This is Scarlett Johansson. She is not in our featured video.
Also not starring in the video below is Natalie Portman.
Below the fold is a pretty good video about Judea and Samaria hosted by, hold on to your seats: Danny Ayalon.
And here’s the semi-hysterical rant I promised. You can tell it’s semi-hysterical because I go all James Joyce with lack of punctuation, and, oh, yeah, the bold type:
I think it would have been much better if say Scarlett Johansson or for crying out loud Natalie Portman was host-narrator but hey I’m just a crass Hollywood screenwriter slash producer whose films have made millions upon millions of dollars so what do I know about communicating effectively with a mass audience in contrast to the geniuses in the Israeli government who might know how to protect and defend the country from a universe of homicidal Muslim maniacs but when it comes to messaging are clueless hopelessly lame dumb as doorknobs totally ineffective and gee willikers I’m so stressed from this rant that I’m actually getting a migraine trying to get through to you idiots.
Semi-hysterical rant done and done.
So: we get Israel’s deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon explaining that Judea and Samaria are not, repeat not occupied territory—
—You can tell the poor man is an amateur. He has no idea what to do with his hands, they’re flying around as if hit with an anti-gravity beam.
Anyhoo.
This video is so accurate and truthful that the Arabs are—gee, what a shock—enraged, which is their reaction to all truths that puncture the encyclopedia of fictions on which their entire death-cult society is founded.
Think about it: the so-called Palestinians only exist, by their every word and deed, as a people in opposition and at war with Israel and Judaism.
That’s the definition of crazy-dysfunctional.
Without Israel, without the existential conflict that defines their status on the world stage, the so-called Pal Arabs would be just another backward tribe. Now, c/o the evil Jooz, they get to define themselves as, well, still backward, but crowned with the nifty status of eternal victims, and, we might add, the greatest welfare witches the international community has ever been stupid enough to bankroll.
Another casting alternative to the well-intentioned but, um, boring Danny Ayalon is Angelina Jolie.
Ariel Chaim Avrech, ZT'L, May His Righteous Memory be a Blessing.
20 Comments
Robert, I think I’m starting to understand about it all being in the eyes. I watched “The Frisco Kid” with a friend of mine recently and found that I couldn’t take my eyes off Gene Wilder’s eyes throughout. He spoke with them in every scene.
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Unfortunately, Scarlett Johansson (who recently had a fling with dedicated Communist Sean Penn) and Natalie Portman are both fanatical Obama supporters. Portman claims to “love” Israel, but supports our Muslim-Communist president who is doing everything in his power (subject to getting reelected) to destroy Israel! These “useful idiots” would never appear in a “controversial” pro-Israel video. Maybe an Israeli tourism video — but not a video that takes a non-leftist political stand.
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Alan:
You have no idea how pliable most Hollywood people are when it comes to politics. Most are along for the ride and would probably enjoy the attention and flattery from Israel.
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No doubt those actresses would make a better presentation. It is always better to sell the sizzle as well as the steak. Israel is fighting an upstream battle against so much of the typical bastions of liberal orthodoxy in the media and academia. A thousand David Horowitzs would be a minor speed bump against the tenured Marxists on college campuses.
It can’t hurt and if it gets people to pay attention to the reality on the ground in the ME it can only help.
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Johnny:
When Hollywood stars went out to sell war bonds during the two world wars, millions were sold in contrast to politicians. Hollywood can sell anything.
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I agree that Mr. Ayalon looks uncomfortable. To me his posture gives it away as much as anything else. But – and I admit to being a gesticulator myself – I don’t get what you want him to do with his hands. Can you throw me a link (or write a description, maybe) to explain what the man should be doing with his hands?
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Alter:
From master director Sidney Lumet to me when we were casting A Stranger Among Us: “It’s all in the eyes.”
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Why have an actress at all as a spokesperson? Wouldn’t it be better to have an articulate spokesperson who really believes what she is saying?
(i.e Caroline Glick)
http://www.carolineglick.com/e/2011/07/israels-only-two-options.php
Alternatively,
if a known actress would be better at an emotional media presentation, then how about Raquel Welch,
(a devout Christian at this point in her life,
and, (perhaps not widely appreciated), an extremely intelligent person (one-time Mensa member). )
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000079/
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Exdem:
Danny Ayalon really believes in what he’s saying. But he’s not a polished performer and his English is broken and, with all due respect, the video is just not as effective as it should be.
Politics is as much the business of glamour and entertainment as the movies. This might seem crass and vulgar but it’s a fact of life.
