Genesis Prize cancels ceremony after Natalie Portman said she won’t visit Israel

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

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https://www.jta.org/2018/04/19/news-opinion/genesis-prize-cancels-ceremony-2018-winner-natalie-portman-said-wont-visit-israel?utm_source=JTA%20Maropost&utm_campaign=JTA&utm_medium=email&mpweb=1161-3930-23381

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Pick a new, deserving winner. Go forward. Portman wants to throw her lot in with BDS, she's not a deserving winner.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Granted, I think the Israeli government is being a bit heavy-handed in its response to what's happening in Gaza, but it's not doing anything I wouldn't have expected them to do. Nor are events there causing any real security issues unless you go to the Gaza border. Frankly, her decision to pull out now is puzzling. Does the prize receive any Israeli government fund or support?

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Granted, I think the Israeli government is being a bit heavy-handed in its response to what's happening in Gaza, but it's not doing anything I wouldn't have expected them to do. Nor are events there causing any real security issues unless you go to the Gaza border. Frankly, her decision to pull out now is puzzling. Does the prize receive any Israeli government fund or support?

I believe it does actually.   But I'm not sure that's the point. 

If she feels that her public appearance there right now will signal the wrong message or she will feel too conflicted about it, it does not mean she is suddenly joining the BDS movement after being a supporter of Israel all this time.   What is going on over there is shocking to some who believe Israel is better than what is happening right now.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

What is going on over there is shocking to some who believe Israel is better than what is happening right now.

One would hope it would be better given history, but the Israeli government often displays a noxious mix of colonialism, revanchism, and militarism. That is why what is going on doesn't surprise me. What does surprise me is that others are surprised. I am not surprised that a celebrity thinks their attendance at an event unrelated to what is happening in Gaza matters one way or another.

[Aboa]

What is going on over there is shocking to some who believe Israel is better than what is happening right now.

One would hope it would be better given history, but the Israeli government often displays a noxious mix of colonialism, revanchism, and militarism. That is why what is going on doesn't surprise me. What does surprise me is that others are surprised. I am not surprised that a celebrity thinks their attendance at an event unrelated to what is happening in Gaza matters one way or another.

Usually the prize has been handed out by Netanyahu personally, she might feel some aversion to hobnobbing with him.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

That's a surprise.  I would have thought that to try and keep things less political that they would have at the least had the head of state give out the prize instead of the head of government.

[DavidB.]

Herem please.

[MaxQue]

Herem please.

How about uitsluiting for you from Netherlands for putting another country over yours? You're no better than those "Dutch" AKP fans.

[DavidB.]

How about uitsluiting for you from Netherlands for putting another country over yours? You're no better than those "Dutch" AKP fans.

Love the shocked leftist gut reaction. You do not deserve a response (and are on my ignore list on all forums, so do not expect a response if you come up with more bs after this), but I am feeling generous this evening. I am putting no country over the Netherlands. I love the Netherlands and Israel equally -- but differently, of course, as I have a different relation with both of them, one being the country whose passport I have, whose language I speak, in whose polders I grew up, where my fellow Dutch live; the other being the country to which I pray, where my fellow Jews live... There is no contradiction.

Dutch Erdobots (note: definitely not all Dutch Turks are Erdobots!) vote for Turkish nationalists in Turkey but hate Dutch nationalists. That makes them hypocritical. The problem is not that Erdobots vote for Erdogan or are Turkish nationalists; the problem is that they actively oppose the Netherlands and Dutch interests in the process, and clearly disrespect the Dutch people (see the Rotterdam clashes). I, on the other hand, vote for Dutch right-wing nationalists in the Netherlands and support Israeli right-wing nationalists in Israel. Perfectly compatible. I think the PVV's official position on Israel is about as far to the right as the Jewish Home's. And while I use the issue of Israel to select the parties I can potentially vote for (anti-Israel = no-go), my main concern when voting in the Netherlands is limiting immigration. My ideas are completely consistent.

My viewpoint on the way Natalie Portman should be treated in Jewish communities worldwide does not in any way affect my being a good Dutchman.

[Sestak]

Oh come on.

Opposing some things Israel's government does /=  opposing Israel.

If I opposed the Iraq War, does that mean I opposed America?


