Nasima Khatun
Former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, has been on the receiving end of backlash after calling Emma Watson an “antisemite” for expressing support for the people of Palestine.
Watson, 31, took to Instagram to repost a snapshot taken from a Palestinian protest with the phrase “Solidarity is a verb” plastered across it. Alongside the political post, she also included a poem by Sara Ahmed which read:
“Solidarity does not assume that our struggles are the same struggles, or that our pain is the same pain, or that our hope is for the same future. Solidarity involves commitment, and work, as well as the recognition that even if we do not have the same feelings, or the same lives, or the same bodies, we do live on common ground.”
While a lot of social media users took to the comments to commend Watson for using her platform to stand up against the oppression of the Palestinians, others were less than impressed by her activism. And by others, we’re talking specifically about former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, and his bunch of Zionist-sympathisers.
Taking to Twitter, the fifty-year-old published a screenshot of Watson’s repost, captioning it: “10 points from Gryffindor for being an antisemite.”
Now, where do I even start with this caption? Firstly, let’s call it what it is. It’s stupid. What a stupid caption. And not just because he’s calling Watson an “antisemite”, which is untrue, but because if he was fighting for the lives of Jewish people, why reduce such an important issue down to a badly-timed pop-culture joke? Oh, because Emma Watson was in Harry Potter? Okay, and? Read the room.
Anti-semitism, real anti-semitism is not a joke. It’s a serious issue that demands attention. But in the modern world, it is merely a tool utilised by pro-Israeli nationalists to uphold a regime that oppresses Palestinians. You can’t even say the word “Palestine” without being called anti-Semitic when in reality, the issue is much more complex than that. It’s the fact that he’s equating Zionism, which is an extremist movement, to Judaism, which is a peace-promoting faith, and it’s beyond insulting. The two are not mutually exclusive. Don’t insult our Jewish brothers and sisters by aligning them with such people.
The only accurate comparison I can think of is if Muslims suddenly started supporting ISIS and then calling everyone else “Islamophobic” for not doing so. How ridiculous would that sound?
But judging by the replies under Danon’s post, it seems as though most people can now see through their lame attempt to weaponise anti-Semitism.
These were just some of the iconic replies left underneath the tweet and yes, I thoroughly enjoyed scrolling through these:
Nice try though, Danon.
He wasn’t the only one that took shots at the actress either. Gilan Erdan, Israel’s current Ambassador to the United Nations also tried his best to convince people that Watson was anti-Jewish with yet another lame Harry Potter reference, but just like his friend’s little tweet, it had the complete opposite effect.
“Fiction may work in Harry Potter but it does not work in reality. If it did, the magic used in the wizarding world could eliminate the evils of Hamas (which oppresses women & seeks the annihilation of Israel) and the PA (which supports terror). I would be in favor of that!”
Someone get these guys off Twitter. Please.
We’re fully behind Emma Watson with this. Everyone should be vocal when it comes to the oppression of the Palestinians, we all have a moral obligation to be. What Israel is doing is illegal and should be heavily condemned. One day, the Palestinians will be free but until then, Israel? What’s that?