Israel-Palestine dispute--that it has to do with longstanding Arab hostility to Judaism. This forgets or obscures that Jews of the Middle East PROSPERED during the height of Arab-Islamic civilization, while they were persecuted in Europe.
ReplyDelete