The Cultural Consensus about Israel inside the Hollywood Establishment
Philip Weiss on a group email that was uncovered by the Sony hack. The
The heart of the exchange is [Ryan] Kavanaugh’s [despite his name, Kavanaugh is ethnically Jewish] concern that rage toward Israel over Gaza will result in another Holocaust. … The elite email group includes Sony’s CEO Michael Lynton, Hollywood producers, Republican Israel supporter Frank Luntz, and Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. …
I don’t think this kind of group email is meaningless or hilarious. Frank Luntz is a rightwing Zionist pollster who has promoted PM Netanyahu over President Obama. Marvin Hier is a rightwinger too. Simmons is an outspoken Democrat, but he is obviously concerned about saying the right thing re Israel to a group that includes powerful folks. Yes: also some concern for “innocent Palestinians,” as opposed to Hamas. Despite [Natalie] Portman’s demurral, the email chain here surely represents a cultural consensus about Israel inside the establishment. The fact that Rick Stengel of the State Department also reached out at that time to Lynton– both men are of Jewish descent (and Stengel is an old friend of mine, and a good guy)– is no conspiracy but a reflection of The Powers That Be in this day and age.
The same cultural consensus and flexing of muscle was evident when Haim Saban and Sheldon Adelson got together and mused about bombing Iran and buying the New York Times to guarantee its support for Israel. Haaretz at that time said archly, “It was like a scene out of ‘The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.’ Two immensely wealthy Jews, key financiers of the main political parties of the world’s superpower, discussing how to wage war on the enemies of the Jews, and control the media and presidents.”
It’s easy for an Israeli outlet to make that kind of comment; it has the excuse that it is talking amongst Jews in a confidential manner and not to a general public who might conceive a prejudice against Jews. But this is the embarrassment of the Sony email chain: it is a reflection of Jewish power inside the establishment in support of Israel. As I’ve said often here, I don’t have a problem with the power part; the elite is bound to have one sort of flavor or another, this is the latest flavor and it’s passing. It’s the support for Jewish nationalism in the Middle East that’s an issue.
Well, I rather doubt that Jewish power or the allegiance of Jewish elites to Israel is passing. There is zero evidence of that. After all, this is an elite that is intent on not being even identified as an elite. The example of Saban and Adelson alluded to by Weiss is a nice illustration. “Two immensely wealthy Jews, key financiers of the main political parties of the world’s superpower, discussing how to wage war on the enemies of the Jews, and control the media and presidents.” The story is unreported in the mainstream U.S. media, and the same goes for any mention of the consensus on Jewish issues in Hollywood (progressive except for Palestine). In both cases, just another part of the “White” power structure.