Israel's government aren't saints. Far from it. We can criticize them without opposing them.

[Blue3]

If you believe the Old Testament, God agreed that the governments of Israel weren't always just.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Oh come on.

Opposing some things Israel's government does /=  opposing Israel.

If I opposed the Iraq War, does that mean I opposed America?


Israel's government aren't saints. Far from it. We can criticize them without opposing them.

Yeah, to be fair, her clarifying statements make clear this isn't about boycotting Israel, it's about Netanyahu and his refugee policies.

I still think she handled this terribly, leaving herself open to being exploited by BDS and their ilk.

[DavidB.]

If a Jew choses to side with the anti-Jewish opposition during an armed clash with our Jewish state's forces, that means more than just opposing the government or the Prime Minister of whatever. I couldn't care less about Bibi either.

[Silent Hunter]

Well worth reading her clarifying statements

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Well worth reading her clarifying statements

What troubles me about this little episode, this minor and ultimately quite trivial affair, is that the initial reports were so completely misleading. The ethical standards for reporting on anything to do with the Israeli-Palestinian psychodrama are extremely, and I would argue irresponsibly, low.

[publicunofficial]

https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/987462738065666048?s=19

Lol I hope they do this. Label the former Alan Dershowitz student an anti-semite and ban her from the country, that'll show everyone how reasonable and rational Zionism is.

Netanyahu is basically Erdogan.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

It's not easy to strip someone of their citizenship, and this would be completely unjustified. It's just a few idiot legislators mouthing off.

If anyone should be stripped of their citizenship, it's Miko Peled.

[EPG]

Well worth reading her clarifying statements

What troubles me about this little episode, this minor and ultimately quite trivial affair, is that the initial reports were so completely misleading. The ethical standards for reporting on anything to do with the Israeli-Palestinian psychodrama are extremely, and I would argue irresponsibly, low.

While agreeing, I would either go further or be more explicit, that far-right virtue signalling makes people weary about genuine complaints about anti-Semitism.

[GMantis]

If a Jew choses to side with the anti-Jewish opposition during an armed clash with our Jewish state's forces, that means more than just opposing the government or the Prime Minister of whatever. I couldn't care less about Bibi either.

I don't think protesting deaths caused by the Israeli government is the same as siding with the anti-Jewish opposition.

[DavidB.]

If a Jew choses to side with the anti-Jewish opposition during an armed clash with our Jewish state's forces, that means more than just opposing the government or the Prime Minister of whatever. I couldn't care less about Bibi either.

I don't think protesting deaths caused by the Israeli government is the same as siding with the anti-Jewish opposition.

Well, I think it is.

[JerryArkansas]

If a Jew choses to side with the anti-Jewish opposition during an armed clash with our Jewish state's forces, that means more than just opposing the government or the Prime Minister of whatever. I couldn't care less about Bibi either.

I don't think protesting deaths caused by the Israeli government is the same as siding with the anti-Jewish opposition.

Well, I think it is.

And you're wrong in thinking that.

[DavidB.]

If a Jew choses to side with the anti-Jewish opposition during an armed clash with our Jewish state's forces, that means more than just opposing the government or the Prime Minister of whatever. I couldn't care less about Bibi either.

I don't think protesting deaths caused by the Israeli government is the same as siding with the anti-Jewish opposition.

Well, I think it is.

And you're wrong in thinking that.

If a quality poster like you says so, it must be true.

[Sestak]

If a Jew choses to side with the anti-Jewish opposition during an armed clash with our Jewish state's forces, that means more than just opposing the government or the Prime Minister of whatever. I couldn't care less about Bibi either.

I don't think protesting deaths caused by the Israeli government is the same as siding with the anti-Jewish opposition.

Well, I think it is.

Is protesting the Iraq war the same as siding with the anti-American opposition?

[DavidB.]

Is protesting the Iraq war the same as siding with the anti-American opposition?

Different case, as American territory wasn't directly attacked in the Iraq War while terrorists are now right at the Israeli de facto border with Gaza. If Iraqis were at the U.S. border posing a realistic threat, however, protesting U.S. defense forces protecting the border would absolutely be anti-American and I would wholeheartedly support Americans distancing themselves from such individuals.