Hany Abu-Assad
Posted on 03/02/2006 3:50:53 PM PST by Hannah Senesh
Hany Abu-Assad, Israeli-born director of Oscar-nominated film ‘Paradise Now,’ which has stirred controversy for its depiction of two young Palestinian suicide bombers, says in interview with Yedioth Ahronoth terror derives from another terror and that suicide bombings are a reaction to Israel's terror
HOLLYWOOD - Hany Abu-Assad's film "Paradise Now" left few Israelis indifferent. The movie, which depicts the story of two young Palestinians in Nablus who were chosen by a local terror group to carry out a suicide bombing in Israel, and which trails their preparations ahead of the attack, infuriated many in the country, most notably publicist Irit Linor, who in an opinion column in Ynet called "Paradise Now" "a quality Nazi film."
In an interview with Yedioth Ahronoth, the Israeli-born director of the Golden Globe award winner for Best Foreign Film emerges as no less controversial than his recent production. At the beginning of our talk he demands that when quoting him I would refrain from using the term "terrorist" to describe people sent to explode themselves in buses and markets.
This is an act of terror, but this terror derives from another terror, Abu-Assad explains. Suicide bombings are a reaction to your terror, he says, and suggests the most accurate term to describe a suicide bombing would be "a counter-terrorist act."
The occupiers and the occupation are the real terrorists. The real terror is stealing the Palestinians' right to live free on their land, Abu-Assad claims.
Confronted with the statement that his words seem to come close to justifying the bombers' actions, Abu-Assad says that in order to stop terror, there is a need to look at the full picture.
'Jews forget they were victims'
Abu-Assad deeply resents Linor's article, which stirred a row of its own upon publication. Articles like this make it harder for me to fight prejudice against Jews, he says.
Someone dares speak up against your movie and already it's hard for you to avoid being critical toward Jews?
They are not just opposed to my film; they also claim to represent all Jews, he states. This is why such an article is "racist and fascist," he says.
Abu-Assad says Linor truly believes people who belong to another nation are different than her. She thinks people who don't accept the fact the occupation is the source for suicidal acts in effect says the Palestinian culture is the root of terror, evil, he explains.
It's hard to see the way Jews, who were once the victims of prejudice and paid a heavy price for anti-Semitism, today act the same, he states. "It makes you want to stop believing in humanity."
Even during the Holocaust, people did not strap on a bomb and set out to kill innocent people.
This was a different situation that only lasted six years, Abu-Assad replies, adding that in the first 30 years of occupation there were no suicide bombings. Who knows what would have happened in Germany had the oppression continued for 30 years, he asks rhetorically.
Abu-Assad stresses he is a pacifist who believes any killing is wrong, and that he advocates a non-violent struggle as the right method for obtaining one's goals. However, he states, while he currently has the privilege to make such a stand, in a different situation his moral position may have been different.
In other words, had you been living in the territories, you would have become a shahid (martyr)?
Abu-Assad hesitates for a second before replying, "yes." He recounts an episode in which he was humiliated by a soldier at the Kalandiya checkpoint near Jerusalem, and says this was what made him realize what runs through the heads of people who later become suicide bombers.
You feel like such a coward it kills you, he describes, saying this cowardice makes people start hating life and feel impotent.
I realized, Abu-Assad explains, that when a man systematically goes through such humiliation, he chooses to kill his own impotency by carrying out an act of "let me die with the philistines."
And there are no suicide bombers who do what they do because of anti-Semitism?
That's a racist notion. No one hates Jews because they are Jews like in Europe, he replies. People have a reason for hating Israelis. You force them to live in refugee camps, and they tell you 'our home is in Ashdod'," he states.
Do you really believe they kill in order to kill Jews, He asks. They are no different than you as people. If you believe they are different, that's racism, he adds.
According to Abu-Assad, it is the situation that brought about the loss of control. I think, he says, that you have been "brainwashed" by the country to believe all Arabs are either a security risk or a danger to democracy.
When asked what he believes could be a solution for the conflict, Abu-Assad says equality is the key.
The solution would come once you recognize the equal rights of Jews and Arabs over all the land, including Tel Aviv and Nazareth, Abu-Assad declares, adding this also includes recognition in the Right of Return. After you recognize these principles, we would be able to split the country 50-50. This would be the practical solution, he says.
'I'm not Israeli'
Abu-Assad, was born and raised in Nazareth, but left Israel more than 20 years ago, and never returned to the country for a permanent stay. He resides in Holland, where he creates most of his films and secures most of the funding for his projects.
