dave-o

Had a friend send me this article and although it doesn't really mean anything, I thought the headline was pretty comical...



"Yasser Arafat Says Gibson Film Not Anti-Semitic

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian leader
Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) watched Mel Gibsons's
controversial "Passion of the Christ" at a private
screening on Saturday and said it was not
anti-Semitic, officials said.

He watched the film -- which Jewish groups say may
foment anti-Semitic attacks -- with Palestinian Muslim
and Christian leaders at his headquarters in the West
Bank city of Ramallah.

"The president did not feel the film was
anti-Semitic," said Hanan Ashrawi, a prominent
Palestinian Christian who watched it with him on a DVD
copy.

Arafat's advisor Nabil Abu Rdainah told the official
Palestinian news agency WAFA the 74-year-old former
guerrilla leader had hailed the film as "moving and
historical."

Jewish groups say Gibson's epic of the last 12 hours
of Jesus's life could foment anti-Semitism with its
graphic depiction of the torture and crucifixion of
Jesus.

German church leaders have also said its "overly
negative portrayal" of Jews risked stoking
anti-Semitic prejudice."

-End Article

Well color me wrong, I take back all of the concerns that I have voiced about this movie, I have seen the light!(very, very, very, heavy sarcasm).

If only Hitler was around today to give us his take...

movielib

Well, it's not going to make Arafat any more anti-Jewish than he is now.

Pants

...and he would know.

The Nature Boy

So only people that think it was antisemtic can be right on this one?

Horror Dude

it is amazing that one movie could bring about it so much BS. it's a movie people (jewish complainers), get over it. i wish people were protesting gili, it might have save a few people!!!!

JasonF

In other news, David Duke has proclaimed Birth of a Nation not to be anti-black, and Marlon Brando has endorsed the daily super-sized Big Mac meal as a part of a balanced diet.

I'm just kidding. Of course Arafat is in a position to know whether or not Gibson's anti-semitic. Obviously, Arafat knows that Gibson did not attend any of the meetings.

JasonF

Jewish complainers?

RyoHazuki

Arafat's in the bootleg dvd buisness? I guess the commercials were right when they say "If you download movies/music off the internet, you are supporting terrorism."

Horror Dude

all the people that were picketing and protesting that this movie was mocking the jewish people. if you don't like it, then that's fine, however I really don't want to hear about it...meaning when I go to see the movie I don't want to be zig zagging around people to walk into the theater

movielib

I have not heard a single report about protesters or picketers at theaters.

Jackskeleton

Somehow I don't care what Yasser Arafat says about any film.

dave-o

Is that the conclusion you reached based on my post?

dave-o

Next up for Arafat? Running for the head position at the Anti-Defamation League.

chrisih8u

I was hoping for Arafat to replace Gene Siskel. Ebert and Arafat could have made a good duo.

Njål

This might stem from different use of the word Semite:
From The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language :
Semite: A member of a group of Semitic-speaking peoples of the Near East and northern Africa, including the Arabs, Arameans, Babylonians, Carthaginians, Ethiopians, Hebrews, and Phoenicians

Gyno Rhino

I heard Arafat walked out on "Schindler's List", too, making some comment about how Liam should be shot.

BRIAN 1972

Opening night there were protesters at various theatres around NYC. I saw footage on the news from the East 86th Street Sony theatre. One guy was holding a sign that read, "Hitler gives Passion 2 thumbs ups." Morons.

However, nothing compared to Last Temptation of Christ, Priest, etc.

talemyn

Well what was your point? Were you trying to imply that the film is "obviously" anti-Sementic because an Arab leader said it wasn't? I'm not sure I follow the logic if that is the case . . .

Sex Fiend

Yeah, and I just heard Jackie Mason say that "The Satanic Verses" shouldn't have given the Ayatollah schpilkes...

dave-o

Geesh...talk about being misunderstood! My point was to convey the irony (and humor) of the article that was posted. I said nothing about the film being anti-semitic or not. I will leave discussing the concerns I have with this film for the other thread. This post was merely to point out the irony of an actual Reuter's news article proclaiming that one of the world's leading anti-semites has come to the conclusion that this film was not anti-semitic. I thought everyone could see the comical nature of this article (whether you think one way or the other about this film), but apparently not.

I just can't help but wonder if the people responsible for putting this news blurb together were chuckling while they were writing it.

Kumar J

Arafat watches Bootleg DVD's?

talemyn

Okay . . . fair enough, but it honestly didn't come off that way. This . . . . . . made it sound like you thought the story actually supported your concerns (since you were sarcastically saying that they caused you to dismiss them). Just confusion, I guess . . .

The Nature Boy

I'm late to the reply party, but I think talemyn is stating my case better than I could. If you did mean this to be humorous, then I apologize for misinterperting, but inspite of your sarcasm caveat, it did not come across in the first post.

dave-o

At the top of my first post I indicated that the actual article is meaningless in my eyes and the sarcasm at the bottom was based on the fact that I couldn't imagine anyone who thought this movie was anti-semitic changing their mind after hearing Arafat's conclusion. I guess I should have been a little more clear about my intentions of this post (especially considering my comments in the other thread). If anyone bases their judgement of this movie on what Arafat says, they have more problems than I care to go into here. No worries though, now that we cleared that up, we can all go back to snickering at the article.

Tommy Ceez

Arafat was later quoted as saying

"You want to see anti-Semitic? You should see some of the shit we play in the Palistinian schools! That shit will make your balls shrivel up!"

Its funny, I thought he would be more statesman like.