The ignorant attack on Natalie Portman
Ever since Donald Trump became President, Israeli critics of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have pointed to unflattering similarities between the two men. Both are right-wing populists who bully the media, are dogged by corruption scandals and cast themselves as victims of an elite establishment. Both have used fear and hatred to sow divisions in their societies and win elections. But Netanyahu is no Trump. For starters, he’s experienced, competent and professional. Bibi, as Israelis call him, has spent his life in public service, from his stint in an elite Israel Defense Forces unit to his first real job in politics, as deputy chief of mission at Israel’s Embassy in Washington in the 1980s.
Bibi won his first election as prime minister in 1996, and three more since. If he manages to serve out the rest of this term, he will become Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, eclipsing the tenure of founding father David BenGurion.
Under Bibi’s stewardship, Israel’s economy has thrived and its security has held fast, despite evolving threats from Hamas-led Gaza, the chaos in Syria and the ascendance of Iran across the region.
At the same time, there is growing unease in Israel about Netanyahu’s leadership and the legacy it’s leaving.
In his last election, in 2015, Netanyahu’s campaign ads depicted Israel’s left wing as enemies of the state, and he promotes policies that reflect that dangerous view. Netanyahu champions laws sanctioning human-rights organizations critical of Israeli policy, sparking concern that he’s undermining Israel’s democracy by seeking to outlaw dissent.
His attacks on Israel’s courts, including support for a law that would give the Knesset supremacy over Israel’s High Court, risk making Israel a place where there are no fundamental laws or inalienable rights, just majority rule.
Then there are the scandals. Corruption: Police have recommended that Netanyahu be indicted for fraud and bribery. Unseemly behavior by family members: His wife was fined for verbally and emotionally abusing the domestic help, and his son allegedly flipped someone the bird for insisting he clean up his dog’s poop.
Last week, Netanyahu was accused of politicizing Israeli Independence Day by insisting on a speaking slot during the annual national torch-lighting ceremony traditionally reserved for celebrating the accomplishments of ordinary Israelis.
When, after much negotiation and bullying by his culture minister, Miri Regev, Netanyahu got a slot, he proceeded to ignore protocol and a commitment to keep his remarks brief by delivering a speech widely panned as self-aggrandizing and political.
When actress Natalie Portman announced a few days ago that she couldn’t in good conscience go to “any public events in Israel” to receive a $1 million prize meant to celebrate the accomplishments of famous Jews, Portman was quickly denounced by more than a few Israelis and American Jews as a shill for the BDS movement — which aims to use boycotts, divestment and sanctions as cudgels against Israel.
“I was sad to hear that Portman fell like a ripe fruit into the hands of BDS supporters,” Regev said.
Portman’s views on Israel are “absurd, uninformed, inaccurate, dangerous,” said the president of the Zionist Organization of America, Morton Klein.
However, the notion that Portman, an Israeli-born actress who speaks fluent Hebrew and has a deep, abiding and personal relationship with Israel, is uninformed was itself absurd. Indeed, within hours, Portman clarified that her main reason for declining to participate in the Genesis Prize awards ceremony was because of Netanyahu.
“I chose not to attend because I did not want to appear as endorsing Benjamin Netanyahu, who was to be giving a speech at the ceremony,” Portman said in a statement posted on Instagram. “By the same token, I am not part of the BDS movement and do not endorse it.”
Put simply, Portman didn’t want Netanyahu to do the same thing to the Genesis Prize ceremony that he did to the Independence Day ceremony. Her announcement was a sign of her devotion to Israel, not her hostility to it.
Portman, who has more than just a passing relationship to Israel, cares deeply about Israel’s future. Her refusal to countenance what Netanyahu is doing to Israeli politics and society deserves praise from those who care about Israel, not condemnation.