As a Palestinian teen, you don't have the same privileges others have, he says. Abu-Assad says he was a curious person that knew that if he stays in Israel he would become crippled, because he wouldn't have the same access to knowledge Israelis have.
I remind him he may become the first Israeli director to win an Oscar. He, in return, chuckles.
"Darling," he says with slight cynicism and contempt, "I am not Israeli."
But you carry an Israeli passport.
That's true, but I'm not Israeli, he says. Israel calls itself a Jewish state, and I'm not Jewish. If it becomes everybody's state, then I would be able to be called Israeli, he concludes.
I cannot accept the Jewish state as long as there is no settlement over the land, he adds
Hollywood today is ruled the same way as politics, through fear of imperfection. Humpback mountain will get all the votes at the Oscars out of fear that the "academy" (what academy did these people go to again?) will ostrasize the voters for not being PC, and as with politics, those who base leadership on perfect looks and perfect speech will ostracize that President who has neither. I must confess I found it quite ironic last night Gore Vidal sticking up for Abe Lincoln on the History channel while he blasted Bush who is doing basically the same thing as Lincoln. Why? Because Lincoln is cool now to idiots like Vidal, Lincoln is hip because he freed a people and got shot and he is a legend...Yet Bush is doing and going through the exact same thing, but on a global level.... AND he has the same speech and image problems as Lincoln. The problem with the world today is not what is happening now, but that liberals take years to catch up.
bttt
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
Israel takes up 2/10th of one percent of the entire land in the middle east, it is also the only democracy in the middle east. Whatever Muslims do or say in their "defense" by attacking Israel is completely destroyed when confronted by those facts. No matter what anyone says, the whole Palestinian/US Democrat offense against Israel is ALL based on 10000% anti-Semitism!! Jews had to deal with Nazi Germany, now they have to deal with a Nazi Germany that is 1000 times larger, and the world thinks it is all the fault of the Jews? Jews literally have their backs against the wall in Israel, yet anytime they defend themselves all you hear is "Jews are the problem".. Jews are not the problem; Anti-Semitism is the problem!
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Yeah OK...Sort of like owning a football field and getting upset because a golf ball rolled on the 50 yard line.
I wonder if he would approve of Jews who were ethnically cleansed by Arab nations becoming suicide bombers.
"I'm truly sorry I just murdered your totally innocent wife and baby, but you have to understand my frustration."
I don't think so somehow.
A quality Nazi film sums it up nicely. Only thing missing is a score by Wagner.
"A quality Nazi film sums it up nicely. Only thing missing is a score by Wagner"
Spielberg of "Munich" fame has suggested that he would die for Israel. If this guy's movie wins, perhaps he could blow himself up on stage.
Score by Wagner and cinematography by Leni Riefenstahl.
Don't forget, lots of Palestinians are Aryan wannabes, just like Haj Amin al-Husseini, who both met and worked for Hitler.
"Mein Kampf" is a wild bestseller among Arab Muslims.
Even Leni couldn't make them look sympathetic.
there are so many things sick and wrong with this guy on so many different levels, it's impossible to know where to begin.....how does a person get so twisted in his logic and his moral compass?
Hany Abu-Assad
bump
And even less of the oilfields.
Is there anything planned, pro-Israel wise, in the midst of the Oscars? There is an opportunity for a statement, given the newly anti-Israel bent of Hollywood.
Let this clown win something and have a Michael Moore moment at the Oscars. The reaction from the rest of the country would sound the death knell for this overhyped ceremony.
The terrible decisions Hollywood is faced with these days..
Butt Rodeo vs Jew Haters....
from the beginning, the Arab intention was to follow up and complete what their Nazi compadres started. They were too incompetent and cowardly to do it by conventional means, so early on they saw the irregular fedayeen (yes, the term was 1st used in connection with the Arab-Israeli Wars) as a means to drive Israeli civilians from their farms and settlements near frontier areas, and so accomplish at least part of their stated goal--the killing of Israelis regarless of age, sex, or condition. That your average Hollyweird type never seems to bring this up has to do with $$$$$$. By in large, Nazi Germany was not criticised by this bunch because 10% of their foreign earnings came from that nation. An even larger % of Hollywood's earnings come from the Arab/Muslim world. So expect more such pro-Palestinian drivel from out of Hollyweird. The answer--STAY AWAY FROM THE THEATERS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. Most of what the movie industry turns out nowadays is only fit for a nice bonfire anyway.
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