Coming Home co-stars divided over Israeli films
Canada’s National Post
Actor Jon Voight said he was speaking out against an “evil, destructive force” in taking on his former co-star Jane Fonda and other high-profile protesters condemning the Toronto International Film Festival in a controversy involving Israel.
“What’s going on is they’re taking over the festival with this agendathat they have,”
“I think that validating these guys in any way is the wrong approach. I’m not interested in their answers to things because it’s all going to be a bunch of poison,”
“I know the situation that exists on the left, because I was there in the late ’60s, and I know Jane,”
said Mr. Voight, now 70, who even appeared with Ms. Fonda at events supporting a leftist Chilean political party. (In an opinion article that appeared last year in The Washington Times, however, the actor said his political activism was due to “Marxist propaganda.”)
Mr. Voight, in a letter published today in the National Post, blasts Ms. Fonda “and all those who signed the letter with her, of aiding and abetting those who seek the destruction of Israel. How do you not respond to a very dangerous lie against a democratic country, Israel, who for years tries to defend themselves against constant wars and aggression?” the actor told the Post when asked why he had written the letter.
“I’m seeing a very dangerous precedent beginning to catch hold now in the United States. If our movie stars start protecting the enemy against Israel, we can be sure the beginning of a very evil destructive force is showing its face.”
Ms. Fonda, in a blog post on her website, accused the festival of
becoming,
“whether knowingly or not, a participant in a cynical PR campaign to improve Israel’s image…. We protest the use of Tel Aviv to rebrand Israel. We are standing up for integrity of art, not censoring anyone. “The letter certainly did not call for the destruction of Israel or call into question the legitimacy of Tel Aviv as a city. But in the year when Gaza happened, there shouldn’t be a celebratory spotlight on Tel Aviv.”
The hell it doesn't you lying bitch. Calling into question the legitimacy of Tel Aviv and for the destruction of Israel is precisely what the letter does imply when you falsely claim that Tel Aviv is a city built on stolen arab land or something to that effect.
The festival has been keeping relatively quiet about the controversy ever since festival co-director Cameron Bailey posted an open letter on its website denying allegations the Spotlight was part of Israel’s “Brand Israel” marketing campaign, although festival director Piers Handling told The Hollywood Reporter yesterday that the controversy had resulted in a “nervous festival.”
The protesters were expected to hold a press conference to discuss the matter, but a spokeswoman for the group later explained that “there is no press conference scheduled at this time.”
Filmmaker John Greyson, who kickstarted the protest when he withdrew his short documentary Covered from the festival two weeks ago, said he wasn’t surprised the protest was gaining momentum. “The overwhelming response in favour of our TIFF/Tel Aviv protest shows that filmmakers and audiences don’t want our festivals to be hijacked for propaganda purposes,” he said in an email. “TIFF crossed a line - a big one - and now people are speaking
out.”
The protesters were expected to hold a press conference to discuss the matter, but a spokeswoman for the group later explained that “there is no press conference scheduled at this time.” But Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of Simon Wiesenthal Center, will hold a press conference tomorrow to discuss the declaration “and its impact on the perceptions of Israel here in Canada.”
Hijacking the film festival for political propaganda purposes is exactly what the anti-Israel side is doing. Why are they not protesting films being shown from countries which are repressive dictatorships while boycotting the only free country in the region? Explain the double standard, you morally degenerate bastard.
1 comments:
The Lefties like to talk to about multi-cultural understanding and respect for the Other. That tolerance disappears when Israel comes up. That they lie about Tel Aviv shows their really ugly side.
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