Saturday, October 01, 2016

On Inappropriate

Reviewing the events of Friday at the funeral of Shimon Peres, I uploaded this poster:



One reaction I received from someone I admire was

Inappropriate. I expect better of you.

My first response was 

sorry. must have been reading & listening & watching too many Tel Aviv cultural events & their freedom of expression content

The Left can denounce Jewish religious observance and customs, malign the nationalist camp in articles, plays, speeches, films, songs and other cultural events and acts but I was "inappropriate". They can defame and denigrate but when a rightist takes liberties, it's "inappropriate".  I could have added that Haaretz caricatures on similar subjects, like Bibi waving goodbye to Obama, etc., or attacks on the religious camp were no less "inappropriate".

I do not think, even after a full day has gone by that that poster I created was in anyway inappropriate.

I could even make the case that Bibi very well could have been thinking that.

But there is another aspect to this, a bit parallel.

In a radio interview conducted by Amit Segal and Yaron Dekel with MK Ayman Odeh, who has been hailed by the progressive liberal Jewish-and-barely-Zionist left as a near savior, who was a guest at the Haaretz Conference in 2015 and who someone even like Jane Eisner, editor of The Forward, pointed out the "inconsistency in the American Jewish left" in its worship of him, he was asked why he had not issued any words on Peres' passing.  

I'll disregard his response but Segal reacted saying, "I am sure that if something had happened to you, Peres would have released a statement" and Dekel added, after Odeh said that Peres is stronger than him and that he (Odeh) considers himself still an underdog, "it is being simply humane".  Here's the Hebrew for doubters:

 "אני בטוח שאם היה קורה משהו לך, פרס היה מפרסם הודעה"
"כנראה שהוא יותר חזק ממני, אני אנדרדוג".
דקל הוסיף,: "זה להיות אנושי".

 I doubt if my critic knew this but would the critic now come out and note how "inappropriate" and perhaps how disappointing Odeh's attitude is?

^

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