Scarlett Johansson and the (BDS) Politics of Celebrity Ambassadors

This is a truly bizarre controversy. Johansson's a progressive Jewish leftist, and yet she comes under the jackboot of the anti-Israel left.

At the Times of Israel, "Scarlett Johansson responds to SodaStream criticism":

American actress Scarlett Johansson released a statement Friday about the controversy surrounding her role as the first-ever brand ambassador of the Israeli company SodaStream. Her public comments were made after she came under fire for the endorsement deal from the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement.

“While I never intended on being the face of any social or political movement, distinction, separation or stance as part of my affiliation with SodaStream, given the amount of noise surrounding that decision, I’d like to clear the air,” Johansson’s statement, published by The Huffington Post, read.

Since SodaStream named Scarlett Johansson the first-ever brand ambassador of its sleek, sassy seltzer makers earlier this month, the BDS movement has demanded that the starlet step down from the post, plastering the Twittersphere with blood-soaked ads bestowing upon Scarlett an “A for Apartheid.”

Their beef with the beverage company? Its principal manufacturing plant, which is located in the industrial strip of Ma’aleh Adumim, a major West Bank settlement. Many in the BDS movement, a global campaign that urges its supporters to withhold patronage of any Israeli-made goods and services, began tossing the term “blood bubbles” around the Internet, while others cried foul over Johansson’s role as an Oxfam ambassador.

In other words, a completely manufactured controversy --- i.e., a "nontroversy" if there ever was one.

More at the New Yorker (which buys into the BDS baloney), "THE POLITICS OF CELEBRITY AMBASSADORS."

And at the New York Times, "Scarlett Johansson’s SodaStream Endorsement Deal Conflicts With Charity Work, Aid Group Says":

The international aid and development group Oxfam has distanced itself from one of its own global ambassadors, the actress Scarlett Johansson, since she agreed to become the face of SodaStream, an Israeli company that makes products in a settlement built on West Bank territory Israel has occupied since 1967.

In a statement added Wednesday to a web page on Ms. Johansson’s work for the charity, Oxfam said that while it “respects the independence of our ambassadors,” the group also “believes that businesses that operate in settlements further the ongoing poverty and denial of rights of the Palestinian communities that we work to support. Oxfam is opposed to all trade from Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law.” For that reason, the statement concluded, “We have made our concerns known to Ms. Johansson and we are now engaged in a dialogue on these important issues.”

Leftists Slam Film Critic Anthony Lane for 'Creepy' Profile of Scarlett Johansson

At LAT, "Anthony Lane criticized for 'creepy' Scarlett Johansson profile":

Pregnancy looks pretty good on Scarlett Johansson. http://t.co/nYmYqi3PNs pic.twitter.com/5KaIya9fxr
— Maggie Coughlan (@MaggieCoughlan) March 20, 2014

New Yorker film critic Anthony Lane is catching heat for his recent profile of Scarlett Johansson, which detractors say fawns over the actress without bothering to comprehend her.

Johansson has two films coming out on the same day (April 4):  "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" and "Under the Skin," and has recently been linked to separate controversies involving SodaStream and Woody Allen.

As critics of Lane's profile point out, he devotes much of it to cataloging Johansson's allure, describing "the honey of her voice" and declaring that she "looks tellingly radiant in the flesh" or seems to be "made from champagne." And yet, these critics say, the profile tells readers very little about Johansson as an actress or an individual.

Slate's Katy Waldman, for example, criticizes Lane's "inappropriate-uncle creepiness" in the profile.

The problem with the piece, Waldman writes, "is not [just] that it salivates over ScarJo, but that it refuses to treat her as a human subject, with qualities of mind. (If this is because Lane didn't have much time with Johansson, maybe the magazine shouldn't have run the piece.) When Lane isn't characterizing Johansson as strangely blank and opinionless, he’s trafficking in the dream of the remote, unknowable Woman — a flat projection of male desire."

She adds, "The worst part, however, is that Lane wants it both ways: He pants over ScarJo as the generic representative of a certain erotic fantasy and then has the chutzpah to critique her, slyly, for lacking substance."

