Talk to the Hand, Mr. Gere

People have a bad habit of bandying about the term “occupation” in reference to the Arab population of Israel. They say it to mean the “Jewish occupation of Arab land,” which is the most nonsensical idea ever, considering the holy books of the world’s three major religions all refer to the Jews as the Children of Israel. Which means that if anyone is occupying someone’s land, it’s the Arabs occupying Jewish land. According to their own holy book, the Quran.

Nonetheless, people who really should know better, just buy the narrative, hook, line, and sinker, and make this claim, saying it with lots of passion in an assured sort of way, as if that makes it true, which it doesn’t. And who better to iterate a narrative with passion and assurance than an actor!

It’s brilliant. You don’t even have to know what you’re talking about. You only have to sound as though you do and if you’re a big enough actor, one who’s won lots of awards, for instance Richard Gere, well, then people will listen and believe and repeat it as the truth.

Even though it’s utter bull crap from start to finish.

And that’s exactly what happened Monday night.

Richard Gere spoke to Yediot Ahronot and went full out Arab narrative on us. That’s after a bunch of visits to Israel in the past, during which Gere remained neutral, preferring not to favor one side over the other. Well kids, Gere’s neutral period is over. He’s gone completely over to the other side, blasting Israel loud and clear.

Blasting Israel! Though it is Israel who has bent over backwards to be fair to this alien people who do nothing toward peace. Nothing. Quite the opposite. They murder Jews whenever and wherever they can, while the world, including Richard Gere, closes its eyes, and in many cases, has the audacity to underwrite the terror!

So just what exactly did Richard Gere say? He warned Israel that it is becoming an “Apartheid state.”


Tell me, Mr. Gere, have you ridden an Israeli bus of late? Oh no. You probably have a chauffeur-driven limo for the duration of your trip. So you wouldn’t have actually seen any evidence of what you claim.

And you haven’t spent time in any Israeli hospitals, so you wouldn’t see Arabs treated alongside Jews in the same rooms, or Arab doctors operating on Jewish patients. Being an actor, you haven’t pled a case to Israel’s High Court of Justice, so you wouldn’t have seen an Arab judge sitting in judgment of Israelis, alongside Jewish judges. And you wouldn’t have visited the Knesset during your short stay and seen Arab MK’s voting on and creating legislation for the State of Israel.

Tell me, Mr. Gere, what part of any of this qualifies as Apartheid?

Israel's Supreme Court justice Salim Joubran

No matter. You only have to say it with a lot of passion and assurance, and people will believe you. And Arabs will feel empowered to perpetrate even more terror attacks, to dig in their heels further and refuse to negotiate, refuse to recognize the Jewish State of Israel. Bully for you, Mr. Gere. Bravo.

But you didn’t stop there, did you Mr. Gere? No. You demanded that Israel put an end to the “occupation” and allow a “Palestinian” state to claim Jerusalem as its capital.

This, from a guy whose parents were both Mayflower descendants! Mr. Gere, your parents were no doubt Protestant which means you are a Christian by birth, whether by observance or not. Presumably you have read the bible. If so, you know that Jews are the Chosen people and the Children of Israel. 

You know that the Jewish Temple stood in Jerusalem. You KNOW whose land this is.

Remnants of the 1st century Stairs of Ascent, discovered by archaeologist Benjamin Mazar, to the entrance of the Temple Courtyard. Pilgrims coming to make sacrifices at the Temple would have entered and exited by this stairway.

Read a history book or two? You know that the Jews lived in Israel before Mohammed was a gleam in his mama’s eye.

So how dare you suggest that Jews are occupying Arab land when you know that the opposite is true? You know darn well that Israel and Jerusalem are indigenous Jewish territory, that the Arabs are the encroachers, the ones who have no right to be anywhere on Jewish soil.

But then again, YOUR ancestors stole Native American land, so why would you ever be an honest broker?

Treaty of Penn with Indians by Benjamin West

It’s all just a performance—a way to prove your leftist liberal creds to your fellow actors. Or maybe you’ve just decided you really hate the Jews. Because your position makes absolutely no logical sense. "On my past visits to Israel, I always listened to all the viewpoints,” said Gere. “Now that's become almost impossible. I know that a lot of people won't like what I have to say, but these are things that must be said.”

Why must they be said, Mr. Gere, when these things are not true? Israel is not an Apartheid state and not becoming one any time soon. Israel is a democracy where minorities have their fullest rights, the right to religion, the right to vote, the right to shop alongside Israelis in Jerusalem malls. Why have you stopped listening to Israelis, to common sense? I’ll tell you why: because you don’t choose to do so. Your hate has taken over, or your desire to be more than just an actor, so you’ll use anything, even the dishonest Arab narrative, to get there. 

