How Woody Allen Saved Israel from Herself
SHANKS, HERSHEL
PERSPECTIVE How Woody Allen Saved Israel from Herself Woody Allen has recently defended his famous—or infamous—op-ed piece in The New York Times in which he accused Israel of using...
...You can't win an argument with Woody Allen if he puts the question, [f the issue is whether Israeli soldiers should go door-to-door among Palestinians breaking hands or whether you can criticize the policies of a country you haven't been to...
...Did you think thai only your voice, transmitted through the Times, would have any effect...
...Did you think mai ihe morning headlines and the nightly TV were not enough to make the Israelis understand that they were behaving badly...
...People think you spoke up not because of your moral outrage, but because you were embarrassed...
...And why there...
...The comparison with Cuba is certainly better than South Africa or Nazi Germany...
...You will probably agree thai you didn't write because you expected the Israelis to stop as a result of your op-ed piece in the Times...
...P.S...
...Thai is the question...
...The New York Times would never have printed it...
...If a non-Jew had written the piece...
...Reading Woody Allen's defense, I was reminded of a now-legendary professor at the Harvard Law School, a man named "Bull" Warren, of whom it was said, "It is possible to win an argument with him, bin never if he puts the question...
...He doubted that you're such a big supporter...
...You didn't discuss that question in your Tikkun piece...
...The real question is, why did you say it, there and then...
...There is no surer cure for embarrassment than Israel bashing...
...Israel was confused and unprepared...
...We recognize the symptoms...
...You know that because you're a genius with words...
...Woody Allen, drawing on the tradition of the prophets w which he is heir, summoned his moral courage—and spoke out...
...the intifada began, although no one knew it at the time, on December 9, 1987...
...The piece appeared in- the Times on January 28, 1988...
...In these circumstances...
...But as Woody Allen himself would say, C'mon fellas, that's not the question...
...So, why...
...When Allen wrote his op-ed piece, the intifada was barely a month old...
...In his Tikkun piece, Allen also confronts the arguments of his detractors, like the cabbie who told him, "How can you criticize a place you've never been to...
...But you're also someone who will keep them in line when they stray from the straight and narrow—right...
...As you yourself wrote, "1 am no political activist...
...The pages of moment are open to you...
...And why then...
...PERSPECTIVE How Woody Allen Saved Israel from Herself Woody Allen has recently defended his famous—or infamous—op-ed piece in The New York Times in which he accused Israel of using "state-sanctioned brutality and even torture" to suppress the intifada...
...And the media, naturally enough, were looking for prominent Jews who would be embarrassed by Israel's vise of excessive force and who would be willing to condemn her...
...I know you're a supporter of Israel— like when they made the desert bloom and when they rescued the hostages at Entebbe...
...In truth, Woody Allen, people don't believe that...
...The real question, Woody Allen, is not whether you exaggerated what Israel was doing—a subject I haven't even discussed...
...No, you spoke up, no doubt, out of moral outrage...
...Words have contexts...
...Why, Woody Allen, did you write it...
...Woody's going to win the argument every time...
...That's the relevance of the cabbie's question...
...Except for the fierceness of his condemnation and his assuming the worst about Israel, Allen said nothing new...
...I'm not one of those Jews," you in effect told the world through the pages of The New York Times...
...Was it because you felt bad for the Palestinians and you hoped thai if you spoke up, the Israelis would stop it...
...Moral outrage is easy and releases tension...
...You were condemned by the Jewish community, Woody, because people don't believe you took the time and effort to separate your embarrassment from what was, no doubt, genuine moral outrage...
...Look at all the criticism you've taken since then, especially from the intellectuals...
...sorting through tough issues is hard and can give you a headache...
...If anything...
...She didn't know how to deal effectively with a violent and potentially lethal civil disorder...
...Many of us were embarrassed...
...Maybe you couldn't afford it, especially in the early years, or maybe you're afraid of planes—you never leave the country...
...Whatever excessive force Israel used to suppress the uprising was dramatically portrayed in every American living room...
...Moral outrage was a tempting option...
...But in 40 years, you never went there...
...You, above all, know that it matters where and when you say things...
...Did you think you wrould start a movement...
...Reading his defense—in the January/February issue of Tikkun magazine—it is clear that for Allen the issue is simply this: "Do you want the [Israeli] soldiers going door-to-door and breaking hands...
...It took guts, no...
...As you said in Tikkun, "I was amazed at how many intellectuals took issue with me over [the] piece...
...Night after night, the television news pictured Israeli soldiers chasing, catching, bloodying Palestinian kids...
...I'm an uninformed coward...
...What do those intellectuals know anyway...
...Allen has a devastating answer: "I'd never been to many places whose politics I took issue with, like Cuba...
...And we too objected to the excessive use of force...
...As he says, that is "the core of my complaint...
...A little moral outrage goes a long way on the op-ed page...
...How come, Woody Allen, you have never been to Israel...
...I still like your movies—H.S...
...It was all on the front page...
...That a prominent jew—Woody Allen (who also happens to write with considerable style)-—wras willing to write this made il worthy of the Times op-ed page...
...In your Tikkun piece you say, "I've always been a big rooter for Israel...
Vol. 15 • April 1990 • No. 2
