Before even approaching this subject, it will be necessary to make an assessment of why Ms. Natalie Portman decided to refuse the 2018 Genesis Prize. Initially, she had appeared to be extremely excited and honored to be receiving this prize and looking forward to the ceremony despite the fact that Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu would also appear and make a speech. She initially had no problem sharing the stage with the Prime Minister, the same person she claimed was impossible for her to appear alongside as part of her reasons for refusing the award subsequently. Early last November she exclaimed, “I am deeply touched and humbled by this honor. I am proud of my Israeli roots and Jewish heritage; they are crucial parts of who I am.” Additionally she reacted, “I am particularly inspired by the opportunity to make an impact on women’s issues in Israel…Israel has already achieved much in terms of social and economic development, education and science, and we can all be rightfully proud of it as Jews…” And a last quote of her reaction is as follows, “It is such a privilege to be counted among the outstanding Laureates whom I admire so much. I express my heartfelt gratitude to the Genesis Prize Foundation, and look forward to using the global platform it provides to make a difference in the lives of women in Israel and beyond.” These quote came care of INTO THE FRAY: Natalie Portman as a symptom written by Dr. Martin Sherman, an opinion author we often read and have found to often put forth profound thought.
Natalie (Black Swan) Portman and Bibi Netanyahu
We have established that initially Ms. Portman was eager, honored and desirable of receiving the Genesis Prize. So, what happened? Her initial claim was that the violence on the Gaza border was a large mitigating factor and that she found the Israeli actions abhorrent and she could no longer receive the award. Portman said later in a statement posted on Instagram, “Let me speak for myself. I chose not to attend because I did not want to appear as endorsing Benjamin Netanyahu, who was to be giving a speech at the ceremony. Like many Israelis and Jews around the world, I can be critical of the leadership in Israel without wanting to boycott the entire nation,” Up to this point, her reasoning was purely political but confusing as she knew when she initially was reacting to being chosen that, as we already stated, knew that Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu would be attending and making a speech and sharing the stage. But then she goes off the rails making a vacuous statement which starts with a completely incorrect claim that Israel was founded to be a refuge for the survivors of the Holocaust. We have to take into consideration that she is an actress whose fame is for her physical appearance and ability to repeat lines with the proper emotion, definitely a talent but not necessarily requiring any actual knowledge of history, something often proven by today’s actors and actresses. Israel was set into motion by the 1917 Balfour Declarations and codified in the 1922 San Remo Conference and restated in further treaties and the Mandate System set in place by the League of Nations and all recognized under Article 80 of the United Nations Charter. Her following statement goes, “Israel was created exactly 70 years ago as a haven for refugees from the Holocaust. But the mistreatment of those suffering from today’s atrocities is simply not in line with my Jewish values. Because I care about Israel, I must stand up against violence, corruption, inequality, and abuse of power.” This last statement is definitively telling and on this we shall discuss as it describes Ms. Portman’s refusal, the support of the BDS Movement by the late Stephen Hawking and the numerous performers, both actors and musicians, who have cancelled tour appearances or declined making appearances in Israel, particularly Tel Aviv which is largely secular and very liberal.