Caroline Glick, with whom I agree with 99.9% of the time is, sorry to say this, a disaster on video. She’s a policy wonk and her need for an extreme makeover is, um, extreme, in order for her to communicate with a world-wide audience. She actually has great features but she has little understanding of girlie stuff like make-up and hair.
No, I believe that trained Hollywood actors are the best communicators on the face of the earth. It matters little if they are bubbleheads, it’s what their images evoke to the public that counts.
Look at it like this: America cannot and has never won a foreign war without Hollywood’s active support. Hollywood helped win the two world wars, but they were kind of iffy about Korea. And when Hollywood turned against Vietnam it was all over. Hollywood never supported Iraq or Afghanistan. Hence, Iraq will end up being controlled by Iran and Afghanistan will revert to the Taliban in a year or so.
Hollywood is the most powerful propaganda machine the world has ever known. Israel could and should tap into that pool of talent.
BTW, I know Raquel, worked with her years ago on a film I wrote. She’s a lovely woman.
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“No, I believe that trained Hollywood actors are the best communicators on the face of the earth. It matters little if they are bubbleheads, it’s what their images evoke to the public that counts.
…
Hollywood is the most powerful propaganda machine the world has ever known. Israel could and should tap into that pool of talent.
OK , agreed.
There is a Chassidic saying:
Devorim haYotzim min haLev, Nichnosim”
(Words which come from the Heart, enter [ into the Hearts of those who hear them] )
Maybe a Hollywood actress who beieves in Israel, (i.e. a young, or not so young, female equivalent of Jon Voight
) could be found to be such a spokesperson,
or will it be the end of their career in Liberal Hollywood if they do such a thing?
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What about the Mitnagdim? The Hassidim’s words, no matter how heartfelt, didn’t seem to reach their hearts.
It’s not enough to believe in what you say, or for that matter to actually be correct. It isn’t even enough to be able to make a reasoned argument for your position; you have to be able to make the other person want to hear it, and want to accept it. That’s why a classical education included rhetoric as well as logic.
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There’s an interesting Midrash about Truth and Falsehood.
(I don’t remember the source, if anyone knows it, please post, Thanks!)
At the time of the Flood, all beings went into the Ark in pairs. Falsehood had no pair to accompany him, and cried despondently, so Truth volunteered.
Falsehood bitterly complained to Truth, that all within the Ark would recognize him and hate him, and so, begged him to lend him his cloak, the Cloak of Truth, only for the voyage in the Ark.
Falsehood claimed that all would recognize Truth anyway, so Truth didn’t need the Cloak, but it would prevent Falsehood from terrible embarrassment.
Truth relented and gave Falsehood the Cloak, but after they left the Ark, Falsehood never gave it back, and till today, masquerades around disguised within the Cloak of Truth …
(Somewhat of a familiar ring about the nowaday misfortunes resulting from acting out of misplaced pity … )
Something seems inherently wrong with resorting to rhetoric that one knows to be false, only to convince another in an argument,
but your point is well taken, that rhetoric that is ‘true’ will effectively improve the effect of facts that are true, and spoken by one who deeply believes it.
(Thrice-armed is he who hath his quarrel Just.
– Shakespeare )
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Dear Robert,
I couldn’t agree with you more. I sent your post to Danny Ayalon at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs at: http://www.dannyayalon.com/Contact%20Me/
However, we all know that when a person who is an outsider in an area of expertise, makes suggestions to a Jew who is an expert in their area of expertise, the suggestion is not always viewed favorably…
One can only hope.
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Moishe:
Oh great, I get hate mail from lefties and Muslims, now I make an enemy of Danny Ayalon, a man I hugely respect—as a politician:-)
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*snicker* I think Robert is just looking for a reason to include pictures of pretty girls on his posts now. I would agree that Danny Ayalon has a boring voice, but I think his biggest fault is being an Israeli — honestly, who in the main stream media could take him seriously since he’s both a Jew and an Israeli?? Never mind about the facts…
Perhaps another well known actress should have been called in to do the dialog — you know, Brigitte Bardot!
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Prophet Joe:
BB, even years ago, when she was in her prime, would not do such a great job. have you ever heard her speak English? Total disaster.
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Look, Robert, I can only give you so many opportunities to add a picture of BB to a post. You shouldn’t waste it!
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Prophet Joe:
Alas, you are right. I’m tragically falling off in my BB photos and with it, my stat counter falls:-)
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Most people couldn’t even tell you where the West Bank is. I’m still thinking about what David said about group psychology.
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Bill:
As David Mamet would say: the West Bank is not a real place with a fixed geography but a state of mind, a stage on which a drama is being enacted.
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