"The little drummer girl" again

A shortened, edited version of this article appeared as a letter in the
Jerusalem Post, Dec 30, 2005.

In a scene in "The Little Drummer Girl," John Le Carre, an erstwhile fawning
supporter of Yasser Arafat, demonstrated his view that Palestinian terrorism
and Israeli counter-terrorism are equivalent by having the Israeli and
Palestinian protagonists become mirror-images of each other through the doors
of a French window as they shoot at each other. This was so simplistic as to
render morally unacceptable a book in which the Palestinian has blown up,
among others, a family and the Israeli is trying to stop him by killing him.
Now Steven Spielberg has reportedly opted for the same kind of moral
equivalency in his version of "Munich."
Many people will find excuses for Steven, he's done such good things before
for the Jews, maybe we should cut him some slack. But, its not good enough
to say that he is dealing in fiction and we should simply blame his
anti-Israel script writer (Tony Kushner has openly supported a Jewish
anti-Israel organization).
Munich actually happened, men were murdered, and the State of Israel decided
that this could not be allowed to go unpunished. When you call a movie by a
name that implies telling the story of what really happened, then a certain
responsibility falls upon you. The ultimate punishment for Spielberg's moral
mis-step is the traditional one for a work of theater, don't go to see it,
don't buy tickets! No one is forcing you to see it. The more of us who
express our disdain at this deliberate failure to tell that tragedy
rigorously, in favor of some nuanced version of Jewish self-doubt and
self-pity, the more the message of righteous counter-terrorism will be
appreciated. How is it more Jewish to become less Zionist and end up
by giving up on the State of Israel because it means defending ourselves.
In this age of 9/11 and 7/7 what is the message we should take away from the
iconic struggle represented by "Munich," that we should accept the losses
rather than engage in a futile "cycle of violence," that we should concede the
field without struggle. Should the US not seek Osama bin Ladin, because if
they killed him they would become like him? What nonsense!
It should be noted that in fact the Israeli anti-Munich "hit team," according
to reports and documentaries that I saw, seem to have been having a good time.
In fact so much so that they became sloppy, and hence ended up killing the
wrong man in the last hit in Lillehammer, and bungled their exits from Norway,
an elementary mistake.
I have decided to give my opinion without having seen the movie, since I have
read many articles about it and I have had a personal review sent to me by
a trusted (and independent) monitor of Jewish American opinion who has seen
the movie. I may not always agree with her, but since I no longer claim to
understand the Jewish American liberal mindset, I do need a translator.
The fact is that the Palestinian intifada has shown that "targeted killings"
in response to terrorism work. Those who deliberately strike at our unarmed
women, children and civilians anywhere in the world should have no doubt
where we Jews and Israelis stand on this.