Posted on 05/15/2011 10:53:45 AM PDT by Eleutheria5
Colin Firth is a fine, versatile actor. He is undoubtedly the best Mr. Darcy in all the movies made of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and is now set to play Avraham Stern, the intellectual and poet who became leader of the Jewish underground Fighters for the Freedom of Israel (LEHI), called the Stern Gang by the British.
Michael Winterbottom, who produced the film (to be called “The Promise”) did much of the research at the Begin Center and has stated that it is based on the true story of two British police detectives, Thomas Wilkin and Geoffrey Morton, who caught and killed Stern.
Thomas James Wilkin was decorated several times by the Crown for his services in Palestine in tracking down members of the Jewish underground. He spoke fluent Hebrew, taught to him by his Jewish mistress Shoshana Borochov.
Wilkins was himself killed two years after killing a handcuffed Avraham Stern, and, Winterbottom states: “Weirdly, we have at the end of the film, we have an interview, which we’ve already done with one of the people who assassinated Wilkin, who is still alive, two of them in fact, so we have them talking about how they assassinated Wilkin already, so it’s a great story.”
(Excerpt) Read more at israelnationalnews.com ...
I’ve seen the movie quite a few times and read the book “Exodus.” I’m reasonably certain that the organizations to which they referred were “Hagganah,” and the “Palmach,” both very real outfits.
Nope—still prefer Olivier.
Sorry if I came across as “pompous”. However, you are on the money on the “lecture hall” comment. I have debated these topics with various leftists and I do try to keep a very dispassionate tone while discussing events.
That works well in a scholarly debate but in a lively forum like FR, it sounds boring.
There are many of us friends of Israel in Academia, Politics and Big Business that are there to make sure that anti Semites are exposed and held in check. We are proud of our support of Israel and make sure that we let everyone know of it.
However, we also let people know that we don't support Israel due to some blind loyalty. We make it clear that we support Israel due to its commitment to Freedom, respect of Religion and due Process.
Therefore, whenever we encounter an anomaly in the behavior of the Israeli government that goes counter to the normal behavior of Israel (rare..I agree) we do speak up. And while we are politically on the right, we don't hesitate to show our respect to people like Rabin. He was a good man. I was in tears when he was assassinated. I don't agree with everything that he did but I tell you what, that guy was a shining example of why Israel stands shoulders above the crazies in the Middle East.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
..................
So how do you feel about the American colonists attacking the Red Coats? Had they been pacifists, we’d all be singing God Save The Queen instead of God Bless America!
Army vs Army? What is there to say? That is war. Sad but true.
When the Union Army fought the Confederate Army, that was war (as sad and unfortunate war is among brothers!)
When the Union army killed innocent civilians that was not so much fun.
Again, keep in mind, armies fight each other. That sad fact is a part of our lives. Till man gives up evil (when we all accept God) war will go on.
All I ask (pray, suggest) is that we keep war army to army. The evil enemy (taliban for example, al qaeda as another) chooses to take war to our civilian population. Let us not fall to their level.
Let us attack Taliban head on and take on the armies of Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, the three nations that have nurtured these terrorists.
By the way, I am not a pacifist in the classical sense of the word. You misunderstand my posts.
War is required today to fight evil like the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
War is like amputation surgery. Till a magic pill comes along, it is the ONLY way.
All I pray for is that our leaders don’t fall to the level of barbarians and savages like the Taliban and DELIBERATELY target civilians.
Unintentional civil casualties happen. That is sadly life. What makes me proud to be an American is that we deliberately do not target civilians.
I’m with you! :-)
Thank you!
You rock! It’s super-sized even, LOL. What’s funny is up until 5 or so years ago, I had never even read an Austen novel—and I’m an absolute bookworm.
Many thanks for the fine picture!
I really need to get that on DVD. I’ve only borrowed it from the library up to this point. I was also very impressed with the young woman who played Lizzy; Elizabeth is one of my favorite girls’ names—it’s our 2nd daughter’s middle name (couldn’t get my husband to agree to as a first name, alas).
I think we need a Colin Firth fan club on FR!
In WW2, there were lots of civilian casualties. Women and children were killed indiscriminately in attacks on Berlin, Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki. Both Germany and Japan completely lost interest in war since then.
As far as the Global Jihad is concerned, there is no real military. Osama was a civilian. The 9/11 hijackers were civilians. Do we differentiate between civilians who plant bombs, civilians who teach the bombers how to make bombs, civilian imams who exhort civilians to Jihad, and the civilians who finance Jihad?
PapaBear,
Thank you for your post.
