The new “odd couple” – Michael Douglas & Natan Sharansky – recently spoke at Hillel at Stanford University.
It is worth taking the time to hear the entire thing. But in any case, I will point out a few parts of particular interest, at least to me.
- From 24:38, where Michael Douglas speaks of his first time in Israel and notices the stark contrast between the “irrigated lands” he saw in Israel and the deserts beyond
- From 26:55, where Michael Douglas speaks about his son Dylan wanting to be Jewish and have a Bar Mitzvah
- From 43:47, where Michael Douglas speaks about his son’s antisemitic experience, followed by mentioning the BDS movement
- From 57:38, where Natan Sharansky receives and answers a question about Breaking the Silence
At a similar talk the next day, Douglas ripped into BDS.
“Natan goes out and talks to people to try to find out what the issues are, and very quickly you find out they don’t know how to talk — they really don’t. They know how to protest,” Douglas said. “Israel is an apartheid state? How do you mean? That you’re going to compare Israel to South Africa before Nelson Mandela? I don’t think so.”
