AVIGDOR LIEBERMAN EXTENDS A HAND TO AVATAR'S BLUE PRIME MINISTER

"Avatar" has been a phenomenon in the box office, breaking all the ticket-selling records.  It has also caused a stir elsewhere, serving as a parable for looming environmental disaster, the degradation of Native Americans, and, most recently, as a computer generated theater of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.  At the Palestinian center of this uproar is half-Jewish half-Arab filmmaker Juliano Mer-Khamis, reports Batsheva Sobelman in the LA Times.  A screening of "Avatar" turned into a neighborhood ruckus when Mer-Khamis announced, "Palestinians should learn from this movie what to do to the Jews."

The Israelis have received "Avatar" as a personalized analogy as well.  In "Eretz Nehederet" (It's a Wonderful Country), the satire show spoofs Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.  As his foreign policy has left Israel with no allies in this world, Lieberman extends a hand to "Avatar's" blue prime minister.  "The new diplomatic alliance lasts only until the blue thing explains that the movie is about a people resisting occupation. "

Excerpt:

Mer-Khamis confirmed the incident and added in the newspaper Maariv: "No one dares to make the real analogy. 'Avatar' is one of the bravest films made. It portrays the occupation, but people aren't making the analogy. Many would like to be like the blue people but don't understand the meaning. This is why people got angry at the movie theater. It is no secret that I think the Israelis are occupiers and the Palestinians occupied. Israel sits forcefully on lands that belong to others and this is exactly what the movie is talking about."

Click here to read the article.

Photo: OfficialAvatarMovie - Flickr

Related Posts