Gratuitous insult to Israel in @NYTimes story on Marvel changing Sabra's superhero origins

The New York Times reports:

When Marvel Studios announced two years ago that it had cast the Israeli actress Shira Haas to play Sabra, a superhero Mossad agent, in its next “Captain America” film, the news was cheered by Israelis and denounced by Palestinians.

The studio said at the time that the makers of the film, “Captain America: Brave New World,” would be “taking a new approach to the character,” but did not elaborate.

The contours of that reimagined character became clearer on Friday when Marvel released a trailer of the upcoming film. The accompanying announcement made no mention of Sabra as an agent of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, as she is depicted in comic books, but described her as “a high-ranking U.S. government official.” 

Remember how upset people get when actors are cast who don't fit the racial or genetic profile of their characters? This may be the first time that an actor was chosen to fit the role, and then they change the role so that the actor's national origin no longer matters.

Anyway, this part of the article is bizarre:

It was not clear whether Sabra — alter ego: Ruth Bat-Seraph — still has Israeli origins in the movie, as her superhero name suggests. “Sabra” is a Hebrew word for a local cactus bush that doubles as an affectionate term for native Israelis. It also the name of a refugee camp in Lebanon where Palestinians were massacred in 1982 by a Christian militia while Israeli troops stood by, though the superhero predated that event. 

"Sabra" is the name of a brand of condiments. It used to be the name of a Japanese men's magazine.  It is a name of a genus of moths. It is also the name of several towns as well as a church in Sweden.

Except for the hummus, none of them have any relationship with the word Sabra used in the comics. And neither does the refugee camp in Lebanon. 

The only reason that the Sabra refugee camp was mentioned is to gratuitously blame Israel for the massacre, which has nothing at all to do with the Sabra character. 

Many idiotic Israel haters claimed that the character was named after the massacre. The New York Times wanted to give the readers that same impression, before discounting it. 

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Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon! Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.  Read all about it here!

 

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Tell Marvel to stop promoting the antisemitic Arab terrorist Scarlet Scarab! (spoof)

An Arab pop-culture writer named Tariq Raouf wrote a ridiculous screed about why Marvel should not introduce the Israeli character Sabra into their cinematic universe, claiming that she insults Arabs with her name that makes them think of Sabra and Shatila, because she is a racist who hates Arabs because her daughter was killed in a terror attack, because the actress to play her is Israeli - the usual litany.

That same Raouf is however enamoured with another Marvel cinematic universe character who was introduced this year on Disney Plus: The Scarlet Scarab.

I will now write an article "proving" that The Scarlet Scarab is an antisemitic, terrorist bigot using the exact same methods and illogic that we have seen in dozens of anti-Sabra articles. This is a spoof, it is not what I believe.

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Marvel's introduction of The Scarlet Scarab in its Moon Knight series has proven that it supports a worldwide anti-Jewish, pro-Palestinian, pro-Nazi conspiracy.

Scarlet Scarab's origin story is told in Marvel Comics Invaders #23 and #25, from 1977. During World War II, an Egyptian archaeologist named Abdul Faoul manipulates the Invaders superheroes to help him recover an ancient artifact known as the Ruby Scarab, which turns him into the Scarlet Scarab with the usual array of superhero/supervillain capabilities like superhuman strength.

When Scarlet Scarab is introduced, he is allied with the Nazis, protecting Egypt from the British and fighting American and British superheroes.

Scarlet Scarab leads a gang of terrorists known as the Sons of the Scarab. He eventually turns against the Nazis  - but not because of their genocides or racism. He only opposes them when he realizes that they will not support an independent Egypt. His temporary alliance with the Invaders on the Allied side is one of convenience, not ideology. The genocide of millions of Jews doesn't bother him in the slightest.

Scarlet Scarab is clearly an antisemite, as most Egyptians were in the 1940s. His archaeologist persona reminds one of famed Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass who has said that "Jews control the entire world" and, as head of Egypt's antiquities ministry, said that he would not allow any Jews to pray in any restored Egyptian synagogues. 

Scarab is also described as an Egyptian nationalist, which reminds Israelis all too well of the genocidal intent of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the most famous of Egyptian nationalists, who swore to destroy Israel. 

The Sons of the Scarab, by definition, are symbolic "brothers." This appears to be a deliberate echo of the Muslim Brotherhood which has spawned terror groups like Hamas and Al Qaeda.

Even worse, the actress playing the now-female Scarlet Scarab, May Calamawy, is an Egyptian-Palestinian. The vast majority of both Egyptians and Palestinians are rabidly antisemitic according to multiple polls, and Calamawy must be assumed to be a racist antisemitic bigot unless she says anything pro-Israel.  

It’s hard to see how any of Scarab's origins can become a “great Hollywood blockbuster story” for entertainment. Even though the new Scarlet Scarab is a woman, there is no “new approach” that could paint a terrorist with that background as a model hero. 

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to put an Arab hero in the MCU. However, putting Scarlet Scarab, a one time Nazi ally and terror group leader, into the world’s biggest blockbuster franchise is a problem. It certainly feels like the powers that be are ignoring the real-life atrocities happening to Israelis every day. There are so many other ways to whisk audiences away into a thrilling story without this problematic character. For Marvel Studios to go forth with using an antisemitic and Arab-supremacist character like Scarlet Scarab would be a shame and an incredible insult to Jewish and Israeli comics fans all around the world. 

A Nazi-allied, antisemitic terrorist leader is hardly the type of superhero that Marvel should be promoting. 

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Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon! Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.  Read all about it here!

 

Read More