So, interesting point here. Let me reply two fold.
1. Any “civilian” waging war on us is fair game as he/she has crossed over into armed conflict. Firing a tomahawk at a “civilian” camp where bombs are being built is fair play. No one questions that. The sadness over there is that these idiots sometimes have their family members there. What the USA does NOT do is retaliate against 9-11 by firebombing Kabul (which back in the olden days would have been fair game)
2. As far as Global Jihad goes, it is NOT being nurtured in vacuum. Iran and Syria provide overt support to the Hezbollah with money, bases, training. So, the goverments of Iran and Syria are in effect in WAR with us. Regarding Pakistan, it has now become clear, that they are doing the same with Al Qaeda and Taliban. Saudi Arabia is an interesting case. While their military and goverment is not supporting Al Qaeda, they have the ENTIRE religious framework of their country (a framework that is STATE supported) actively supporting Al Qaeda. Those imams raise money, provide weapons and training and help recruit
So, the question is whether Saudi Arabia is to blame and should be attacked. My answer is yes. You cannot just say that the Saudi Army is anti Al Qaeda when the cancer is being promoted by the religious sector in that country
Now keep in mind, we will NEVER invade Saudi Arabia as long as we continue to import 60% of our oil. Saudi Arabia knows this and that is why they choose to not do anything about the Wahabbi extremists.
“He is undoubtedly the best Mr. Darcy in all the movies made of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice”
Clearly this author has not seen the Laurence Olivier version.
I could not disagree with you more.
Modern efforts to spare civilians in war means wars are never won. The populace of enemy countries are the enemy. We used to know that and as a result we won wars decisively.
As to Israel, I echo E5’s request —
name names and deeds. What exactly should Israel do a mea culpa about?
Well, glad to have some academics who swim against the tide. I’m also glad that someone is producing a movie that speaks of the actual history of Israel, and the role that the underground plaid, rather than some sanitized Leon Uris thing like Exodus, or some twisted hateful revisionist blather. The underground had its unsavory side, I’m sure. But it was light years more humane and decent than the Palestinian sociopath-fest that passes for the PA and Hamastan governments.
I’m not blindly supportive of Israel. Having witnessed a twilight foundation pouring after a “settler” had his home bulldozed in the middle of the night by the IDF, I would have to join Shalom Achshav to support the present Israeli government. And yes, I do believe that the Palestinians are human beings with rights and feelings. It’s a pity they don’t feel the same about me and mine.
I’d say that Tokyo was way more populous than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined, and if they had bombed Tokyo, left with nobody to surrender on behalf of Japan, the US would have been fighting guerilos for decades afterward. As for the ends not justifying the means, that’s a problematic statement. War by its nature is hell. Its ends are often hard to even justify. Did keeping the Union together justify the sacking of Atlanta and the decimating of South Carolina and large parts of Virginia? The means must be in proportion to the ends desired, and at least plausibly related to bringing about the end’s consummation. But ending the war did justify Hiroshima and Nagasaki, because more people would have been killed on both sides by ending it with a US invasion.
The ends do not justify the means if they are 1. disproportionate, or 2. not plausibly related to bringing about the ends. Thus, “self-determination for the Palestinian people,” even if that were a desirable end, would not justify the slitting of a three-month-old infant’s throat while she lay in her bed. It might have justified legitimate warfare, such as attacking soldiers, or even firing missiles at a city, if it weren’t for the fact that the true end envisioned, the destruction of Israel and murder or eviction of all Jews living there, is despicable, the stated end is a fraud, and the “Palestinian People” have yet to even show themselves collectively interested in, or capable of responsible self determination.
My comment did not have to do AT ALL with mea culpas. Quite the contrary, my comment had to do with making people “Pure Heroes”
It will do us no good as a country, nation, religion if we become a “black and white” society and lose our ability to rationally think and make judgments.
Israel does not have to apologize to ANYBODY for the Lehi group. However, that does not mean, Israel needs to glorify Lehi either. So, the difference here is knowing who we are as a nation and not being blindly patriotic but being intelligently patriotic
As an example I give you a very leftist American man. His name was MLK. He had many flaws. However, fundamentally he was able to achieve a miracle. He led African Americans on a civil rights movement that was by and large peaceful
Today, some blacks want to make MLK a “god” and say that he was perfect. That is nonsense. He was not. However, many others like me respect the man DESPITE his flaws as we respect his overall deeds. We don't exercise censorship and pretend MLK was perfect. We openly document his flaws (infidelity, socialism, plagiarism etc) and yet still manage to respect the man.
Hope that makes sense.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.