Esther Breger of the New Republic similarly writes, "Lane's piece, the worst profile I can remember reading in The New Yorker, can be reduced to one basic takeaway: Anthony Lane thinks Scarlett Johansson is radiant, and wants to tell you all about it."

Breger, whose post is titled "Anthony Lane's Scarlett Johansson Profile Turns The New Yorker into a Men's Magazine," also writes, "Try to imagine The New Yorker running this about Matthew McConaughey, or Michael Fassbender. Sadly, this kind of fawning isn't unusual, as far as profiles of attractive actresses go … but I prefer my glossy-mag sexism sans highbrow pretensions."

Kay Steiger of Talking Points Memo doesn't mince words either, calling Lane's profile "gross." It's also indicative of another issue, she says: the dearth of female editors at major magazines.

And here's Lane's profile, "HER AGAIN: The unstoppable Scarlett Johansson."

Look, she's a smokin' hot movie star. But for idiot leftist feminists, to notice ScarJo's a smokin' hot movie star is "objectification" and all "uncle creepy" sexism.

Seriously. You can't win with idiot progressives. They're terrible people who've bled the lusty fun out of life --- and believe me when I say I know about this first hand, the f-kers.

(Thankfully, the New York Post isn't so obsessed with political correctness, at that top Twitter link.)

Scarlett Johansson Cuts Ties With Oxfam Over Group's Support for BDS Movement

I blogged on this the other day, "Scarlett Johansson and the (BDS) Politics of Celebrity Ambassadors."

And now at Algemeiner (via Bad Blue):

Actress Scarlett Johansson ended her relationship with Oxfam International citing “a fundamental difference of opinion” over the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, the Associated Press reported Wednesday evening, citing her spokesman.

“Scarlett Johansson has respectfully decided to end her ambassador role with Oxfam after eight years,” her statement said. “She and Oxfam have a fundamental difference of opinion in regards to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. She is very proud of her accomplishments and fundraising efforts during her tenure with Oxfam.”

Johansson’s rift with the relief group began earlier this month when she was unveiled as the new face of Israeli carbonated drinks maker, SodaStream. Following the announcement, anti-Israel groups attacked Johansson citing the company’s West Bank based factory, which they deem to be problematic.

“Oxfam is opposed to all trade from Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law,” the group said at the time, adding that, “We have made our concerns known to Ms. Johansson and we are now engaged in a dialogue on these important issues.”

Johansson responded with a detailed statement highlighting the cooperation that takes place between Jews and Arabs at SodaStream’s factory. “SodaStream is a company that is not only committed to the environment but to building a bridge to peace between Israel and Palestine, supporting neighbors working alongside each other, receiving equal pay, equal benefits and equal rights,” she said at the time.

“I remain a supporter of economic cooperation and social interaction between a democratic Israel and Palestine,” she added...

More at the top link.

ADDED: An excellent post from William Jacobson, at Legal Insurrection, "BDS takes Oxfam down with it as Scarlett Johansson resigns."

Linked at Lowering the Boom, "Under Political Pressure, Scarlett Johansson Steps Down From Oxfam Ambassador Role." Thanks!

'Oxfam has shown its public face of being part of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement against Israel...'

From Professor Michael Curtis, at American Thinker, "Oxfam is Wrong on Israel":

On January 29, 2014 the 29-year-old actress Scarlett Johansson announced she was quitting her role as an ambassador of Oxfam, the international charity organization, whose mission is to help alleviate poverty, because of "fundamental differences" between them. She had worked for Oxfam since 2005, and became one of its ambassadors in 2007 engaging in highlighting the impact of natural disasters and helping raise funds to save lives and to fight poverty. After the Indian Ocean earthquake, she travelled to India and Sri Lanka to aid the tsunami survivors, and also went to Kenya to help provide support for the poor.

The basis for the fundamental differences is now well known. Oxfam is opposed to all trade involving products from Israeli settlements which it holds are illegal under international law. Ms. Johansson signed a contract to be the first brand ambassador and spokesperson for SodaStream, the Israel business making products that allow people to produce carbonated sodas. The company makes those drinks in 25 factories throughout the world, and another one is being built in Israel in the Negev where Bedouins will be employed. The problem for Oxfam is this SodaStream factory located in Mishor Adumim, in the industrial area of the Israeli settlement of Ma'ale Adumim, a city of 40,000 people.

