By Jack Engelhard
Then, in 2001, is was Durban, where a pretext of human rights was turned into a Conga Line of Israel bashing. Now it’s Toronto. This cause is also good, on the surface. There’s an international film festival going on even as we speak – and who can complain about something so artistic? Well, there’s a problem.
Organizers decided to honor Tel Aviv and Israeli filmmakers and as we know, no good deed goes unpunished.
Immediately after word got out about this (City to City) Tel Aviv connection to Toronto, a group of artists devoted to replacement politics went ballistic and called for a freeze on anything that honors Israel’s contribution to film – or anything that honors Israel, period. Replacement Politics? That’s the endeavor to replace Israel with any population that isn’t Jewish.
The protest against Israel began slowly enough, but then grew into near-Biblical proportions. E-mails tell me that more than a thousand members of the filmmaking community have rushed in to sign up for a petition tagged “The Toronto Declaration” – which declares, “No Celebration for Occupation.”
Durban was likewise hysterical about the “occupation.” This word, occupation, is used politely in lieu of “No Jews Allowed.”
Who knew that so many in the film industry would be so quick to sign us onto the Book of Doom – on the eve when we pray for the Book of Life?
We’ve gone from screenwriter Ben Hecht who wrote “A Flag Is Born” to screenwriter Tony Kushner who said, “I wish modern Israel hadn’t been born.” Somewhere within a single generation blessings have been turned into curses. There is no Frank Sinatra (a true friend of Israel) to shame these petitioners for their open-faced treachery.
Who are these people and what do they want? We know what they want, and no amount of smooth talk, double-talk and rewrite can hide the message that they want Israel sliced and devoured. They say “apartheid” where there is no apartheid. They demand a “freeze on settlements,” which picks up language even before Durban.
We are now back further and into the covens of Wannsee and Nuremberg, where Jews were given restrictions and parameters.
Jane Fonda, who won two Oscars for being the daughter of Henry Fonda, well, she sure signed up for this petition, as did scores of other B-List actors and filmmakers, including Julie Christie, Harry Belafonte, someone named Viggo Mortensen, Danny Glover, of course, and somehow or other, Noam Chomsky, who can always be counted on when it’s time to slur the Jewish State.
This crowd only needs a place an event and an excuse to denounce Zion. Name the occasion, and they will come. (I’ve heard of novels and screenplays being turned down for being “too Jewish.” Here’s a case of an entire country being turned down for being too Jewish.)
Fonda and others in her sphere of influence declare that they love Israel, even as their aspirations differ not in the slightest from (the late) Yasser Arafat to (the latest) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. They speak in smooth tongues from crooked hearts, so they will never straightly say that they want Israel wiped off the map. That would be so crude.
No, that wouldn’t be liberal and it wouldn’t be progressive and it wouldn’t be artistic, so they speak in code. Any Israeli act of self-defense is called a “massacre.” Any act of deterrence against terrorism, any action to protect and preserve Jewish life, is an affront to these high-minded elites.
How is it that our luminaries of refinement and poetry collude with Jihad tyranny, yet defame Israel’s liberty -- freedoms that are shared by Arabs and Jews alike?
Tel Aviv is the showplace of this!
They may speak in parables, Fonda and the lot, but I know the taunt “Dirty Jew” when I hear it, and even when it is not spoken I can smell it – miles away from Toronto.
Remember, it was Bilam who was ordered to curse the Children of Israel. He ended up with blessings, which from 3,000 years ago serve us to this day:
“How goodly thy tents, O Jacob; thy dwelling places O Israel.”
Jack Engelhard wrote the international bestselling novel “Indecent Proposal” that was translated into more than 22 languages and turned into a Paramount motion picture starring Robert Redford and Demi Moore. His latest thriller, The Bathsheba Deadline, which centers on media deceit against America and Israel, is available in paperback at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Bathsheba-Deadline-Original-Novel/dp/0595470793/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252969607&sr=8-1
Engelhard can be reached at his website www.jackengelhard.com
