Saturday, February 8, 2014

IPMN, agreeing with those who harass Jewish women ...


The Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is evidently giving lessons on how to harass and hate people. Using other’s tweets they have linked to an extremely hateful article about the controversy between the Boycott Divestment Sanctions  movement and Scarlett Johansson’s endorsement of SodaStream, a company that makes home soda making machines.
One of their plants is on the outskirts of an Israeli settlement. At least five-hundred Palestinians work there, alongside Israeli workers.* They make better wages then most in the Palestinian territories and are treated equally well. But the BDS movement is boycotting them and is now harassing Johansson because she was in a Super Bowl commercial lauding their product.

The article, “Scarlett Johansson controversy shows Hollywood’s fading Zionism,” written by Max Blumenthal, uses stereotyping to make points, while at the same time, referring to liberals who are pro-Israel as PEP (Progressives except for Palestine).  [1]Blumenthal’s disrespect for women in general, and Jewish women in particular is shameful. Of Barbra Streisand he writes:

  Of all the stars on stage that night, it was the proudly Jewish singer and actress Barbra Streisand who stole the show. The curly-haired Streisand belted out schlock anthems like Tomorrow and Happy Days Are Here Again to an enchanted crowd, before the former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir appeared on a gigantic television screen above the stage to greet her.
Curly-haired and schlock songs—what are the members of IPMN thinking linking to this piece. Blumenthal goes on:

Starting with her donation to the Emergency Committee for Israel during the 1967 war, Streisand’s unabashed Zionism propelled her career.
In other words Streisand made it big, not because of her talent, but because she was a Zionist. (Wasn't there an earlier time in history, the 1930s, when people of questionable character, the Nazis, insisted that the Jews controlled Hollywood and all of the United States media?)
In another part of the article, Blumenthal’s writes:

These days, celebrities who shill for Israel can expect to be relentlessly harried and forced to declare where they stand on Israel’s ongoing dispossession of Palestinians.

For those who have attached themselves to humanitarian do-gooder causes, the potential for PR damage is considerable — certainly enough to give them second thoughts. As the price tag on pro-Israel activity rises, some performers are quietly opting out of attractive deals before the controversy shatters their image.

But others like Scarlett Johansson, the comely blonde starlet described by Woody Allen as “sexually overwhelming” were not willing to let apartheid get in the way of a sizeable profit.
Woody Allen’s description of Johansson is totally out of place—but yes—it seems that Blumenthal will continue to harry and harass. He is shameless and so is the IPMN of the PC (U.S.A.).

I predict that since IPMN has published its hateful Zionism Unsettled they will sink deeper and deeper into the dark world of bigotry and hate. Once sin overcomes an individual or an organization it becomes easier to commit offenses.

To clarify: I don’t usually write postings defending movie stars simply because too many times I don’t agree with their lifestyles, but as a Christian I understand that everyone is created in the image of God. In our denomination, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), we are certainly expected to respect that image in everyone. We particularly lift up women and their rights. The IPMN has for a long time used other’s links to harass Scarlett Johansson. Their meanness is unacceptable. The article I am complaining about attacks persons in a way that is far deeper than attacking their actions. Whether one agrees with Scarlett Johansson or not, she should be treated as one who bears the image of God. And there isn’t any reason at all for Barbra Streisand to be attacked. Hopefully it is not a sin to be Jewish and/or a Zionist.

 
* An excellent article on the plant and workers in Mishor Adumim industrial park, is "Palestinian workers praise SodaStream - and Scarlett Johansson."



[1]   Blumenthal and IPMN promote each other’s work.  

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