This summer, a gay pride event in Spain disinvited a gay Israeli singer because she is Israeli. It was the Pride organizers' way of protesting Israel's deadly floatilla raid. Needless to say, this is sheer bigotry. It's exactly because of incidents like this that we in the U.S. have anti-discrimination laws based on nationality. Internationally, does that thinking only pertain to those from Arab and Muslim countries? Are we not told ad nauseum how wrong it is to discriminate against Muslims because of the actions of their leaders?
Anti-Israelis and anti-Semites who purport to support Palestinians are resorting to typically unethical means to support their ends. They are intimidating artists, singers, and filmmakers into cancelling tours, shows, and appearances in Israel, as well as pressuring other countries to discriminate against Israeli artists on the basis of their nationality.
Elvis Costello originally declined to cancel his Israeli shows this summer, remarking that it is wrong to punish citizens for government policies you might disagree with, but after harsh intimidation by the Palestinian Solidarity Movement, he changed his tune. The same thing happened with the Pixies. Others, such as Carlos Santana, were all too happy to discriminate and apparently did so without much pressure.
As if strong-arming celebrties were not enough, now the Jew-haters are outright lying. They got a petition to boycott Israeli artists going by forging the signatures of James Cameron and Jane Fonda.
Well, the Terminator/Avatar director is not easily intimidated. He could have taken Fonda's easy way out by simply having his publicist say the signature was a forgery (Fonda has a sordid history of bashing Israelis and then aplogizing for it,) but he did more than that. He blasted the petition's organizers for their deceit and made it clear how he feels about boycotting people because of their nationality. The Jew-haters have once again screwed themselves over by messing with the wrong guy.
http://www.jpost.com/ArtsAndCulture/Entertainment/Article.aspx?id=168521
If they thought Cameron would automatically side with Hamas against Israelis because they see the aliens in Avatar as representing Palestinians, they were sadly mistaken. (And they have a short memory, seeing as how the bad guys in Cameron's True Lies were extremist Muslims.) The natives in Avatar are a peaceful, tolerant group of natives with a culture that honors women as equals, and they are 100% faultless when the U.S. government attacks them and destroys their land. By contrast, the Palestinians freely elected Hamas, an anti-Semitic, anti-gay, terrorist group that trains men, women, and children to engage in suicide bombing and organizes hatred and violence not only against Israelis but also Jews in the U.S. and Europe.
Aside from their own incredibly stupid mistake of electing Hamas, they are also badly mistreated by a reactionary Israeli government, but the Avatar comparisons being bandied about are so demonstrably false they make Palestinians look bad in the harsh light of reality. In the real world, Israel is a currently reactionary government oppressing another right-wing, imperialistic group that is absurdly called leftist. (White supremacists also oppose globalization and corporations, but we do not call them left-wing.) Those who are fair and unbiased see it this way and find fault on both sides. Everyone else--whether they only support Israrelis or only support Arabs--are bigots, plain and simple.
Anti-Israelis will read this and undoubtedly whine that Israeli-supporters try to stifle debate by calling critics anti-Semitic, even though they cry "bigotry" at every turn to stifle debate about Islamic extremism; for instance, it is Israeli-bashers who are smearing as racist anyone who thinks building a mosque near the grounds where Islamic terrorists slaughtered thousands of Americans is inflammatory. In truth, much criticism of Israel is valid; it is only when critics apply anti-Jewish double standards (where are the calls for boycotting China, Syria, and Iran? Or even the U.S.?) and racist abuse ("Zionists killed Michael Jackson") that most of us call them anti-Semitic. When did reasonable debate about Israel devolve into Berekely girls with facial hair screaming that Zionism is equal to Nazism?
Cameron joins a great group of artists in saying no to boycotting Israel, including Natalie Portman, Sacha Baron Cohen, and many others, both Jewish and non-Jewish.
And as for that gay-pride event in Spain disinviting that singer for being Israeli? As much I detest Iran's government, I would never, ever discriminate against an Iranian because of her nationality. That's the difference between me and others who claim to support "tolerance."
