Hollywood star Natalie Portman 'traitor' after refusing prize
tel aviv - The party is over in Israel. The day after the celebration of 70 years of independence, the Gaza Strip is once again the scene of bloody riots and the Israelis get a painful stab in the back of one of their most beloved compatriots: the Israeli-American actress Natalie Portman refuses to travel to Israel for the ' Jewish Nobel Prize 'to receive.
According to a representative of the Hollywood star, she feels 'uncomfortable' because of recent events. This probably refers to the actions of the Israeli army at the border with Gaza. Soldiers shot dozens of Palestinians there in recent weeks. Yesterday, two Palestinians were killed in the weekly protests.
The refusal of Portman feels like a direct betrayal for most Israelis. Culture minister Miri Regev accuses her of 'falling into the hands of BDS', the international movement that tries to isolate the Jewish state.
Israel is a small and not widely loved country, and so overjoyed with compatriots who are popular internationally, such as 'Wonder Woman' Gal Gadot and supermodel Bar Refaeli. Portman was born in Jerusalem as Neta-Lee Hershlag, moved to America at a young age, but still has Israeli citizenship.
According to Likud parliamentarian Oren Hazan, this must now be taken away from her. Other politicians see Portman's step as a sign of the growing gap between American and Israeli Jews. The mostly liberal Jews in the US have little to do with the right-wing government and the dominant orthodox Judaism in Israel.
So far, Portman proudly commented on her roots, directed and acted in a film based on a book by Amos Oz, but publicly condemned the re-election of Prime Minister Netanyahu three years ago. At the end of last year it was announced that she had won the Genesis Prize for her career and the propagation of 'Jewish values'. Previous winners included former mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York and actor Michael Douglas.
The prize is 2 million dollars this year and the winner can spend the money on a charity chosen by him or her. It is unclear whether the actress from Black Swan, who is now the black sheep in Israel, still gets the money.
Israel is fighting against the international boycott movement, which recently also tried to convince Netflix to remove the popular Israeli series Fauda. He would 'glorify war crimes against Palestinians'. The Dutch opera king André Rieu was also pressured to cancel his concerts in Tel Aviv.
Israel has put many BDS supporters on a black list. For example, the mayor of a suburb of Paris was denied access to the country this month, while the mayor of Dublin only managed to enter Israel, because his name on the black list was spelled wrong.
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1 Comment
Natalie is a traitor, no doubt about it. She shold be stripped of her Israeli status.