Culture

Israel is ridiculous, antiquated and based on lies about other people’s land, Seth Rogen says, but he’s afraid to tell other Jews

Writer/comedian Seth Rogen was on the Marc Maron podcast yesterday, promoting his new movie “An American Pickle,” which involves Jewish life in the U.S. Maron raised the idea of Jews moving to many places in the world after the Holocaust, and not to Israel.

Rogen agreed (26 minutes in):

I think that’s a better strategy… You don’t keep all your Jews in one basket. I don’t understand why they did that. It makes no sense whatsoever…. It would be nice to live somewhere that was a not part of the Christian apocalyptic prophesy… Maybe settle somewhere that the Christians don’t think you all have to die in order for the apocalypse to happen…. There’s some common vested interest in the meantime… Our ridiculous visions are temporarily parallel and allied with one another.

Maron asked, Do you want to live in Israel? Rogen exclaimed:

No!

Maron: “I’m the same way and we’re going to piss off a bunch of Jews… For some reason my mother, who’s not religious, her generation, they’re kind of hung up on Israel and they find some comfort in it. I’ve been there– I couldn’t imagine living here.”

Rogen:

No. There are nice parts… At best you are convincing yourself that you are far enough away from a major conflict to not worry about it, which is a terrible thing to convince yourself of.

I don’t understand. To me it just seems very, like an antiquated thought process. Like, if it is for religious reasons, I don’t agree with it because I think religion is silly. If it is truly for the preservation of Jewish people, it makes no sense, because again, you don’t keep something you’re trying to preserve all in one place especially when that place has proven to be… pretty volatile. You know, “I’m trying to keep all these things safe, I’m going to put them in my blender and hope that that’s the best place! That will do it!”

It doesn’t make sense to me.

And I also think that as a Jewish person, like I was fed a huge amount of lies about Israel my entire life. You know, they never tell you, that oh by the way, there were people there. They make it seem like it was– just sitting there. Oh the fucking door’s open!

Maron: Ours for the taking.

Rogen:

Yeah. Literally they forget to include the fact to every young Jewish person: Basically, oh by the way, there were people living there.

Maron. “They want to make you feel frightened enough about your own survival that when you are old enough, you will make sure money goes to Israel, that trees are plantes, that you always speak highly of Israel. And Israel must survive no matter what.”

Rogen:

I don’t understand it at all. I think for Jewish people especially who view themselves as progressive and who view themselves as analytical and who view themselves as people who ask a lot of questions and really challenge the status quo — Like, What are we doing?

Maron. I get frightened to talk about it. And, we’re afraid of Jews.

Rogen:

I know… I’m afraid of Jews. I’m 100 percent afraid of Jews, that’s it!… Aside from James Caan we have no one to be afraid of!

It’s scary. But we’re Jews– we can say whatever we want. If anyone could say whatever the fuck they want about this shit, it should be two famous Jewish people. If anyone’s getting rounded up first, it’s our fucking asses. We are outwardly Jewish– and so I think…

Rogen says his parents met in Israel on a kibbutz, btw.

Oh and look, in 2014 Rogen signed a statement standing by Israel as it massacred hundreds in Gaza.

Thanks to Daniel Bessner of Quincy Institute and Jacobin. And Adam Horowitz.

Correction: My headline originally said that Rogen said that Israel was based on ethnic cleansing, but I changed it to lies about other people’s land because people on twitter said it was misleading. – Phil

78 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

“Maron asked, Do you want to live in Israel? Rogen exclaimed: No!”

So about this whole issue of how desirable people think it is to live in Israel, there’s the whole demographic debate. I’m not sure how much stock I put in demographic projections, but one apparently respected researcher thinks Israel has a problem:

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200728-israel-faces-double-whammy-in-goal-to-preserve-ethnic-majority-in-palestine/

Israel is expected to face a massive post-pandemic wave of emigration and a significant drop in the rate of immigration, the country’s leading demographer warned in an interview with Haaretz…

Professor Sergio DellaPergola warned that high unemployment rate, coupled with political discontent, could drive young Israelis away. This prediction, argued the Italian born professor who emigrated to Israel in 1966, challenged the government’s rosy coronavirus Aliyah (immigration of diaspora Jews) forecasts…“I pray that I’m wrong, but I’ve been doing population projections for 40 years – and, unfortunately, I’m usually right,” said DellaPergola, who worked at the Hebrew University and according to Haaretz is widely regarded as the dean of Jewish demographers.

