Another dumb celebrity (or perhaps just morally corrupt).
Actor Kal Penn donated his $25,000-prize for winning MasterChef Showdown to the UN Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA. But supporters of the Palestinian rights say the movie star made a priceless contribution to the cause: he brought the suffering of displaced Palestinians to the US national stage.
The US television show, a competition between amateur chefs, brought eight celebrities for a special edition cooking “showdown” on Monday. Each participant chose a nonprofit organisation as the recipient of a monetary award given to the winner.
Penn, a former official in the White House Office of Public Engagement under President Barack Obama, also urged his 270,000 Twitter followers to donate to UNRWA, promising to send thank you postcards to some donors.
“Palestine refugees make up 44% of the world’s protracted refugee population,” the Harold & Kumar movie star said in a tweet.
Tonight on @MasterChefOnFox I take on @CherylHines in a cook off 4 charity. I'm competing for @unrwausa, check 'em out & tune in! #Refugees pic.twitter.com/aq8yiK9qCI
— Kal Penn (@kalpenn) January 2, 2017
https://youtu.be/NFwhs8SQ9zo
UNRWA is a vile organization that perpetuates the conflict.
For a start, they expanded the usual meaning of “refugee” to include “the children or grandchildren” of the original refugees. This has created an absurd situation in which if there were approximately 650,000 palestinian refugees in 1948-1949, there are now 5.1 million recognized by UNRWA. In the meantime, tiny Israel absorbed Jewish refugees fleeing or expelled from Arab countries and elsewhere in the world, while Arab and Muslim countries have not done the same for their “beloved” brethren (and treat them like second-class citizens). Because, tool against Israel. And UNRWA has absolutely no incentive to resolve the refugee problem, since they only exist because of it.
Not only that, but UNRWA has employed terrorists and been a more than useful cover for them.
Penn’s stance should not surprise too much. He has taken to Twitter before to let us all know who he supports in the conflict.
https://twitter.com/kalpenn/status/131088674854154240
Wow, guess we're not serious about a ceasefire. "U.S. Gives Israel More Grenades & Mortar Rounds for Gaza Offensive"http://t.co/qZ1YlACq4q
— Kal Penn (@kalpenn) July 31, 2014
I am guessing he is also happy about his former boss’ stance against Israel.
If Penn wanted to donate to refugees, he could have donated for the benefit of, say, all Syrian refugees. But he has singled out palestinian ones and donated to an organization that is only perpetuating the conflict.
Update: An interesting aside. His competitor in MasterChef was Cheryl Hines, who played Larry David’s wife in Curb Your Enthusiasm. One of its iconic episodes? The Palestinian Chicken!
https://youtu.be/K8XNrAjh7eo
How’s that for a segue?