For your perusal, my latest INTO THE FRAY column:
Natalie Portman as a symptom
(Kindly consider “liking”, sharing, tweeting – please use hash-tag #IntoFray)
Israel must convey a resolute message to arm-chair liberals who are staunchly prepared to defend their principles…down to the last Israeli
It appears this week on the following sites (in alphabetical order):
ISRAELI FRONTLINE: http://www.israelifrontline.com/2018/04/into-the-fray-natalie-portman-as-a-symptom.html
ISRAEL NATIONAL NEWS: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/22065
ISRAPUNDIT: https://www.israpundit.org/into-the-fray-natalie-portman-as-a-symptom/
JERUSALEM HERALD: https://www.jerusalem-herald.com/single-post/2018/04/27/INTO-THE-FRAY-Natalie-Portman-As-A-Symptom
JEWISH PRESS: http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/columns/into-the-fray-martin-sherman/into-the-fray-natalie-portman-as-a-symptom/2018/04/29/
JNS: https://www.jns.org/opinion/natalie-portman-as-a-symptom/
JEWS DOWN UNDER: https://jewsdownunder.com/2018/04/27/into-the-fray-natalie-portman-as-a-symptom/
MEDIUM: https://jewsdownunder.com/2018/04/27/into-the-fray-natalie-portman-as-a-symptom/
Several short excerpts:
…what I want to make sure is, I don’t want to use my platform [the wrong way]. I feel like there’s some people who become prominent, and then it’s out in the foreign press. You know, shit on Israel. I do not. I don’t want to do that. –Natalie Portman, Hollywood Reporter, May 6, 2015.
This latest rebuff to Israeli cultural events and accolades, coming from an Israeli-American superstar, is arguably one of the strongest indicators yet of how toxic the Israel Brand has become, even in some liberal circles in Hollywood…I can sense our South Africa moment coming closer.” –Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the BDS movement, on Natalie Portman’s decision not to attend the 2018 Genesis Prize award ceremony in Jerusalem, New York Times, April 20, 2018.
After decades of egregious human rights violations against Palestinians, Israel’s recent massacre of peaceful protesters in Gaza has made its brand so toxic that even well-known Israeli-American cultural figures, like Natalie Portman, now refuse to blatantly whitewash, or art-wash, Israeli crimes and apartheid policies – BDS National Committee, Natalie Portman Rejects Israel Prize in Light of its Crimes in Gaza, April 19, 2018.
The repercussions of the decision last week by Natalie Portman to shun the 2018 Genesis Prize Foundation’s award ceremony, at which she was supposed to receive what has been labelled by some as “The Jewish Nobel Prize” –together with two million dollars to spend on charitable causes of her choosing—still continue to reverberate through much of the media.
Imbecilic, infuriating, indefensible
Portman’s behavior throughout the entire affair has of course been indisputably imbecilic, infuriating and indefensible. To begin with, the Genesis Prize Foundation is hardly an unknown quantity. Indeed, since its establishment five years ago, it has awarded its annual prize to an array of high profile individuals— Michael Bloomberg (2014), Michael Douglas (2015), Itzhak Perlman (2016), and Sir Anish Kapoor (2017). Except for Kapoor, all were awarded the prize at a glittering ceremony at which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke…
Incoherent, inconsistent, incomprehensible
…In light of all this—the known partnership between the Genesis Foundation and Netanyahu; her prior disapproval of Netanyahu; and her nonetheless eager acceptance of the award—makes Portman’s later conduct and her subsequent squirming to rationalize it, look decidedly incoherent, inconsistent and incomprehensible…
Blaming Bibi: The permanent default fallback
Swastikas over Gaza : “We have been following the news from Gaza with growing concern”
Indeed, there has been a dense fog of uncertainty as to what precisely prompted the discourteous snub of the prestigious award. However, it is difficult to avoid the distinct impression that the initial impulse was the events on the Gaza border—where, since the end of last month, thousands of rioters, incited by Hamas, “peacefully” protested by hurling rocks and firebombs at IDF soldiers, rolling burning tires…Later, perhaps partially in response to the Foundation’s terse reply … Portman changed her tune—laying the blame on…Bibi.
Bibi: The all-purpose demon
There are several troubling aspects to Portman’s supercilious clarification –which has a distinctly hollow and mendacious ring to it… if she felt such opprobrium towards Netanyahu, why did she agree to accept the award in the first place? After all, not only was it well known that the involvement of Prime Minister’s Office was an integral part of the Foundation, but Netanyahu spoke at every previous award ceremony ever held by the Foundation…
Arrogant and absurd
…Indeed, by refusing any appearance with Netanyahu, Portman is in fact expressing utter disdain for the Israeli democratic process… arrogantly implying that she knows better than the Israeli electorate—which has repeatedly reelected him, in free and fair elections, to govern the country she elected to forsake three decades ago.
The speech Portman could have given
… I too would encourage Portman to speak out and “stand up against violence, corruption, inequality, and abuse of power…Indeed, she could have used the award ceremony as a grand opportunity to advance her preferred social cause, women’s rights, and call for their enhancement across the Arab/Muslim world…where the need for such enhancement is incontrovertibly the most dire…But, as she didn’t, I guess that is “simply not in line with her Jewish values”.
The Dershowitz dictum.
At Harvard, Portman worked as a research assistant for Prof. Alan Dershowitz, a staunch advocate of both Israel and human rights. A point Dershowitz often brings up in his talks is the challenge with which he frequently confronts his audiences: “Name a single country in the history of the world faced with internal and external threats comparable to those faced by Israel that has ever had a better record in human rights; a better record with compliance of the rule of law; a better record of concern for civilians?”According to Dershowitz: “I have been asking that question now for 20 years probably to a million people around the world, and I’ve never gotten a single person even to stand up and name a country, because you can’t do it.”
The wider malaise: Israel reaping what it never sowed
For all the gravity of Portman’s behavior and the severe damage it has inflicted on Israel and Zionism, it must be realized that it is part of a wider, more disturbing phenomena—a mere symptom of a more serious malaise…This is the devastating failure and neglect of Israel’s public diplomacy, particularly on university campuses, which has allowed Israel’s image to be gravely degraded…
