Irrefutable

Simply from reading the title of this week’s column, I am sure many of you let out small sighs of disapproval– not with me, dear reader, no, the disapproval I am referring to comes in heavy waves after the 2024 Oscars’ ceremony and Jonathan Glazer’s speech.

The first Oscars; ceremony was held in Los Angeles, in May 1929. The origins of Hollywood, and this is not an opinion, but a fact, are incredibly Jewish in nature. And I love watching Old Hollywood films as much as the next girl, but I enjoy them thoroughly more since I have found out that big dogs such as Warner Bros, Paramount Pictures, Fox and Metro-Goldwyn Mayer all have Jewish founders. Unfortunately, this means that Hollywood is a hotbed of antisemitic tropes and people use it as ‘evidence’ that Jews control the world. A deep-dive, however, reveals that the reason Hollywood was so Jewish was because with the rising antisemitism in America, it was one of the only industries that Jews were accepted in. And that is something we do well: adapt. We assimilate and contort and try so desperately to become ‘helpful’, because that is the only pathway for our collective survival.

On the red carpet, we saw celebrities such as Billie Eilish and Mark Ruffalo –amongst others– adorn a decoration on their lapels. The enamel pin is small and circular, given to them from the organization Artists for Ceasefire. A quick trip to their website and I was surprised to see that they officially state that their goal is in support of an immediate and permanent ceasefire, along with the return of all of the hostages. However, the pin itself has very troublesome origins. The pin is red and inside it is a red hand with a small black heart in the palm.

For those unaware, the red hand symbol used in Pro-Hamas rallies stems from the 2000 Ramallah Lynching, wherein two Israelis accidentally drove into the Palestinian city of Ramallah, and were subsequently arrested. When locals heard what happened, a mob stormed the police station, and lynched the two men, throwing their bodies out of the window, holding their hearts in their hands. The famous image to come from these tragic murders is a young Palestinian man who, after having killed (or had some part in the killing) the men, held both blood-covered palms out to the crowd below who cheered ecstatically. It has become a symbol for the murder of Jews, and while the website of Artists for Ceasefire does not explicitly say that this is where the red hand on their pin comes from, it truly cannot be anything else.

Each year, The Academy awards actors, films, directors who they believe to have made the ‘best of’ something. This year, ‘Best International Feature Film’ was awarded to Zone of Interest, which examines the horrors of Auschwitz during the Holocaust. During director Jonathan Glazer’s acceptance speech, he controversially said “we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people.”

And to this, dear reader? He was met with thunderous applause. I cannot imagine if anyone else were to refute any aspect of a minority identity so loudly and publicly that they would be met with applause. They would be outcast, and rightfully so. So why is it that Jewishness is different? (British Jewish author and comedian David Baddiel actually wrote an entire book called ‘Jews Don’t Count’ if you are interested in a more in-depth evaluation of this idea.) Whoever gave this man permission to determine what is and what isn’t “hijacking the Holocaust”? Even the notion itself of such a thing is nauseating. While he goes on to mention “victims of October 7 in Israel” and victims of “the ongoing attack on Gaza”, he makes no attempt to mention Hamas. 

The idea of ‘refuting Jewishness’ to me is so foreign. I was never given that option. I wouldn’t take it if I was. My ancestors who fled pogroms in Europe were not given that option. My family who had to change their names and ‘westernize’ themselves to survive were not given that option. The tribes of Israel we descend from, were not given that option.

I, dear reader, refute this narrative. I refute the world I am growing up in, because I don’t want my grandchildren to see a movie made about antisemitism in the 2020s and watch the cycle repeat itself. Thousands of years of pain and love and sadness and joy come from being Jewish. You cannot stand on a stage and decide to separate yourself from this. Especially not when you are holding an award created from the result of Jewish frustration and hard work.

Mr. Glazer, you cannot ‘refute’ us. We are not giving you that option.