Oxfam has shown its public face of being part of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement against Israel, and has succumbed to the pressure of politically-correct leftists, anti-Semites, and the Palestinian Campaign for the Boycott of Israel. By taking this bigoted position Oxfam has departed from its declared humanitarian mission focused on alleviating poverty.

Oxfam is echoing, if in more subdued manner, the other bigoted organizations and people who call for a whole or selective boycott of Israel, or for cutting of ties with it. A prominent example of this is Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, who has called for a boycott of Israel, approved the boycott decision of Israel by the American Studies Association of December 4, 2013, and also declared that Israeli settlements are an obstacle to peace. This rock and roll singer went further, in an article on December 4, 2013 implicitly comparing Israel with Nazi Germany because of its "systematic racist apartheid." Waters found the parallels between the 1930s in Nazi Germany and Israel today are "so crushingly obvious."

But Waters, like others in the BDS movement, sometimes inadvertently reveal their outrageous true sentiments, which have little to do with Israel or its settlements. In his article he warned, "The Jewish lobby is extraordinary powerful here, and particularly in the industry in which I work... people are terrified (of it)."

Oxfam cannot be characterized as an anti-Semitic organization, but it might take care of the company it keeps. By contrast, Johansson, in her difference of opinion with Oxfam, has exhibited qualities of grace and courage, and confirmed her principled advocacy of peace. She replied to Oxfam that she never intended to be the face of any social or political movement, distinction, separation, or stance. She believes in economic cooperation and social interaction between democratic Israel and Palestinians.

She's definitely classy, especially for an Obama-shilling Democrat, lol.

More at the link.

Also, "Sex, Politics, Scarlett Johansson, and the Middle East."

Israel-Hating Roger Waters Trolls Scarlett Johansson in Facebook Screed

Remember, this is the guy who flies anti-Semitic pig balloons at his concerts.

At the Times of Israel, "Roger Waters rebukes Scarlett Johansson in Facebook post":

Former Pink Floyd front man Roger Waters, one of the more prominent celebrity faces of the boycott Israel movement, says he has contacted Scarlett Johansson “a couple of times” over the A-list actress’s decision to represent an Israeli company that operates in a West Bank settlement.

Last week Johansson announced that she was ending her relationship with the humanitarian organization Oxfam, after the group criticized her decision to sign on as the first global brand ambassador for at-home soda maker SodaStream and star in a Super Bowl ad for the company, which maintains a large factory in Ma’ale Adumim.

In a post to his Facebook page on Saturday, Waters also wrote that he had contacted Neil Young, who is slated to perform in Israel in July.

“In the past days I have written privately to Neil Young (once) and to Scarlett Johanson (a couple of times). Those letters will remain private,” he said. “Sadly, I have received no reply from either. And so I write this note on my Facebook page somewhat in bewilderment. Neil? I shall ponder all of this long and hard. We don’t really know each other, but, you were always one of my heroes, I am confused.”

Waters then went on to evoke a meeting with Johansson, “a year or so ago” at a Cream reunion concert in New York. “She was then, as I recall, fiercely anti Neocon, passionately disgusted by Blackwater (Dick Cheney’s private army in Iraq), you could have been forgiven for thinking that here was a young woman of strength and integrity who believed in truth, human rights, and the law and love. I confess I was somewhat smitten,” he said. “There’s no fool like an old fool.”

More at that top link.

Blond Bombshell: Scarlett Johansson Visits Troops in Kuwait

American actress Scarlett Johannson visited U.S. forces at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, as part of a USO tour this last weekend.

The Marine Corps News has the story (via Memeorandum):

If anyone has wondered what can make a battle hardened Marine act like a love-struck high-schooler, the answer is simple—a meet and greet with Scarlett Johansson.

The 23-year-old bombshell met with nearly 600 service members at Camp Buehring, Kuwait Jan. 20 during her five-day United Service Organizations (USO) tour to the Gulf region.

Hundreds of Marines and sailors from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit put on their best smiles as they waited anxiously to get a glimpse of the Hollywood actress.