What happens often in these cases is that the BDS Movement has a system which is largely financed by the Arab League and numerous Arab nations and which was initiated by the PLO when they supported boycotting Israel which was quickly adopted by the Arab League and eventually was transformed into the BDS Movement as the Arab boycott of Israel was too restrictive and the BDS Movement took the Arab boycott into the leftist mainstream. Since then, the BDS Movement has gained in sophistication and financing has increased and numerous leftist NGOs have adopted the BDS boycott of Israel. Some of the groups supporting BDS Movement against Israel include; Black Lives Matter, International Solidarity Movement, Olive Tree Initiative, Palestine Summer Encounter, IfNotNow, Adalah, Campus Action Network, Christian Peacemaker, Friends of Sabeel, Interfaith Peace Builders, National Lawyers Guild, Presbyterian Synod, Rachel Corrie Foundation For Peace and Justice, US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, United Church of Christ Palestine/Israel Network, United Methodist General Board of Church and Society, Women in Black, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Council on American Islamic Relations, If Americans Knew, Muslim Public Affairs Committee, Muslim Students Association, Council for the National Interest, International ANSWER, International Socialist Organization, Jews For Justice For Palestinians, La Voz De Azatlan, La Raza, Middle East Studies Association, Nation of Islam, Veterans For Peace, Who Profits and finally, of no surprise, the American Nazi Party. Then, of course, there are numerous people of wealth who also assist financing the BDS Movement which can be found here along with a more complete list of organizations and NGOs as we only took the majority of those listed. Still, with these numerous mostly leftist organizations, there is no problem getting people to volunteer to make phone calls to whomever is the target of the moment, send e-mails from as many accounts as each has set up for their use, and make other communications making the target believe that there are millions who would never buy their albums, books or other goods or services or would no longer go to movies or plays in which they appear which can make some weaken and decide it is not worth one stop on their tour to risk this loss of support. But for others, such as Ms. Portman, there is another force in play and this is what we believe likely is what was largely behind her rejection of the award, namely peer pressures. The Hollywood crowd is not exactly known for their support of Israel just as they are not known for their support of President Trump. Israel’s main crime is that first off it is a very religious nation which in Hollywood means they are backward and ignorant. Further, Israel has repeatedly elected conservative governance which is another sign of retardation and a sick population in the minds of the mental giants in Hollywood. The real problem is that Hollywood has a herd mentality and the leadership has decidedly chosen the far left to the point that to be part of the “in crowd” in Hollywood, you have to pass a litmus test proving that you are a strong leftist and believe as the politics chosen by the crowd. Part of that politics is to support all the leftist political movements which includes the BDS Movement because it supports the Muslims who it has been decided are the downtrodden and victims in the world as well as being thought to be people of color despite the fact that being a Muslim says nothing about your pigmentation as it is a religion, not a race. Still, this measure makes Israel the greatest evil on the planet as the Muslims desire that Israel be eradicated and thus to be part of the accepted crown in Hollywood, you must hate Israel. Ms. Portman was likely informed by numerous of her “friends” that she must refuse this “Israel” award, especially if she desired to be invited to the “in” parties or be considered for any future roles in movies for the rest of her life. Simply put, she was likely threatened by her community that this would be considered an unconscionable sin which would be inexcusable and be held against her forevers. This is our theory and it has been a systemic problem with many concerts being cancelled for their Tel Aviv or Jerusalem appearances which has been effective for many newer bands while many of the old rock-n-roll bands have simply ignored or stated outright that they will perform in Israel, BDS be damned.
Now, as our title stated, what can Israel do to mitigate this effect? There are many who claim that Israel need invest far more funds in external affairs to fight against these efforts and work to put the Israel reality story into the public discourse. This would be a possible means for Israel to combat this and there are many who are out there, us included, telling the Israel reality and standing up for Israel. The question to ask is how much Israel should put into such a program to make it successful? Well, at least as much as is invested against Israel. Were Israel to do such, then the Saudis, the NGOs, the European Union and many member nations, the United Nations, and numerous billionaires will simply double down and Israel cannot keep pace and still have any funds left for anything else, especially for the IDF. Israel cannot keep pace with the funds put up against her so that is not an issue. Even if Israel were to triple the funds and efforts into such policies, they would be but a small drip compared to the tsunami her detractors are spending. Perhaps having those people with famous names could be encouraged to stand stronger and louder in their support would help. The other side has the trump numbers and could bring far more people to the floor through intimidation or simply depending on true believers. The only thing Israel can do to protect herself is to continue