CHARBONNEAU – Pro-Israel bias is built into our culture
Scene from 1960 film Exodus. (Image: United Artists)
CONTROVERSY RAGES in civil society as to whether we should support Israel or Palestine in the revenge attack by Israel for the atrocities committed by Hamas. There is no reluctance to take sides with Palestine with chants: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
However, taking sides in political circles and in universities is much more muted. Even mild rebukes of Israel are condemned. University presidents are fired.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was reprimanded by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for calling for an end to violence in the Gaza Strip. Really? The end of killing of Palestinian women and children is controversial?
Politicians, union leaders, student unions, university presidents have been called to task for even hinting sympathy for Palestinians.
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow tweeted. “I unequivocally condemn Hamas’ horrific attacks on Israeli civilians,” A few hours later she tweeted: “We must also acknowledge Palestinian pain and severe loss of life at this time.” Then she deleted both tweets.
In the U.S., presidents of three prominent universities were summoned before the U.S. Congress and grilled about antisemitism on campus. When asked whether calling for the genocide of Jews would violate university codes of conduct, the president of the University of Pennsylvania, Elizabeth Magill, said it was a “context-dependent decision.” True, but not politically smart.
Magill is no longer president of the University of Pennsylvania.
Political support for Palestine is muted for many reasons. Let me list them.
I have friends who are Jews. They are often leaders in civil rights movements. Business depends on ties with Israel. Canada and Israel have a trade agreement, the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA). Christianity has ties with Israel as the “Holy Land.” Canadian Christians tour biblical sites and Canadian Jews do volunteer work in kibbutzim.
But I think the greatest bias in our culture is the result of movies about the Jews and Israel.
Who can forget how Moses, played by Charlton Heston, parted the Red Sea in The Ten Commandments?
When was the last time you saw a movie about a Palestinian family evicted from their homes by Zionist militias in 1948? That was when 700,000 Palestinian Arabs – about one half the population – were expelled.
You never did.
When was the last time you saw a movie about the God-given right of Jews to claim Palestine as homeland?
I’ve seen so many movies about the evil Nazis and the good Jews that they are difficult to recall.
The first such movie I recall was Exodus made in 1960. I lined up outside in the cold in Edmonton to see it.
In it, Ben Canaan, played by Paul Newman, is a passionate member of a Jewish paramilitary group who attempts to transport 600 Jewish refugees on a dangerous voyage from Cyprus to Palestine on a ship named the Exodus.
I have seen many movies about the Jewish plight since.
Most recently, I was deeply moved by The Pianist. Against all odds, the pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman, played by Adrien Brody, survives being herded into Warsaw Ghetto and seeing his family being shipped like cattle in boxcars to concentration camps where they will die.
Of all the things that make Canada pro-Israel, the movies I have seen leave me identifying with the Jews. I’m still waiting for heroic Palestinian movies.
David Charbonneau is a retired TRU electronics instructor who hosts a blog at http://www.eyeviewkamloops.wordpress.com.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
The Deceivers’ time is coming and they know it.
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A friend directed me to watch “How to Forgive” YouTube video by Corrie Ten Boom.
Be patient watching it; she met a former guard from the concentration camp in which she and her sister Betsy were interned in World War 2.
A Jewish woman with a message. Something for us to learn.
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Although its fair to call for some heroic pro Palestinian movies,
one may want to be a bit more careful than to balance the lack of them by saying;
“I’ve seen so many movies about the evil Nazis and the good Jews that they are difficult to recall”.
When from the perspective of pure factual history, its clear that the Nazi were actually evil, and Jews were their intended victim … times 6 million.
Perhaps not the best way to make the point of the lack of pro-Palestinian cultural reference.
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Since Hollywood is mostly Jewish we will be waiting a long time for even a balanced film about the land of ongoing troubles.
However, on Netflix, there are few movies/documentaries depicting the plight of those poor, constantly struggling people of Palestine.
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