“I’m a huge Scarlett fan,” said Lance Cpl. Nathan Long, a calibration technician with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 166 (REIN), 11th MEU. “When I found out she was coming, I couldn’t believe it. All I thought about was that I needed to meet her.”

A hush fell over the crowd as Johansson, wearing a pink sweater, knee-high boots and cherry-red lipstick, entered the USO. Long’s wait to meet her would end soon.

Johansson wasted no time after she arrived at the packed USO and headed toward the assembled crowd to introduce herself and meet her peers.

“It’s important to give people a piece of home and to boost morale,” Johansson said about her visit. “Everybody out here is risking everything, giving us one of the biggest gifts they can. I want to be out here to support them.”

Johansson’s friendly demeanor and sincere interest in her fans quickly won them over.

“I didn’t know what to expect or what she was going to be like,” said Sgt. Brian Dryer, a pay agent with the 11th MEU command element. “She seemed truly interested and wanted to spend time getting to know you.”

Johannson's a winner - what a great morale booster!

Screw #BDS: Scarlett Johansson in Sexy Super Bowl Commercial for SodaStream

Following up on my earlier entry, "Scarlett Johansson and the (BDS) Politics of Celebrity Ambassadors."

Here's some updates from Commentary and People Magazine:

Demonizing Israel; Demonizing ScarJo : http://t.co/AbDsGgsCfs @Commentary

— Commentary Magazine (@Commentary) January 27, 2014

Watch Scarlett Johansson's sexy Super Bowl ad for SodaStream http://t.co/CzPOk6uCDF

— People magazine (@peoplemag) January 27, 2014

Scarlett Johansson Nude Photos Leaked!

Hey, better late than never.

At Wall Street Journal, "Scarlett Johansson Nude Photos Part of FBI Probe of Digital Theft."

And at What Would Tyler Durden Do, "Scarlett Johansson is Naked." (At WeSmirch.)

Natalie Portman is Wrong, Scarlett Johansson Right on Boycotts of Israel

Well, I used to have Ms. Portman down as a hot neocon, but she's become too much of an Obama-cultist these last few years.

Not so with Scarlett Johansson. She's been a voice of moral clarity on Israel.

See the report at Truth Revolt.

Anti-Semitism and Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions

I just had a flashback: My depraved stalker Walter James Casper is a vile anti-Semitic hate-monger, but you knew that.

Click through at the Twitter link.

The Radical Left Is Never Right About Israel http://t.co/Cf9uWjbZTz

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) April 22, 2014

And from Robert Fulford, at Toronto's National Post, "The BDS Smokescreen":

The people who defame Israel and wish to undermine its status in the world are not anti-Semites — or so they will tell you, every chance they get. Their denial of anti-Semitism is essential to their moral position. In their own view they are good progressives, therefore absolutely innocent of racial or religious discrimination. Their propaganda campaign, which they hope eventually will escalate into economic warfare, is intended merely to reshape Israel’s policies.

What they oppose, they want to assure us, is Israel’s position in the West Bank. Their increasingly loud and self-confident BDS movement (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) is not, as they tell it, a struggle against the Jews. They simply want to bring Israel into line with enlightened leftist opinion in Europe, the U.S. and Canada.

Scarlett Johansson, the film star, found herself the enemy of BDS in January, when she appeared in advertisements for SodaStream, an Israeli home carbonation device that eliminates cans and bottles. SodaStream’s offence is to have one of its factories in the West Bank, where it employs Palestinians who might otherwise have no work at all.

BDS adherents began denouncing Johansson as “the new face of apartheid.” They love applying that South African term to Israel, no matter how unjustified it is. Oxfam, for which Johansson had served as an ambassador in past years, decided to accept her resignation. Oxfam opposes all trade with Israeli settlements and has no place for dissenters among its associates. Johansson said she and Oxfam “have a fundamental difference of opinion in regards to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.” Oxfam likes BDS. She doesn’t. She says she researched SodaStream and found it an ethical operation.

Like the great majority of Americans in the film industry, Johansson is a liberal Democrat. She took part in the last three presidential elections and raised money for Barack Obama. Unlike many who fall into that category, she also thinks for herself.

