Seth Rogen stirs hornet’s nest after saying Israel ‘makes no sense’

[yankeedoodle]

'They never tell you there WERE people there': Seth Rogen stirs hornet's nest after saying Israel 'makes no sense'
https://www.rt.com/usa/496485-seth-rogen-israel-lies/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

Jewish actor Seth Rogen has courted controversy after saying that Israel's existence "doesn't make sense," and that young Jews are misled to believe the state was created peacefully, without displacing thousands of Palestinians.

"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," Rogen told comedian Mark Maron on his 'WTF' podcast on Monday.

Rogen – who has been promoting his upcoming movie, 'An American Pickle,' a comedy-drama which tells the story of a Jewish immigrant who comes to the US in 1920 – told Maron that the idea of the Israeli state had been spoon-fed to him and many fellow Jews since childhood.

"And I also think that as a Jewish person... I was fed a huge amount of lies about Israel my entire life," he said. "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 f**king door's open!   

Rogen then said that he is prepared to be torched by Zionists for his remarks, which are very much at odds with the prevailing narrative promoted by the Israeli government.

While half-jokingly observing that it was "scary" to challenge the status quo and that he was "100 percent afraid of Jews," the comedian said that he would not backpedal.

It's scary. But we're Jews – we can say whatever we want. If anyone can say whatever they f**king want about this shit, it should be two famous Jewish people 

Rogen's progressive views have drawn mixed reactions on Twitter. Some have hailed the actor for refusing to toe the mainstream line while being part and parcel of mainstream culture himself.

"Genuinely incredible to see prominent mainstream Jews speaking out like this, this rules," Slate senior writer Ashley Feinberg wrote.

Writer and podcaster Alyssa Klein also weighed in to say that, like Rogen and Maron, she had also been indoctrinated to believe in "a lot of lies about Israel" while in school, noting she didn't realize how the facts were "skewed" until she arrived at university.

"When I was growing up, they didn't tell us about the Palestinian people that were there. That was conveniently glossed over," she added.

I think @Sethrogen has stated something many Jews feel. More power to all those who speak up and out," another commenter said.

While some netizens have professed their new-found love for Rogen, supporters of the Israeli state were up in arms over his comments, denouncing them as "disappointing" and "ludicrous."

More than 700,000 Arabs were forced to flee or were expelled from their homes in the area that became Israel during and after the 1948 Palestine war – an event known as the 'Nakba,' or 'the catastrophe,' to Palestinians.

[yankeedoodle]

Israel is ridiculous, antiquated and based on lies about other people's land, Seth Rogen says, but he's afraid to tell other Jews
https://mondoweiss.net/2020/07/israel-is-ridiculous-antiquated-and-based-on-ethnic-cleansing-seth-rogen-says-but-hes-afraid-to-tell-other-jews/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-email-mailpoet

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:
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 whatever.... It would be nice to live somewhere that is not part of the Christian apocalyptic prophesy... Maybe live somewhere that the Christians don't think we all have to die.... 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 comfort in it. I couldn't imagine living here."

Rogen:
No. There are nice parts. [But] 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's 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. "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 yeah, 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, you always speak highly of it.. 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 who 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 can say whatever they fucking 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.