But to The New Yorker reviewer Hendrik Hertzberg, World War Z is equating zombies - and Palestinian Arabs. Even though the basic plot of the Jerusalem part of the movie shows the exact opposite.
What do the Israelis do? They build a wall. But they’re basically humane, civilized people, so in Jerusalem, where we join them, they keep a gate open to let in the as-yet-uninfected un-undead—Palestinian Arabs, by the look of them. All goes well until some Palestinians already in the city start singing too lustily, and the massed zombies, also seemingly Palestinian, decide that they want in, too. (Zombies are attracted by loud noises.) This leads to the most remarked-upon scene in the film, which takes place at what resembles the Western Wall. The scrambling West Bank zombies just keep coming, climbing on top of one another until they form a giant ex-human pyramid, a siege engine of the undead, stacking up and spilling over the barrier. We are left to infer that everything probably would have still been O.K. if only the gates had been kept shut.In the movie, the Israelis distinguish between Palestinian Arabs and zombies. In real life, the Israelis distinguish between Palestinian Arabs and terrorists.
(I also understand that the singing in the movie that attracts the zombies is by both Jews and Arabs, although I haven't seen it. But when your ideological blinders are as rigid as Hendrik Hertzberg's, you cannot be bothered to notice such things.)
This liberal reviewer cannot tell the difference between Palestinians, zombies and terrorists! In his zeal to demonize Israel, he does the exact same thing he is unjustly accusing Israel of! (His line about keeping the gates shut seems to mean the movie is saying that Israel should not allow Arabs into Israel altogether, the exact opposite of the message that Israel distinguishes between good guys and bad guys, a skill that Hertzberg apparently cannot even fathom.)
Of course, he also has a hard time distinguishing between a defensive anti-zombie wall and one of the holiest sites in Judaism, so his ability to make fine distinctions seems to be defective altogether. Perhaps he thinks, like UNESCO, that the Kotel is a separation barrier meant to keep the Jewish quarter and other Jerusalem quarters separate.
Here's some help for you, Hendrick:
One more time:
Anti-zombie wall:
Holy site:
Still can't figure it out, Hendrick? Well, given how incredibly stupid your article is, I'm not too surprised.
(h/t Gidon Shaviv)