The May issue of Vanity Fair carries a cover story about Johansson. The author of the piece, Lili Anolik, asked her how she explains why she has been viciously criticized for the SodaStream ads. Johansson answered, “There’s a lot of anti-Semitism out there.” ...

My own belief is that the BDS people and their fellow travellers, whatever their background, are anti-Semites. They do all they can to stigmatize the Jewish state and reduce its ability to defend itself. They know that Israel is surrounded by neighbours who will never recognize its existence, much less sign a treaty developed in a “peace process” quarterbacked by Washington. The Palestinians and the Arab states who claim to support them are not hoping for a more generous Israel or a BDS-approved Israel or an Israel willing to hand over the West Bank. They are working for a day when Israel will be gone forever.

In order to satisfy this generation’s anti-Semites, Israel must meet standards that no other country in the world has ever met or ever will. At the United Nations Israel is condemned more often than all other countries combined.

It is, of course, an imperfect democracy, like Canada and all other free countries, and its human rights record could certainly be improved. But its treatment of Palestinians has never been even remotely comparable to China’s oppression of Tibetans or Saudi Arabia’s treatment of women, two among many outrageous practices that apparently never trouble the students who direct their anger at Israel.

In devising their purposes the BDS campaigners have never shown even the beginning of a sense of proportion. It’s remarkable that the world needs a 29-year-old movie star to point this out.

Israel is held to standards no other country is required to meet. It's disparate treatment, specifically against against the Jews. And it's derived from nothing but hatred of the Jews. It's racism straight up. It's also what my deranged hateful stalker Walter James Casper III is all about.

The Israel Project Celebrates Scarlett Johansson

At the New York Times, "Countering Israel Boycotts, With Glamour."

Scarlett Johansson will not speak at Aipac meeting, but she will be there in spirit http://t.co/j7v1Z49JXN pic.twitter.com/A6ZZO2YaGh

— The Caucus (@thecaucus) February 28, 2014

And at the Israel Project, "Tell Scarlett Thank You!"

Scarlett Johansson in New Cruella de Vil-style Photo Shoot

This is amazing.

At London's Daily Mail, "ScarJo goes Goth: Cleavage-baring Scarlett Johansson has Cruella de Vil-style hair and a nose ring as she celebrates the 90s in new W shoot."

And check W Magazine for the full shoot, "FOUR ACTRESSES INHABIT FOUR DECADES OF FASHION."

Also photographed is Keira Knightley, Mia Wasikowska, and Rooney Mara.

Rule 5 Rescue: Scarlett Johansson

My friend Philippe, the publisher of New Testament News, left these comments at an earlier post:

Rule 5 blogging ... is probably the best tool I have ever used to sift the chaff from the wheat ... So a big thank you for that, Donald! :-)

I only wish I had used more of rule 5 blogging earlier.

Well, I'm passing the good word along to Robert Stacy McCain, "The Hustler."

Previously:

* "Rule 5 Rescue: Helen Mirren."

* "Rule 5 Rescue: Paulina Porizkova."

Photo Credit: Scarlett Johansson, via Vanity Fair’s "Spotlight" series.

Scarlett Johansson Busts Out Cleavage for Avengers Flashback Friday

She's still got it, dang!

At Popoholic:

Scarlett Johansson Bust Out Her Ginormous Cleavage For Avengers Flashback Friday, Woohoo! https://t.co/PpvaW2NZ4v #AvengersInfinityWar #BlackWidow #FBF pic.twitter.com/mPhjlquZ48

— Popoholic (@Popoholic) April 27, 2018

ScarJo Pregnant!

Hey, I'm very happy for her --- even more so in light of her stand against the BDS Israel-haters.

At E!, "Scarlett Johansson Pregnant! Actress Expecting First Child With Fiancé Romain Dauriac."

PREVIOUSLY: "The Israel Project Celebrates Scarlett Johansson" (and here as well).

Hitchcock's Blondes

Here's MoDo, at NYT, "Spellbound by Blondes, Hot and Icy":

Certainly, the master of the dark side had “a murderous fascination with blondes,” as the British Film Institute once noted in a tribute.

And now comes Hollywood’s murderous fascination with Hitchcock’s murderous fascination.