to be the most moral nation and work within the systems which already give her legal right to the lands west of the Jordan River. What would likely surprise even the supporters of Israel is that it would be legal for Israel to deport the Palestinian Arabs into Jordan from the entire Shomron without so much as a how do you do. This would be just as legal as the deporting of the German people in the lands Poland was awarded after World War II and from the lands France was awarded after World War I. It would be legal just as the two populations which were exchanged between India and Pakistan after the founding of Pakistan. There were a number of population exchanges made in the world within the last century and should have occurred when Israel liberated the Shomron and Gaza Strip during the Six Day War in July of 1967. The Arabs in the Gaza Strip would have been displaced into the Sinai Peninsula or into Egypt. Technically, under the rules of warfare, since Israel was responding to a breach of the treaty by Egypt who blockaded the Straits of Tiran in the Red Sea which was a casus belli as an act of war. This made all the actions by Israel during the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War legal and Israel should have been permitted to retain all the land Israel deemed necessary or desirous for her defense and future requirements. This means that Israel could have retained the entirety of the Sinai Peninsula and forced the Egyptians residing there to move across the Suez Canal into Egypt and that would have been legal. This is how the Rules of War read since they were agreed upon through World War I. Since then, the main alteration has been that lands gained in a defensive war may be held until decisions are reached between the involved nations in a formal peace treaty. The aggrieved nation which was attacked, they are permitted to retain the land they gained should this be coded in the peace treaty and cannot be forced to return the lands otherwise. This is why Israel could only be required to return land and not all the land after the Six Day War as encoded in UNSC Res. 242. The Egypt treaty surrendered the formerly occupied Gaza Strip and the peace with Jordan surrendered all of the formerly occupied Shomron, the lands west of the Jordan River. Once the people in Gaza had been moved into Egypt and the people in the Shomron moved into Jordan, that should have been the end of everything. The world decided they could not live with Israel being permitted the same rights of other nations which had been established over the years. Israel had been promised the lands west of the Jordan River which she possessed when founded in May of 1948 until she was attacked by six Arab armies intent on the eradication of the Jewish State and genocide of the Jews within the nascent state.
Israel survived that assault but lost the area of the Shomron and Gaza Strip including half of Jerusalem including the entirety of the Old City. The Jews residing in the lost territories were forced from their properties mostly without taking their belongings and their homes were gifted to the favored of the King of Jordan. Jordan then destroyed the Synagogues and the Mount of Olives cemetery and other Jewish properties. The marker stones from the Jewish cemeteries were taken and used as paving stones and for making bathrooms intended as insult to the dead Jews. When Israel regained the Old City and the Temple Mount all of the holy sites were found in poor repair and the entirety of Eastern Jerusalem was found to be mostly a ruin with everything broken and in disarray. Since then, Israel has revitalized the entire region and repaired the holy sites, rebuilt some of the Synagogues and some are still in the planning stage and will be rebuilt with time. Some were so completely destroyed that they are not being rebuilt. Water systems and electrical systems have been repaired and improved and waste systems repaired with new treatment facilities built. The entirety of East Jerusalem has been modernized while taking care to keep as much of the original structures intact or repaired as necessary. The Palestinian Arabs were established with one intent, the complete destruction to destroy all of Israel. This was in the original charter of the PLO and remains in the charter of Hamas and Islamic Jihad while the Arab League still calls for the destruction of Israel and Iran has stated their desire to destroy Israel as well as the United States. Perhaps the United Nations would do something unprecedented and honor their Charter, in particular, Article 80 which claimed that they would enforce the Mandate System which would imply that they would recognize the lands west of the Jordan River as belonging rightfully to Israel. Such a decision might end the problems which have been behind the Arab-Israeli conflict should the United Nations in the Security Council recognize the Jordan River as the eastern border of Israel and support the resettlement of the Palestinian Arabs either in Jordan or allow them to choose whichever Arab nations or nation which would accept them allowing their removal from the land of Israel, something eminently legal under the laws of war. For those who wish to apply the Geneva Convention to the Arab-Israeli conflict, since the lands of the Shomron were occupied by Jordan and Jordan definitely attacked Israel as part of the Six Day War making Israel the aggrieved nation, Israel is the only nation with a true claim to the lands west of the Jordan River. Facts can be sticky objects, and these are the facts. As for Gaza, Israel surrendered claim to Gaza and Hamas took Gaza in a coup, thus if the world really desires to make a Palestinian State, Gaza would serve well and it could be called one of many names. Allow us to suggest a few; there could be Hamastan, Islamasstan, Gazastan, Terrorville or Hamastania.
Beyond the Cusp
Beyond the Cusp 