The Naza Lies

No Jew is more beloved in the world than one who turns against his people.

Being Jewish comes about according to Jewish law in one of two ways: having a kosher Jewish mother or converting to Judaism and accepting Torah laws and Jewish life. Now if you were to speak with a Reform rabbi, she would say that my description is poppycock. A Jewish father can do, and one can do a conversion like going through a Chick-fil-A drive-thru. Townhall is not the place for determining what a legitimate conversion is. In Israel, it’s a big issue, as proving one’s Jewishness is important for getting automatic citizenship. I learned only a few years after our marriage that my rabbi in the States actually had to go to my parents to get evidence of my mother being Jewish before the rabbinate would issue a marriage license.

What happens if you’re Jewish and you hate it? What happens if you’re Israeli and you hate your country? One can see various responses to such conditions. Many have noted that there is no shortage of Jews marching with pro-Hamas protesters in the West. The Islamist mayor of New York received a sizable portion of the Jewish vote. Jewish Voice for Peace would claim that it is acting in a “Jewish” manner as it attacks Israel and supports the Hamas terrorists who raped and murdered Jews by the bushel. In Israel, various individuals have been arrested for providing Iran with information, including pictures of military facilities. While one might choose to convert to Islam, Christianity, or another religion, once a Jew is always a Jew — in the eyes of Jewish law. In Israel, there is no shortage of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish behavior: I do not accept my Judaism! I will oppose it! Many ultraorthodox reject the state completely.

In the arts, Israelis have often used different media to attack both their faith and their country. One of the greatest lies and calumnies against the country was in the form of the movie Jenin, Jenin. The movie made false and defamatory claims against the IDF, whose activities in 2002 led to a lot of death in Jenin, including 23 IDF soldiers, 13 of whom died in a booby-trapped courtyard. The filmmakers, lefties at heart, lied in their description of Israeli intentions and actions in the terrorist-filled city. It would be like some lefty Hollywood filmmaker producing "Fallujah, Fallujah" in order to defame the US armed forces in their brutal fighting in the Iraqi city.

The latest addition to the "I am an Israeli but hate Israel" category comes from two Israeli film producers. Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor produced NAZA (Collateral Damage), in which they use unnamed sources from the IDF’s SIGINT unit 8200 in order to claim that Israel was determining the number of Palestinian civilians who would die in attacks in Gaza and allowing them to proceed. This film is extremely important for the Western left. Israel has been in the position of having been attacked by wild terrorists who murdered civilians. If Israel is the moral army that it claims to be and if the relatively low ratio of civilians to terrorists killed stands up, then Israel is beyond reproach. But just as former President Joe Biden needed 51 intelligence frauds to make his son’s laptop the work of Russia, the left needed somebody to say that Israel is no better than Hamas: Hamas intentionally attacks civilians, and Israel intentionally attacks civilians. Israel has no moral case, and Israel is no better than Hamas. How much does the left need this movie? The filmmakers were given — are you sitting down? — a 24-minute standing ovation. Try clapping your hands for 24 minutes. Even Stalin never got applause for so long. They were also given a special booby prize at the Venice Film Festival: it was not one of the main prizes, but like in all things Israel, it was whipped up so that Israel-haters (whose movie officially was “British”) would go home with some hardware.

There is no way to confirm the identity of the sources of the defamatory claims, as there never was an attack with 500 civilians killed — or anywhere close. This is always the best way of doing business: drop a lie without evidence. Israel and the IDF have furiously denied the claims of the movie, and the Culture Minister called them traitors and has said that he would seek to have the pair’s Israeli citizenship revoked. That can’t happen unless they have additional citizenship, which is very common in Israel. I hope that this is not just another impotent threat — like in the US that we’re gonna throw out Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN-5) over fraud and marrying her brother — and that they actually strip them of their citizenship. They already hate the country, so why not unburden them of its association with their lives?

While many Jews and Israelis have hated their condition and tried to run from it, the world has generally taken two approaches. Some religions and countries would accept Jews if they renounced their religion and joined a new one. Islam ostensibly welcomes converts, though Jewish Israeli women who convert to Islam for marriage are generally treated like garbage by their new families. Their having been Jewish is something that they cannot outrun. And then you have the Nazi approach: nothing a person could do would allow him to outrun his Judaism. He could put on a Wehrmacht uniform, goose-step, and give the Heil Hitler salute all day long, and he would still be sent to the gas chambers. Yuval Abraham, one of the film’s producers, has been involved in pro-Hamas/anti-Israel protests trying to provoke IDF soldiers. In the end, the Muslims would slit his throat like anyone they murdered in southern Israel. One cannot ingratiate himself enough with the “Religion of Peace” to have one’s Jewish background forgiven — even if he made a movie that did much international damage to Israel’s reputation. People think that they can outrun their Judaism or Israeli nationality. The Culture Minister correctly called the pair traitors in basing his demand for the cancellation of their citizenship. Of late, Israel has been denying entry to European Jew-haters and has quickly ejected the trash that has come on the pro-Hamas armadas. I would love to wake one morning to see the filmmakers no longer Israelis. The Jewish people can’t kick them out, though they have separated themselves from their brethren by inventing lies against Jewish soldiers. God will deal with them as He deals with everybody. They may think that they can get away from who they are. They will be reminded that such is not the case.

Back in Chicago, I remember once sitting in our front room after a large snowstorm. I suddenly heard a thud on the windows. I looked outside and could not stop laughing. Our neighbor’s son threw a snowball. But in his attempt to flee, he fell face-down into a massive snowdrift. These Jewish-Israeli filmmakers will suffer a similar fate. They think that they will be the in-thing by spreading lies about Jewish soldiers and the fighting ethos of the IDF. And sure, they got a long ovation. But the tide will turn against them. Israel and Jews will abandon them, and just as one asks his stockbroker, “What have you done for me lately?”, the lefties and Muslims will tire of them when they have nothing more to offer. Here today, gone tomorrow. They thought that by attacking Israel and lying about the IDF’s efforts to minimize civilian casualties, they would guarantee their future. But the left and the Muslims use and drop Jewish props as needed. The adulation will die down, and then they will be forgotten. When they try to come home, they will be shipped right back out. 

Editor’s Note: Do you enjoy Townhall’s conservative reporting that takes on the radical Left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.

Join Townhall VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.