HBO’s “The Girl” depicts the making of “The Birds” and “Marnie,” with Toby Jones playing Hitch and Sienna Miller playing Tippi Hedren, fighting off rapacious birds and rapacious director at the same time.

In theaters, “Hitchcock,” with Anthony Hopkins as the auteur and Helen Mirren as his wife and collaborator, Alma Reville, depicts the making of “Psycho,” with Scarlett Johansson taking Janet Leigh’s place in the shower to be stabbed by that crazed mama’s boy Norman Bates. (The long-suffering Alma at one point erupts at her husband about his glittering fixation, snapping that she is “not one of the contract blondes you badger and torment with your oh-so specific direction.”)

Next spring, A&E will run “Bates Motel,” a prequel series to “Psycho,” featuring a young, creepy Norman, with Vera Farmiga as his (blond) mother.

Why the fresh fascination with the man with the famous profile? Perhaps the more Hollywood churns out rancid movies, the more it appreciates Hitch, who never got an Oscar. (“They take sadistic pleasure in denying me that one little moment,” Hopkins’s Hitchcock says.)

When he was asked about plot construction, the martini-dry director would echo the advice of the 19th-century playwright Victorien Sardou: “Torture the women!” And the Brit would slyly observe: “Blondes make the best victims.”

Well, it's a nice start at the essay, but collapses after that in some post-modern cultural psycho-babble that's not very well related to Alfred Hitchcock. Keep reading at that top link if you're not bothered by Ms. Dowd.

What the heck? A good chance to post the video trailer. The movie looks good, in any case.

Daley Gator's Must Read Blogs

See, "Doug’s list of must read blogs!"

And a little news to go with that: It turns out that Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds are getting divorced. There's hope in Rule 5 land:

Rule 5 Rescue: Ashley Swearengin

Today's Los Angeles Times features a big front-page story on President Barack Obama's first 100 day's in office: "Direct, assertive and utterly self-assured, Obama has used his broad popularity, a driving ambition and a sweeping agenda to move America in a wholly new direction."

Actually, I'm looking forward to Obama's last 100 days, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to share the success of Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin's first 100 days (with a politically-relevant Rule 5" entry, as per Stogie's request).

The Fresno Bee on Thursday ran an editorial commending Swearengin for her strong start in office:

Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin completes her first 100 days in office today, and she has had a fairly strong beginning, although it's way too early to judge how successful her term will be. While getting a solid start is always a good thing, there are still several issues that can trip up a mayor over a four-year term.

The immediate challenge for Swearengin is the weak economy, and keeping City Hall on solid financial footing. Government agencies rely on taxes generated by economic activity, and sales tax receipts are down, as well as property taxes and fees from lagging development projects.

Swearengin has moved quickly to cut almost $9 million from this year's budget and has vowed to protect the city's core services, including public safety. Areas outside of basic services likely will be taking bigger budget hits. Expect more spending reductions at City Hall in the fiscal year starting July 1 because of continued decreasing revenues.

The mayor's budget moves shows that she understands that government must live within its means, and she's willing to tell bureaucrats that they must operate with less money, even if they are already running tight operations. It's a simple concept, but reducing spending to match declining revenues doesn't always occur in government agencies.

Swearengin will deliver her proposed budget to the City Council on May 18, and then council members will be able to weigh in with their priorities.

The 100-day mark gives us an opportunity to assess a politician's early performance. Swearengin's initial tenure is highlighted by a huge political victory that many critics said she couldn't pull off. The controversial independent police auditor position was finally passed by the City Council, even though it was opposed by the Fresno Police Officers Association, and others.

The mayor skillfully built support for the idea and ended up getting five of the seven council members to vote for it. Swearengin showed that good public policy must be accompanied by the political ability to make it a reality.

There's more at the link.

Check out Mayor Swearengin's biographical page at the Fresno County Republican Party's homepage. She's got great values. Married for 13 years, with two children, Swearengin's pro-life and supports marriage traditionalism. Progressives in Fresno can't stand her, naturally.

Previously:

* "Rule 5 Rescue: Scarlett Johansson."

* "Rule 5 Rescue: Katy Perry."