..

Priceless, precious truth(s)!

So many thanks for sharing this right here on MW.

WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1143 – Seth Rogen
1 day ago · 1 hr 11 min

Trigger warning if you are an anti-Semite: First of all, why are you listening to this show? Get lost! Secondly, you are REALLY not going to like this episode. Seth Rogen returns to WTF for the first time in six years and has, by far, the Jewiest talk with Marc that two Jews ever had on this show. And that’s saying something. The subject matter of Seth’s new movie, An American Pickle, might have something to do with it, but they really get into their shared childhood experiences, their attitudes about Judaism that have changed over the years, and a consensus pick for who is the world’s toughest Jew. 

■ LINK – https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cub21ueWNvbnRlbnQuY29tL2QvcGxheWxpc3QvYWFlYTRlNjktYWY1MS00OTVlLWFmYzktYTk3NjAxNDY5MjJiLzhhNzU1YjIyLThmNzItNGQ0NC04ZmY5LWFiNzkwMTNmZGEyNS82YjhhNTA2OC05YmVhLTQzOWYtYmQ0ZC1hYjc5MDEzZmRhMmIvcG9kY2FzdC5yc3M/episode/YzI2MzRhZDMtMGFmNC00ZDg5LWI4ZGQtYWMwNTAwMjFkYjZk?hl=en&ved=2ahUKEwjF-JqM_PDqAhWKmOAKHX7MAuEQieUEegQIAhAE&ep=6

The story goes on in The Guardian today:

“Seth Rogen: ‘I was fed a huge amount of lies about Israel’Actor says when he was younger he wasn’t told Palestinians lived on land that became the Jewish state…

Lahav Harkov, a senior contributing editor to the Jerusalem Post newspaper, criticised Rogen’s comments on Twitter, saying they were “made from a position of really, really great privilege – and ignorance – if he can’t understand why Israel makes sense to millions of Jews around the world”.

Among Zionists, there is anxiety that North American Jews, who could possibly outnumber Israeli Jews, are becoming less supportive of the Jewish state, even as surveys often show the opposite.

The debate has frequently reignited after high-profile figures, often Jewish, express views that are highly critical of Israel.

Most recently, Peter Beinart, a prominent Jewish American political commentator, was both derided and lauded for commentaries in which he questioned whether he could remain both a liberal and also support the Jewish state while millions of Palestinians continued to be denied basic rights.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/29/seth-rogen-israel-palestinians-jewish-actor

Part 3 of statement from Suhail Koury:
So how can they silence us? They have chosen to attempt to smear our reputation by falsifying evidence of money laundering, an outrageous and baseless accusation. To get an Israeli Judge to grant the police a warrant, they must make it seem dangerous; thus, the money laundering had to be for supporting terrorism. That is why the attack was accompanied by an extremist Israeli media campaign to try to discredit the work of hundreds of artists and the music learning of thousands of children.

Although our organizations love their country and have respect for their political parties and their struggle for independence, I can assure you that none of the ten members of the Shafaq network of Art centers in Jerusalem have any affiliation with any political party. The Israeli fanatic media fabricated these links. The amateurish level of this Israeli news invention even failed to distinguish between Suhail Khoury, the Palestinian politician affiliated with the PFLP residing somewhere in the Diaspora, and Suhail Khoury the composer and choral conductor from Jerusalem writing this letter to you.

Nevertheless, the aim of this smearing attempt is severe and might lead to shutting us down. That is why we urge all our friends to move promptly and swiftly to safeguard the National Conservatory of Music and our cultural institutions in Jerusalem. Please organize music concerts to raise awareness. You can also lobby your politicians to pressure Israel to take its hands off our music school and Yabous Cultural Center. Sending condemning letters to Israeli diplomats in your respective countries might also help. Your support at this time is crucial so that we can continue teaching the love of Beethoven and the love of our Arabic music. Demand the Israeli authorities lift their foot off our necks so that we can sing in freedom.

Yours truly
 
Suhail Khoury
General Director National Conservatory of Music