Jon Voight, Hollywood actor, champions Israel; fires back at celebs condemning Israel
Actor to Peers: ‘You should hang your heads in shame’
By Jon Voight
“What I find so ironic is that after World War II, everybody said, ‘I don’t understand the Jews. How could they have just gone to their slaughter like that?’ OK, and then when they fight back: ‘I don’t understand the Jews. “Why can’t they just go to their slaughter?’ It’s like, ‘You know what? We did that once. It’s not gonna happen again. You’re just gonna have to get used to the fact that Jews now defend themselves.’” ~ Bill Maher
This article summarizes the real history behind the lies that are turning the world against Israel. Note the Hamas kidnapping and wanton murder of three Jewish teenagers that started this whole war. ~C.D.
Editor’s Note: In the wake of the Gaza war, entertainment celebrities—as they often do—sounded off on the conflict. Two of them were Academy Award-winning Spanish actor Javier Bardem and his wife, actress Penelope Cruz, who signed a published letter condemning Israel for committing “genocide.”
In response, some in Hollywood defended Israel, including Relativity Media CEO Ryan Kavanaugh, who said, “It makes my blood boil. As the grandson of Holocaust survivors, anyone calling it Israeli ‘genocide’ versus protecting themselves are either the most ignorant people about the situation and shouldn’t be commenting, or are truly anti-Semitic.” As one insider told The Hollywood Reporter, “People are furious about this.”
The most outspoken defender of Israel was veteran actor and Academy Award-winner Jon Voight, who gave the following passionate response.
My name is Jon Voight and I am more than angry. I am heartsick that people like Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem could incite anti-Semitism all over the world and are oblivious to the damage they have caused.
They are obviously ignorant of the whole story of Israel’s birth, when in 1948 the Jewish people were offered by the U.N. a portion of the land originally set aside for them in 1921, and the Arab Palestinians were offered the other half. The Arabs rejected the offer, and the Jews accepted, only to be attacked by five surrounding Arab countries committed to driving them into the sea. But the Israelis won. The Arabs tried it again in 1967, and again in 1973, launching a sneak attack on the holiest Jewish holiday. Each time the Jews prevailed, but not without great loss of life. And when Israel was not fighting a major war, it was defending itself against terrorist campaigns.
And yet Israel has always labored for a peaceful relation with its Arab neighbors. It voluntarily returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in return for peace, and gave the Palestinians all of Gaza as a peace gesture. What was the response? The Palestinians elected Hamas, a terrorist organization, and they immediately began firing thousands of rockets into Israel.
After years of trying to make peace, the wars they had to fight, being attacked by their enemies, and still being attacked, and finally after years of running into bomb shelter s and having hundreds of civilians killed by suicide bombers, civilians being killed din their sleep, stabbed to pieces, finding enough is enough and finally retaliating, instead of my peers sticking up for the only democratic country in that region, they go and take out poison letter against them.
You have forgotten how this war started. Did Hamas not kidnap and kill three young teenagers for the sake of killing, and celebrated after the killing? What a travesty of justice.
I am asking all my peers who signed that poison letter against Israel to examine their motives. Can you take back the fire of anti-Semitism that is raging all over the world now?
You have been able to become famous and have all your monetary gains because you are in a democratic country: America. Do you think you would have been able to accomplish this in Iran, Syria, Lebanon, et cetera? You had a great responsibility to use your celebrity for good. Instead you have defamed the only democratic country of goodwill in the Middle East: Israel.
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