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Scene from "Paradise Now"
Sever Plocker

'Palestine' was born in Hollywood

Hollywood reporters have no business making political declarations

The movie Paradise Now about Palestinian suicide bombers recently won the Golden Globe award for best foreign film.

 

More correctly – and details are important here – the choice was made by a group of foreign entertainment reporters, not Americans, in Hollywood.

 

I watched the awards ceremony. I found it thoroughly infuriating.

 

I got angry when the presenters opened the envelope and announced the name of the winning country: Palestine.

 

No "Palestine" on the map

 

As far as I know, there is no country called "Palestine." Not in the U.N., not the World Bank, not even in international cultural organizations.

 

The Palestinians themselves have yet to declare statehood, and make due with calling themselves the "Palestinian National Authority."

 


Hani Abu-Assad received Golden Globe award (Photo: Reuters) 

 

Nobody in the international community gave these foreign entertainment reporters in Hollywood the right to bestow statehood. Therefore, Golden Globe organizers never had the right to declare the existence of "Palestine."

 

Setting borders and delving into international politics are none of their business – unless their intention is to turn the Golden Globes into an openly political ceremony. In that case, representatives must run for election – in their own countries.

 

What about Chechnya?

 

Paradise Now is a Palestinian film produced by Israelis. There is no debate about this.

 

But there are also Basque films made in Spain. But would anyone in far-away Hollywood dare present them as representatives of an independent Basque country? I doubt it.

 

Would this group of reporters also bestow independence on Northern Ireland? How about Chechnya?

 

Spotlight failure

 

After the announcement was made, producer Hani Abu-Assad delivered a Palestinian political-nationalist acceptance speech.

 

Of course, he failed (God forbid) to use his moment in the international spotlight to speak about peace, or to make an impassioned plea to Muslim youth around the world to forego terrorism.

 

Abu-Assad also failed to speak about compromise and coexistence. He said he hoped the world would now identify with Palestinian aspirations "with no conditions."

 

No conditions

 

Paradise Now's producers appeared as Palestinian propaganda of an even more troubling type: The phrase "with no conditions" means there is no need for the Palestinians to negotiate with Israel, nor any pressing need to reach agreements or compromise on issues such as the right of return.

 

No demands of any type are placed on the Palestinians. Just "accept Palestine with no conditions."

 

From Gaza to Gush Katif

 

Hani Abu-Assad's use of Paradise Now as a propaganda tool to promote Palestinian nationalism does great injustice to the film's content and grants additional, dangerous standing and indirect but unmistakable justification for suicide bombers.

 

In such circumstances, we must consider the opposite reality. Imagine the reaction a group of well known movie producers from Gush Katif would have gotten to a movie called "Disengagement is no heaven."

 

Is there any chance that such a movie – no matter how good – would have won a prize awarded by Hollywood's foreign correspondents?

 

And if that film did manage to get some prize, would the Israeli producer permit himself to use his acceptance speech to promote a Whole Land of Israel ideology?

 

And even if he did so, can you imagine the scandal?!

 

No propaganda film

 

As noted, Paradise Now is no Palestinian propaganda film. It has many layers and depth and many wavering characters.

 

It does not take an unquestioning stance and its message is complex (even if its producers, for their own reasons, "understand" a bit too much about what drives suicide bombers and "understand" a bit too little about the damage suicide terrorism causes the Palestinians themselves).

 

But my argument has nothing to do with the movie, but rather the Golden Globe award ceremony. And that ceremony was turned into a political demonstration in favor of the immediate establishment of a Palestinian state "with no conditions."

 

In practice, the Palestinian state was born at the Golden Globe awards, by decree of the actors, producers and Hollywood entertainment reporters.

 

Sever Plocker is a regular contributor to Israel's leading news source Yedioth Ahronoth

 


פרסום ראשון: 01.18.06, 14:28
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