“With great power comes great responsibility” – Uncle Ben
Former Spiderman actor Andrew Garfield, who is Jewish on his father’s side, has in the past spoken about how much he values his Jewish heritage:
The family moved to the UK when Garfield was three, and while he grew up in a secular household, he also connected with Larson’s Jewishness, albeit “in a more unconscious way”.
“I think it’s just a given,” he muses. “The fact that we both have a Jewish heritage in our blood, it probably enabled me to feel that kindred, bone ancestral feeling. And the fact that we’re both Jewish artists, I think that’s a very specific breed.
“It’s just like, ‘Oh, we come from the same tribe,’ and how beautiful to find not only a member of my tribe in art but a member of my tribe in Jewish heritage, which I value so much and which I feel so grateful that I have in my system.”
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“Oh God, it’s so interesting,” he says excitedly. “The first thing I’d go to is empathy. Because of the ancestral memory of what it is to be persecuted, of what it is to be told that you don’t belong on this earth, that there’s a physical threat of violence and extermination, and how deeply moving it is that we have survived that threat, that can only enhance our empathy for anyone else going through that same kind of injustice and threat of physical annihilation.”
Alas, Garfield’s seems to be reserving his empathy for those whose leaders (and many of their own civilians) have tried exterminating members of his “own tribe”, while not recognizing at all his “own tribe’s” right to self-defense against those trying to perpetrate this genocide:
This is not the first time that Garfield has made it clear where he stands on Hamas and Israel. A few weeks after the October 7 massacre, he was one of the celebrities to sign this one-sided petition, which called for a ceasefire while focusing on Israel’s actions in Gaza::
Dear POTUS,
We come together as artists and advocates, but most importantly as human beings witnessing the devastating loss of lives and unfolding horrors in Israel and Palestine.
We ask that, as President of the United States, you call for an immediate de-escalation and ceasefire in Gaza and Israel before another life is lost. More than 4,000 people have been killed in the last week and a half – a number any person of conscience knows is catastrophic. We believe all life is sacred, no matter faith or ethnicity and we condemn the killing of Palestinian and Israeli civilians.
We urge your administration, and all world leaders, to honor all of the lives in the Holy Land and call for and facilitate a ceasefire without delay – an end to the bombing of Gaza, and the safe release of hostages. Half of Gaza’s two million residents are children, and more than two thirds are refugees and their descendants being forced to flee their homes. Humanitarian aid must be allowed to reach them.
We believe that the United States can play a vital diplomatic role in ending the suffering and we are adding our voices to those from the US Congress, UNICEF, Doctors without Borders, The International Committee of The Red Cross, and so many others. Saving lives is a moral imperative. To Echo UNICEF, “Compassion — and international law — must prevail.”
As of this writing more than 6,000 bombs have been dropped on Gaza in the last 12 days – resulting in one child being killed every 15 minutes.
“Children and families in Gaza have practically run out of food, water, electricity, medicine and safe access to hospitals, following days of air strikes and cuts to all supply routes. Gaza’s sole power plant ran out of fuel Wednesday afternoon, shutting down electricity, water and wastewater treatment. Most residents can no longer get drinking water from service providers or household water through pipelines…. The humanitarian situation has reached lethal lows, and yet all reports point to further attacks. Compassion — and international law — must prevail.” – UNICEF spokesperson James Elder
Beyond our pain and mourning for all of the people there and their loved ones around the world we are motivated by an unbending will to stand for our common humanity. We stand for freedom, justice, dignity and peace for all people – and a deep desire to stop more bloodshed.
We refuse to tell future generations the story of our silence, that we stood by and did nothing. As Emergency Relief Chief Martin Griffiths told UN News, “History is watching.”
Now it is all well and good to speak out for Gazan civilians, but when you do it to the exclusion of the Jewish ones murdered, raped and kidnapped by Hamas and their ‘civilian’ accomplices, while essentially blaming Israel for their deaths (as he has done now), you actually help prolong the war by emboldening Hamas. And this is what celebrities like Garfield are doing with their virtue signaling.
And for Garfield to do this at the Jewish 92NY, no less, makes it even more disgraceful.
Maybe Garfield can team up with ‘Incredible Hulk’ actor Mark Ruffalo for a Dirtbag Avengers movie.
At least we have Tom Holland…well, kind of (the historian, not the Spiderman).
