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Months after saying he won’t appear at Israeli foreign ministry events, Amos Oz will do just that in Paris

Amos Oz said less than a year ago that he wouldn’t participate in events sponsored by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and now this darling of the liberal Zionist community is backtracking.

November 2015, per the Forward:

Last November, Yediot Aharonot reported that Oz would no longer participate in official events sponsored by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Doesn’t this give succor to those who wish to boycott Israel? I asked him about it.

“I’m not part of any boycott against Israel,” he said. That “would be and is a crude mistake and a harmful step.” Rather, his disagreement is with the present government, one he calls “the most militant, right-wing government Israel ever had.”

Well that was then and this is now.

Posted by Israeli Apartheid:

Israeli authors celebration in Paris, sponsored by the Israeli consulate, featuring Amos Oz
Israeli authors celebration in Paris, sponsored by the Israeli consulate, featuring Amos Oz

Here’s the official announcement from the Societe des Gens de Lettres, again with the logo for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at lower left.

Societe des Gens de Lettres
Societe des Gens de Lettres Israel event

It’s not like the government has gotten any better, has it?

I wonder if this has anything to do with the movie that Natalie Portman has lately released of Oz’s book about his childhood, A Tale of Love and Darkness. Director Portman offered this political lesson from Oz on WNYC earlier this month that touches on Europe.

One of his real talents as a peace leader– because in addition to being a great novelist he is of course one of the founders of the Peace Now movement and a great great spokesman for the two state solution– and one of his assessments which I included in the film, which is from the book, is where he talks about how both the Jews and the Arabs are victims of Europe, and that they’re sort of children of the same abusive father. And that instead of seeing each other as siblings of the same abusive father, they look at each other as the new abusive father, the new colonialists or the new Nazis. And I think it’s really accurate to see the nations as individuals.

Thanks to Ofer Neiman.

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I wonder if this has anything to do with the movie that Natalie Portman has done of Oz’s book about his childhood, A Tale of Love and Darkness.

I assume you’re being sarcastic. In my mind, I have no doubt that it is absolutely marketing for the film. It’s obvious. Not that I’m a fan of the “Liberal Zionist” Oz otherwise, either…

I guess there is a pot of gold large enough to make any saint dance to the devil’s tune.

“Director Portman offered this political lesson ”

What a bunch of crap. I guess blaming Europe for the Israelis being barbarians is less bruising to the ego than the correct assessment that the Israelis are seen as “the new abusive father, the new colonialists or the new Nazis” because of how they act.

Eu-J/Z-P: [J] The child [J] of an abusive father [Eu] and the grandchild [P] of that abusive father [Eu] — child [P] of the intervening victim-abuser [J/Z].

All clear?

I think think the French are desperately looking for another “Elie Weisel’ figure with substantial literary credentials…