Posted on 12/27/2005 7:53:53 AM PST by Hildy
GAZA(Reuters) - The Palestinian mastermind of the Munich Olympics attack in which 11 Israeli athletes died said on Tuesday he had no regrets and that Steven Spielberg's new film about the incident would not deliver reconciliation.
The Hollywood director has called "Munich", which dramatizes the 1972 raid and Israel's reprisals against members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), his "prayer for peace".
Mohammed Daoud planned the Munich attack on behalf of PLO splinter group Black September, but did not take part and does not feature in the film.
He voiced outrage at not being consulted for the thriller and accused Spielberg of pandering to the Jewish state.
"If he really wanted to make it a prayer for peace he should have listened to both sides of the story and reflected reality, rather than serving the Zionist side alone," Daoud told Reuters by telephone from the Syrian capital, Damascus.
Daoud said he had not seen the film, which will only reach most screens outside the United States next month.
But he noted that Spielberg arranged previews in Israel, where some have accused "Munich" of lacking historical accuracy.
Several Israeli historians have also complained about what they see as a moral symmetry in the film between slain Olympians and the Palestinians assassinated by the Mossad spy service.
"Spielberg showed the movie to widows of the Israeli victims, but he neglected the families of Palestinian victims," said Daoud. "How many Palestinian civilians were killed before and after Munich?"
MOSSAD ASSASSINS
The Munich attack was "one of the pivotal moments of modern terrorism" he told Los Angeles Times in rare interview last week.
Daoud used different terms.
"We did not target Israeli civilians," he said.
"Some of them (the athletes) had taken part in wars and killed many Palestinians. Whether a pianist or an athlete, any Israeli is a soldier."
Spielberg's producer, Kathleen Kennedy, told a preview audience at Princeton University that a Palestinian consultant was used for "Munich". She did not say who it was.
"I do feel that we spent an enormous amount of time in discussion and put effort into exploring a fair and balanced look at the Palestinians that were involved in the story," she said, according to an official transcript of the event.
Historians noted that "Munich" presents Mossad assassins as having hunted 11 members of the PLO, while other accounts put the final Palestinian toll at as many as 18.
Daoud survived a 1981 shooting in Poland that he blamed on a Mossad mole in the rival Palestinian faction of Abu Nidal.
Though Israel allowed him to visit the occupied West Bank after 1993 peace accords, and Mossad veterans say the reprisals are over, Daoud said he feels he could still be targeted.
"When I chose a long time ago to be a revolutionary fighter I prepared to be a martyr. I am not afraid, because people's souls are in God's hands, not Israel's," he said.
One irony though is that he often injects a noticable Jewish angle or symbolism in his flicks....we have even had threads here on that very topic....but apparently, he has a hard time resisting equivocating though when it counts...and it most certainly did here: Mossad=Good, Pali Terrs=Bad....how on earth could he confuse that?
anyhow, in his favor....i don't think he did this to sell the movie easier to muzzies worldwide...and he is no doubt the most prolific Producer and Director in Hollyweird.....he and Mel Gibson arguably...Yin and Yang....and the Howard-Grazer team too....in the middle..safe
Yup, both need to meet up with their 72 Helen Thomas-lookalikes ASAP.
< I do feel that we spent an enormous amount of time in discussion and put effort into exploring a fair and balanced look at the Palestinians that were involved in the story >
How much time did you need to spot the bad guys? I witnessed it, Stevie. The Palis wore hoods and had guns...the atheletes did not.
Our government should have the juevos
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Stoopid Stevie Spielberg
Stooopid stooopid stooopid Tony Kushner
Did you hear this Paleostinian murderer?
Do you even care?
We know your answer is no because we are not stupid and have no illusions about HollyWeird and no illusions about Muslim Jihad. Which is eternal and relentless
Why is this guy still alive? Seems to me that there is more than sufficient reason for his taking that permanent dirt nap.
Spielberg had no problem in Schindler's List distinguishing between good and evil, but then again protraying Nazis for what they were isn't exactly risky -- the evil of the Third Reich is noncontroversial. But the Arab-Israeli conflict is another matter entirely.
My guess is that lefitsts (including leftist Jews like Spielberg) have difficulty equating Arab terrorists with Nazis because of the differences in their power. The latter wielded enormous military power, and their victims very little (if any). In the Israeli-Arab conflict, otoh, the Arabs are the weaker party, and leftists seem constitutionally unable to conceive that the militarily weaker party in any conflict can be the party in the wrong.
It's one of the reasons (besides partisan politics) that they're reticent to support the war in Iraq.
In return for what?
Whatever the "accords" documented, has been thoroughly shredded by the "palestinians", hence rendered worthless.
My question exactly.....
Thanks for the ping. The movie sounds appalling. I agree with a later poster who said words to the effect of, "Did you hug your suicide bomber today?"
This is the point at which I seriously scrolled back up to see if this was from Scrappleface.
Reuters is why Scrappleface is so eerily believable.
True, but on the other hand, why wouldn't he do a movie where the Jews fought back, say a movie about the 43 Warsaw Ghetto uprising? Gee could it be because they used *gasp* guns?
Precisely correct.
Memo to Spielberg:
You may offer peace prayers to Mohammed all you wish, but in the end, Satan's children WILL CONTINUE their intent to exterminate the Jewish people. The "Holy" Koran instructs them to do so.
You're right...so Reuters has this guy's phone number? Why is he still alive? It would be poetic justice if this guy crawled out of his hole to comment on this and now Israel can blow his brains out!
Speilberg is a cinematic genuis and a political imbicle.
He does need a reality expert to consult with when making political or historical dramas.
that is an excellent perspective
no doubt....I had not thought of that
shame that Ford and Hawks aren't here to do it justice....that it deserves
one has to wonder what the old guys could have done with today's film technology
i must confess, i do think Spielberg is very talented in telling stories on film....very American, but his politics are just screwed up....he needs to get out more beyond that Hollywood self congragulating clique
i was dismayed to hear him giving himself so much gravitas as a world stage player...a bit vain and arrogant
however...he is not a rabid Western Culture hater like Costa-Gavras or Spike Lee
What do they put in Hollywood's water supply?
A failed film. There a few of them out there, all Golden Globe nominees and future Academy Award nominees, also. At the end of the day, the toilet bowl will collect these box office failures, "Good Night & Good Luck", "Syriana" (in the tank already), "Munich" (in the flush ring, already), "Brokeback Mountain" (Fudgebacker's delight going nowhere, except a great hit with Dems, Libs and gays). Folks, those films and some other Gay mantra are your award nominees for 2005. Only "King Kong" has one nomination for best director. Methinks the Academy award presentations are not going to have great viewer participation. Shucks, the Academy can't even get anyone of note to emcee this upcoming fiasco.
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