Tony Kushner on Democracy Now this morning. Two good quotes, the first about Israel’s crisis:
I think that a policy in the Middle East in this country, based on right-wing fantasies and theocratic fantasies and scripture-based fantasies of what history and on-the-ground reality is telling us, is catastrophic and is going to lead to the destruction of the state of Israel. These people are not defending it. They’re not supporting it. They’re in fact, I think, causing a distortion of U.S. policy regarding Israel and a distortion of the internal politics of Israel itself, because they exert a tremendous influence in Israel and support right-wing politicians who I think have led the country into a very dark and dangerous place. And, you know, I think, at the moment, Israel has many, many more serious problems than me. And I think that if people like Jeffrey Wiesenfeld were really concerned about the continued existence of Israel, they should take a look at what has happened in the past, going all the way back to ’47 and ’48, and what actually happened when the state of Israel was founded, and to try and understand the reality that the country faces now and to, you know, understand the realities that the Palestinian people face, because it’s impossible to shape a legitimate and successful path towards peace based on rhetoric and demagoguery and fantasy…
And, you know, unfortunately, I’m sure that there’s a part of the Jewish American community, and even the Jewish community worldwide, that is willing to listen to the things that somebody like Jeffrey Wiesenfeld says and not ask many questions. And this does damage to my reputation in the Jewish community, which is a reputation that is immensely important to me. So, I feel that an expression of regret would be appropriate.
