This weekend, the blockbuster new Superman film, Man of Steel, is opening around the world. But unfortunately, it’s destined to be a flop because billions of Israel-haters across the globe are obligated to boycott it.
After all, the actress playing Superman’s birth mother is Ayelet Zurer. She is an Israeli movie star, born in Tel Aviv. That’s got to be enough for BDSers.
What’s that? You’re not familiar with BDSers? Allow me to explain.
B-D-S is the acronym for the “boycott, divest and sanction” movement that encourages everyone, everywhere, to have nothing to do with Israel, until all the Jews leave and give the country to the Palestinians.
Seriously.
It’s a global movement that’s been going on for years. It’s made up of fanatical activists in nearly every country who picket outside of Israeli-owned companies or just companies that do any business with Israel.
They storm into concerts by Israeli musicians wherever they happen to be performing around the world. They lobby lawmakers to label any goods produced in Israel so people will know not to purchase them. They urge artists not to do shows in Israel. They petition universities not to partner with Israeli institutions, and on and on and on. You get the point.
They hate Israel. Period.
But the good news for us, those who love Israel, is that:
a) These people are too ignorant to really run an effective and impacting campaign.
b) They’re too hypocritical to really follow through on the goals of their campaign.
c) They haven’t read the Bible, so they don’t know about God’s unbreakable promises to Israel.
It’s the letter “b” that really entertains me the most—because for all of their bluster and hate-ranting, these guys can’t or won’t stick to their beliefs.
They’re all going to see Superman this weekend; you just know they are. (By the way, I checked the website, and the film opens in Egypt, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates on Friday, so get your tickets now … I mean, “don’t” get your tickets now.)
You know that the BDSers also saw the Star Wars prequel trilogy, even though Queen Amidala was played by another Israeli-born actress, Natalie Portman.
How cool is that? Israeli women are both the queen of Star Wars and Superman’s mom!
But I’m being hard on the BDSers. I mean, it would be seriously difficult to actually boycott everything Israeli. Where would you begin?
This week Google paid $1 billion to acquire the Israeli company Waze. So, no more using Google, right?
In May, Warren Buffett paid $2 billion to buy the Israeli company Iscar. (He already spent another $4 billion a few years ago to buy part of the company.) So now the BDSers have to boycott everything connected to Warren Buffett. That is a long list!
Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway company owns huge stakes in such companies as Coca Cola, Kraft, Johnson and Johnson, General Electric, Procter & Gamble, Wal-Mart, General Motors, Wells Fargo, American Express, Visa and on and on and on.
Yikes! Looks like BDSers are going to have to use MasterCard if they need a credit card. Oops, wait. Buffett owns part of them too. Oh well.
It was particularly embarrassing when, in May, the world’s so-called smartest man, Stephen Hawking, announced he would be boycotting a conference in Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians. Hawking is a renowned physicist who sadly is confined to a wheelchair due to a disease similar to ALS that keeps him from walking or even speaking. Hawking uses a computer device to speak for him. But embarrassingly enough, it was recently revealed that Hawking’s computer runs on the Intel Core i7 chip that was designed by Intel’s lab in … you guessed it, Israel!
No word on whether Hawking is pulling the plug on this life-saving (Israeli) device.
Don’t worry about the conference. We’ve got plenty of big names still coming, from Bill Clinton and Tony Blair to Barbra Streisand and Robert DeNiro.
Each time a high-profile celebrity announces a concert tour in Israel, a movie shoot in Israel or anything related to Israel, they get bombarded with threats and online campaigns to get them to change their mind and boycott Israel.
Say what you will about the pro-Palestinian crowd, but they sure know how to tweet and post on Facebook. (Nobody tell them Facebook was invented by a Jew.) They will fire off profanity-laced tirades until the artists finally give in. Some, like Hawking, do. Most do not.
From icons like Madonna (who intentionally chose to launch her latest tour in Tel Aviv), Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan to the hip stars of today like Justin Bieber, Rihanna and Alicia Keys, nearly everyone ignores the BDSers and comes to Israel anyway.
In the last few weeks, there’s been tremendous pressure on Alicia Keys, specifically, to cancel her upcoming concert in Israel. The pressure has come primarily from best-selling author, Alice Walker, who penned the classic The Color Purple. Walker is a staunch ally of the BDS crowd and has publicly called on Keys to boycott Israel, but to no avail.
This was particularly sad to me, because I love The Color Purple. The movie version of the novel was directed by Steven Spielberg (who’s not only Jewish but finances a Jewish film archive at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University) and stars Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey. The film is a powerful tale of women overcoming great odds to persevere in life. My favorite scene in the movie is near the climax of the film, as a montage of events takes place set to the song “Maybe God Is Trying to Tell You Something.” Every time I see it, I’m moved to tears, and I purchased the soundtrack just for that song.
The lyrics say:
Can’t sleep at night and you wonder why
Maybe God is trying to tell you something
Crying all night long, something’s gone wrong
Maybe God is trying to tell you something
Well, Ms. Walker, I believe God is trying to tell you something. He’s trying to tell you that you’re pouring your energies into something contrary to His will. Spending your time trying to convince pop stars not to do a concert in Israel makes about as much sense as spitting in the wind.
And while we’re on the subject of God, may I remind you He wrote a book too. It’s called the Bible. It’s set primarily in Israel.
And topping that, God decided to come to earth in the form of a man. And guess where He chose to be born and spend His entire earthly life? You guessed it again: Israel.
Gonna start boycotting God and His handiwork now? I don’t envy you.
Chaim Goldberg is the director of media at Maoz Israel and writes a weekly column for Charisma Media’s Standing With Israel website.
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