The Fig Leaf of Palestinian Rights
Guess there simply is no Palestinian propaganda machine. That encourages those with a propensity to find fault with Israel at the least provocation to view the state as an international pariah. Encouraging financial divestment in Israel, and a freeze-out of Israeli academics, along with total isolation of the Jewish state. That has found a successful home internationally. With all those who choose to view the Palestinians as helpless underdogs.That Palestinian propaganda was launched long ago, and found a ready audience of believers and supporters more than prepared to blame and slander Israel as an 'apartheid state' speaks to two realities. One is the creative instrument of blunt propaganda emanating from the Palestinian Authority to jaundice public opinion in the West, the other is the receptive audience they are aware they can reach in the West where anti-Semitism is well-entrenched and has been given new life.
Israel only fairly recently recognized the full impact of how successful the Palestinian propaganda has been inciting a backlash against Jews and Israel from the 'enlightened left' movements of the West. There was obviously little need for propaganda to do its work in the neighbourhood of the Middle East, since it is precisely there, in the Arab states, that apartheid, totalitarianism and intolerance against other ethnic groups and religions reigns supreme.
Yet Palestinian propaganda holds that it is the single country in that geography that is a democratic one - with a free judiciary, fully respectful of its citizens from other ethnic and religious groups - which is an apartheid totalitarian regime, abusive of human rights. They can do this because their audience is eager to clasp that designation as completely descriptive of Israel, despite reality being otherwise. The blinkers of racial hatred help.
Now, joining Western academia and trade unions are some 'celebrities' who celebrate the authenticity of their condemnation of Israel as a occupying state stifling the aspirations of Palestinians. World-renowned celebrities, actors, directors, some 63 in total, have distinguished themselves by labelling Israel as a regime of terror. Their complaint is that the Toronto International Film Festival, taking place from September 10 to 19, has dedicated one of its evenings to films showcasing Tel Aviv.
Despite irrefutable reality, they claim that this is a conspiracy launched by an Israeli propaganda machine to counterbalance that of the Palestinians'. (And so?) And while the Palestinians' agenda to portray Israel as a human-rights-abusive state is perfectly acceptable, the Israeli effort to depict themselves as a liberal democracy and a vibrant and diverse pluralist society is to be rejected, with fingers pointing instead at the assault on Gaza and the suicide-bombing-protective wall between Israel and the Palestinian territories.
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"The City to City series was conceived and curated entirely independently. There was no pressure from any outside source. Contrary to rumours or mistaken media reports, this focus is a product only of TIFF's programming decisions. This is our contribution to expanding our audiences' experience of this art form and the world it represents."
It is interesting to note that within Israel itself, in Tel Aviv, a similar debate is taking place, somewhat in reverse. Madonna, in closing her second show on Wednesday evening, draped herself in an Israeli flag, while onstage. The level of Palestinian rage over this event has been incendiary. Rabid anti-Israel commentary from Arab countries or PA-controlled areas have rocked YouTube.
For her part, Madonna serenely characterized Israel as "the energy center of the world." Guess she is simply not a bigoted anti-Semite, then is she?
Labels: Anti-Semitism, Israel, Political Realities, That's Life
posted by Pieface @ Friday, September 04, 2009
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