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What We Need to Learn From Emma Watson’s Expression of Solidarity with the Palestinian Arabs

So you may have already heard: Emma Watson, the actress who rose to astronomical levels of fame after playing Hermione in the Harry Potter franchise, posted the following in solidarity with the palestinian Arabs:

Screenshot

It seems Snape got to her.

One of my first reactions to this was this offends me as a grammarian.

But joking aside, Emma Watson has over 64 million followers on Instagram, no doubt mostly young people. Whether or not you feel she is qualified to comment on the Middle East conflict (she no doubt isn’t), this post – and other anti-Israel ones from celebrities with huge followings – pose a huge problem. We can speak ad nauseum about how bad our “PR” is, and we can make suggestions to improve it, but at the end of the day, this kind of thing hurts us.

Speaking about hurting us, so does this:

While I appreciate Danny Danon’s work at the UN, this tweet is unhelpful and plays into the hands of those who claim we weaponize antisemitism. Expressing solidarity with palestinian Arabs over Israelis – especially right after rockets were fired in the direction of Tel Aviv – is really disgusting. But it does not portend necessarily to antisemitism, even more so when we are speaking about a celebrity. For celebrities tend to latch on to “trendy” causes and virtue signal the night (and day) away. True, the vast majority of Israel-haters are actual antisemites, but I prefer to use actual proof of it before accusing someone of antisemitism.

We certainly need to do a better job getting the truth out there – since we have the truth on our side – but facts are not enough. The other side speaks to people’s emotions better than we do and that is a huge reason the Emma Watsons of the world are solidaritying with the palestinian Arabs.

Update: Here Emma, I fixed it for you

About the author

Picture of David Lange

David Lange

A law school graduate, David Lange transitioned from work in the oil and hi-tech industries into fulltime Israel advocacy. He is a respected commentator and Middle East analyst who has often been cited by the mainstream media
Picture of David Lange

David Lange

A law school graduate, David Lange transitioned from work in the oil and hi-tech industries into fulltime Israel advocacy. He is a respected commentator and Middle East analyst who has often been cited by the mainstream media
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