* "Rule 5 Rescue: Helen Mirren."

* "Rule 5 Rescue: Paulina Porizkova."

Israel Losing the Propaganda War?

Sometime back, my good friend Norman Gersman mentioned that he wasn't that worried about this or that depraved anti-Israel leftist spewing the latest anti-Semitic bilge against the Jewish state. I can't remember Norm's exact words, but I think he was remarking on Israel's confidence and dynamism, and how the country's strength and vitality would carry it through whatever momentary attack was in the news. I think that's true, to a point. The main reason to be confident is that Jews have their own state, a point Caroline Glick stresses repeatedly. And when people like Scarlett Johansson stand up and do the right thing it reminds me that basic decency in the face of regressive evil is the strongest bulwark against the left's delegitimation campaign.

That said, leftists won't relent in their depraved campaign of Israel hatred. And Hirsch Goodman, at the New York Times, helps their efforts with this clever piece of concern trolling, "Losing the Propaganda War":

JERUSALEM — ON Feb. 4, 1965, as a teenager, I left South Africa, the country of my birth, for a new home in a place I’d never been — Israel.

I loved South Africa, but I loathed the apartheid system. In Israel, I saw a fresh start for a people rising from the ashes of the Holocaust, a place of light and justice, as opposed to the darkness and oppression of apartheid South Africa.

Now, almost 50 years later, after decades of arguing that Israel is not an apartheid state and that it’s a calumny and a lie to say so, I sense that we may be well down the road to being seen as one. That’s because, in this day and age, brands are more powerful than truth and, inexplicably, blindly, Israel is letting itself be branded an apartheid state — and even encouraging it.

In apartheid South Africa, people disappeared in the night without the protection of any legal process and were never heard from again. There was no freedom of speech or expression and more “judicial” hangings were reportedly carried out there than in any other place on earth. There was no free press and, until January 1976, no public television.

Masses of black people were forcibly moved from tribal lands to arid Bantustans in the middle of nowhere. A “pass system” stipulated where blacks could live and work, splitting families and breaking down social structures, to provide cheap labor for the mines and white-owned businesses, and a plentiful pool of domestic servants for the white minority. Those found in violation were arrested, usually lashed, and sentenced to stints of hard labor for a few shillings per prisoner per day, payable to the prison service.

None of this even remotely exists in Israel or the occupied territories. But, increasingly, in the mind of the world it does. This is because of Israel’s own actions and a vigorous campaign by those who oppose its occupation of Palestinians’ land and, in some cases, Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. They understand that delegitimization is Israel’s soft belly and apartheid the buzzword to make it happen.

International isolation is potentially more dangerous for Israel than the Iranian nuclear program. The Palestinians and their supporters, particularly the young generation, some of whom have graduated from the best universities in the world, have come to realize that the stones of the first intifada and the suicide bombers of the second are yesterday’s weapons in yesterday’s war.

Boycott, divestment and sanctions are now the way they seek to end the Israeli occupation or Jewish Israel itself. Their message has started to resonate with trade unions, churches, universities and international companies in Europe and the United States, who see Israel as oppressing Palestinians and violating their human rights.

A Dutch pension giant’s decision last month to divest from Israel’s five largest banks because of their ties to occupation rang warning bells in Israel’s business community and the Treasury. According to the finance minister, even a partial European boycott would cost Israel 20 billion shekels (about $5.7 billion) in exports annually and almost 10,000 jobs. But the greatest damage is self-inflicted.

The “apartheid wall,” “apartheid roads,” colonization, administrative arrests, travel restrictions, land confiscations and house demolitions are the clay apartheid comparisons are made of, and cannot be hidden or denied, for as long as Israel continues with the status quo...

More at the link.

Frankly, Goodman's examples are just that much more propaganda. And none of those examples will stand the scrutiny of close examination. He's just recycling the lies of the Israel-bashers he's purporting to criticize. I don't like that kind of commentary. It's sleazy.

Scarlett Johansson's Speech to the Democrat National Convention

I would have preferred Natalie Portman. And I'm interested to know why she didn't speak after all. I wouldn't be surprised if some off those "reviled" Jewish neocons --- so despised by the Democrat left --- talked her out of it.