Why must Jerusalem be the capital of two states, when there are 22 Arab states in the region and only one small sliver of land left for the Jews? Why must the Jews give more and more and more and the Arabs not a thing, not even recognition of the Jewish State? Do you hate us that much, Mr. Gere? We were expelled from our homeland, forced to wander, persecuted for centuries, systematically gassed and murdered by the millions, and now you want us to give up bits and pieces of our land to an enemy that has plagued us since the Muslim Conquest??

Why? You know this is our land. EVERYONE AND HIS DOG KNOWS THIS IS OUR LAND.

We settled the 800,000 Jews the Arabs expelled from their lands. Why cannot the Arabs settle their brethren inside their 22 states, many of them oil-rich?? All. That. Land.

We gave up some 77%of the Mandate for Palestine to be their state, Jordan, the population of which is at least 80% “Palestinian.”

We expelled 11,000 Jews from Gaza and Northern Samaria and gave Gaza to the Arabs, asking nothing in return except for peace. How much more of our teensy sliver must we give them??

You want us to give them Jerusalem? Why would we give our precious holy city to this evil, violent people? How could you demand it of us? You, Mr. Gere. The world? After all we have been through in our centuries of hell.

Let us breathe free in our land, Mr. Gere. This cannot be our burden. And yet, you were only getting started when you spoke about us cutting Jerusalem in two, like Solomon threatening to slice a baby in two. "Why do you need all of these provocations,” asked Gere, referring to the building of Jewish homes in Jerusalem and in Judea, and Samaria. “How is it that the settlers are running the Israeli government? And how is it that the State of Israel, of all countries, is ruling over another people? Many Israelis that I know say that the state has lost its way, and I think that every Israeli knows that."

Since when is building a home a provocation? Trust me when I say that no person who builds a home thinks, “What a fine provocation this will be!”

Did your ancestors think they were creating provocations when they seized Native Indian land and built homes thereon?

Did you study the housing situation in Israel? Are you aware there is a housing crisis?

And what is so terrible about Jews building homes, Mr. Gere? Unless you think that Jews don’t deserve homes. Do you hate us that much? Did the homes of the 11,000 Jews of Gaza and Northern Samaria serve as impediments to peace? Or was that the Hamas government, shooting tens of thousands of missiles into civilian Israel from the land we gave them as a unilateral gesture of peace. The land we stole from our own people?

A w:Qassam rocket displayed in w:Sderot town hall against a background of pictures of residents killed in rocket attacks

Gere asks, “How is it that Israeli settlers are running the Israeli government?”

Gere hasn’t a clue that the Israeli government is run by many different factions. He hasn’t a clue that Arabs and Israeli liberals are also part of the Israeli government. Quite different than the government your ancestors formed, Mr. Gere. How many Native Americans ran the government in the land your ancestors stole, Mr. Gere? How is it that your ancestors ruled over another people?

Put your own house in order, Mr. Gere. Give your land back to its rightful owners. Stop treating them like dirt while calling us to task.

How is it you come to the conclusion that “every Israeli” knows that Israel has lost its way? You don’t even know who you are and what your bible says. Have you even looked at polls of Israelis to see how they feel?

No. You haven’t. Because if you did, you’d know that the vast majority of Israelis have learned the hard way that the two-state solution cannot possibly work. The vast majority of Israelis have learned the hard way that land for peace is a dumb Western invention that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever

The more we give them, the more liberties they take. The more they MURDER us and our children.

You have no clue what Israelis think, Mr. Gere. Because you’re not smart enough to have read the bible. You’re not smart enough to listen to the other side, or read a history book, or look at poll results. You’re not smart enough to realize that your own rhetoric, the narrative you’ve adopted makes no sense. Houses as provocations indeed, Mr. Gere.

You’re here, saying these things, because you played a Jewish shyster in your latest film. You think that gives you the right to say these things. But let me tell you this: playing a Jew in a movie gives you no rights. Makes you no smarter about the 49^th article of the 4^th Geneva Convention, or about the Jews.

Occupation my foot. You’re not fit to play a Jew. You’re not fit to lick my boots.

I will not watch any more of your movies. I won’t give you any more royalties. You’re a bad person to use your talent to hurt Israeli Jews and I don’t want to support you or your work in any way, shape, or form.

No matter how passionate and self-assured you sound in your stupid sound bites.

Talk to the hand, Mr. Gere. Cuz this Jewish face ain’t listening.

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