Posted on 12/13/2005 6:53:28 AM PST by Witch-king of Angmar
As the Monitor noted back in July, “alarm bells went off like crazy when Steven Spielberg hired Tony Kushner last year to rewrite the script of a movie about Israel’s clandestine — and lethal — response to the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.”
The Monitor found cause for concern because Kushner is a radical leftist whose views on the Middle East are hardly distinguishable from the hateful screeds found on the most rabidly anti-Israel websites.
(Excerpt) Read more at thejewishpress.com ...
Comparable to the man whom the British police shot dead after the tube bombings...that's what I meant.
What's his beef with Charles Bronson?
I hope someone is organizing some nice demonstrations in front of theaters showing this movie. It is amazing that there is not one intellectually honest person left in Hollywood. Next: World War II from poor, picked-on Hitler's perspective. Apparently Oliver Stone is already making a 9/11 film from the poor, picked-on terrorists' perspective.
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OK, fair enough....but imho not even close. The Brits were reacting to a dynamic event on their own turf while the Israelis were out-of-bounds and had plenty of time to plan.
I applaud the Israelis for taking the action they did but we really can't (andshouldn't) view the innocent death as anything other than an avoidable tragedy.
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/06/02/deadline-finke.php
"...Spielberg has assembled a team of pro advisers to confront the protestations that are sure to occur.
"The team consists of Dennis Ross, a well-known U.S. diplomat who played a leading role in shaping Middle East policy in the George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations and is now the Washington Institute’s counselor and Ziegler distinguished fellow; Mike McCurry, President Clinton’s White House spokesman, now a for-hire political strategist; and Allan Mayer, a crisis PR specialist with Los Angeles–based Sitrick and Company who has advised Spielberg for several years..."
Nothing about the Munich massacre or the entire Middle East situation is simple. But what would you have had Israel do at the time? In the context of relative Jewish passivity during the Holocaust, there was enormous danger in doing nothing. There'd already been airplane hijackings, etc., the Achille Lauro hijacking (Leon Klinghoffer dumped overboard in his wheelchair). The Munich massacre was the last straw. In today's context, if Israel did nothing when Hamas blew up cafes and malls, murdering hundreds of innocents, how long would that govt. last? And here comes Iran, boasting of nukes and Israel's imminent destruction. Nothing is simple, but hard choices have to be made and you put your trust in God.
agreed.
My wondering, too. The history of Jewish Leftism-and-communism-affiliations is a mystery to many of us, given that the Jewish people have suffered the most under extreme socialism and because of it. (As have we all.)
Like Oliver Stone and Michael Moore I regard Kushner as an American traitor. I regard Spielberg as just a fool, but Kushner crossed over the line with his remarks about Bush and America. I refuse to patronized any of his works. It's hard to avoid many works by anti-American writers and hacks, but as much as I can, I will try to do so. Avoiding seeing "Munich" is a start.
The Achille Laugo incident happened long after the Munich massacre.
But you're right. Back then, Israel had a "no negotiation" policy when it came to terrorists. And it worked. Only once they began to "talk" did terrorist attacks become more successful, and more frequent. The terrorists saw it as a sign of weakness.
Mark
Maybe Spielberg's nauseating turn here will combine with Mr. Ma`oz's work to open some eyes, minds, and hearts.
Yes, but it's also according to Tony Kushner, who is an extreme Leftist and rejects actual Judaism in preference for Liberally endorsed "Reformist" countering. Kushner is among the most profane authors I can list and his (and it seems Spielberg's) concept of "humanizing" this story is to profane Israel, as Kushner also profanes anything not among the extremely liberal kind.
I sincerely cannot stand all that Kushner embodies and represents, including what he's written.
That's the most concise and accurate depiction of the "progressive" Jewish mindset I've ever read. Congratulations, ol' pal!
Responding to your post, which I caught after that long one of mine...even the best laid plans go awry. Murphy's Law. Clearly that death was a tragedy and an Israeli nightmare on many levels. Ethically, morally, etc.. Yes, actions they took on foreign soil were, to say the least, highly illegal. But what was the alternative? Wait around and hope the assassins would show up in Israel with plans to blow up the Knesset? The retaliation, and the way they did it, was a statement about the lengths Israel was willing to go to protect her citizens, and Munich occurred after a string of horrific hijackings, etc.. It wasn't an isolated event.
If we had avoided killing inncent civilians during WWII, we might have lost the war. We killed thousands of innocent French civilians for example in bombing raids on French cities like Caen for example. Never mind the over a million German and Japanese civilians killed by our military.
The Israelis accidentally killing the innocent civilian did not invalidate the original effort to bring the murderers to justice. It's regrettable, but it happened. And as for the killing of the innocent civilian towards the views of the anti-Israel Europeans: do you honestly believe that would have made any difference in their anti-Israel sentiments if they had not killed him?
I stand corrected about the Achille Lauro, thanks.
Yes, so true, I completely agree.
I'd initially reacted to Kushner in revulsion based upon what he'd written ("Angels in America" for starters as to profanity of his work) and only recently realized his politics. So, my revulsion about him was initially not even an inclusion of the political...but certainly is now.
And, I'd written about my abhorrence as to reading he was chosen by Spielberg for the script, after one by Roth was first rejected by Spielberg, who chose Kushner as I read because he wanted to "humanize" the story.
My response was, to generalize here, "aaaacccckkkk!"
I'm encouraged to read that other people have similar reactions to Kushner because I thought I was isolated in my perspectives.
We can only hope the film is a flop, but that probably won't happen.
I have seen this movie before. It was Black Sunday where Robert Shaw and another actor play a couple of Israeli agents and they have an angst filled moment questioning why they are going after terrorists. Fortunately the moment passes and they save the Super Bowl in the end.
" do you honestly believe that would have made any difference in their anti-Israel sentiments if they had not killed him?"
Did I say that? I don't think I did.
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