I'm A Proud Jew And Would Never Refute It
The outrage over a Jewish filmmaker and his controversial comments at the 96th Oscars.
The 96th Oscars have come and gone--The Zone of Interest filmmaker Jonathan Glazer is getting roasted and rightfully so.
I was never really in a good headspace to watch the film during awards season. The first screening was in October--let's be honest, no film really got its due diligence following October 7. But anyway, I just wasn't in a mood to watch a film about the Holocaust that centers on the Nazis. I really don't think I'll ever be in the right headspace for that, let alone mood.
This brings us to Sunday night. A Jewish filmmaker accepts an award for a film about the Holocaust--one that doesn't even center on the Jewish victims--and then basically says that he's not proud to be Jewish.
What I wrote as I was posting live updates during the Oscars:
I'm a proud Jew. I would never refute my Jewishness because of whoever is serving as the Israeli prime minister and I say this as someone who is anti-Bibi and the right-wing coalition. I also say this as someone who is a few degrees removed from Israelis taken hostage. I say this to Jonathan Glazer: Don't make a Holocaust film, center it on the Nazis, and then refute your Jewishness. That's the move of a coward trying to score points with the very antisemitic leftists who are pushing Jews out of left-wing spaces. I'm with emeritus ADL director Abraham Foxman on this. It is a slap in the face to the 6 million Jews that perished although I'm sure Foxman mistyped the number in his tweet.
What I started writing on Facebook on Monday morning after a night of tossing and turning, but then decided it should be included in this newsletter:
History teaches us that it doesn't matter if a Jew supports Israel's right to exist or not--when they come for Jews, they will come Jews no matter what. A Jew is a Jew is a Jew. I'm a proud Jew regardless of who is the American president or Israeli prime minister. This idea that Jews are collectively responsible for the actions of the Israeli government--as Jonathan Glazer seemingly implied last night--is antisemitic. Don't believe me? It's right there on the IHRA website: "Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel."
Many leftist non-Israeli Jews keep shouting "Not in our name" during the war, as if the State of Israel is somehow fighting in their name. No, the State of Israel is fighting a war of self-defense after its borders were breached and then subsequently attacked. It somehow seems that they find themselves responsible of the government's actions. Last I checked, non-Israeli Jews do not get to vote for the Israeli elections. Until that happens, non-Israeli Jews cannot be collectively held responsible for government actions. If someone is trying to hold non-Israeli Jews collectively responsible, they are an antisemite. If a leftist Jew is holding other non-Israelis collectively responsible or feeling that the IDF is fighting in their name, it's a classic example of internalized Jew hatred.
Many Jews have had targets painted on our backs since October 7. In recent months, I've spent more time calling out Jew-hatred and calling on Hamas to lay down their weapons, surrender, and release the hostages. In doing so, I've been unfriended and unfollowed by a number of industry colleagues. My friend's friend's son is still being held hostage in Gaza so excuse me if I think that Jewish lives should also matter.
Among the things I'll be doing this week upon traveling to Israel is paying my respects to Oskar Schindler for his efforts in saving Jews along with visiting Theodor Herzl's grave. Without Herzl, we wouldn't have Israel as an option right now. It took a systemic genocide to make it possible for a Jewish state to exist on the one piece of land--our ancestral homeland--where people still do not want Jews to live.
I will be posting updates from Israel as my schedule allows.
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