By James Pogue ISTANBUL- Some Americans, including some very famous ones, are not only being censored, they’re being gagged. During the last almost two months, those who speak up publicly on social media platforms about the situation in Gaza are simply put – being shut down. Some are even losing future job opportunities or in the case of well-known actress Susan Sarandon, being dropped from her Hollywood agency because she chanted certain phrases during a mass demonstration in New York City. Not since the McCarthy era in America, have we seen such a level of censorship, it’s unprecedented. Even the famous artist/dissident Ai Weiwei was prevented by his gallery from showing his latest exhibition in London which was supposed to open on November 15. Why? All because of comments he made about the situation in Gaza. As Ai told the press: “If we cannot use simple ways to express a complicated question, does that mean expression becomes unnecessary, or that the so-called ‘incorrect’ expression becomes unnecessary?”
This is NOT democracy
Is America considered a democracy when two major actresses are suddenly dropped from their talent agencies because their employers didn’t like their voicing an opinion because it was the ‘wrong’ one? Then U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib was censured by the House on Tuesday for her comments as well. This might as well be the era of McCarthyism which is defined as “The political practice of publicizing accusations of disloyalty or subversion with insufficient regard to evidence. The use of methods of investigation and accusation regarded as unfair, in order to suppress opposition.” Most certainly, singling people out for their right to an opinion, even one that others disagree with, is as undemocratic as America can get. It’s also necessary to examine comments in the light of the entire situation people are commenting on NOT twist them and make assumptions that people hate Jews or Muslims just because they voiced an opinion.
The American Constitution is based on a premise of freedom of speech but this so-called ‘freedom’ has been run into the ground, pulverized and become unrecognizable in a country that has always prided itself on people being able to say what they want and think what they want. More recent examples of censorship include The Harvard Law Review, run by the student body, rejecting the 2,000-word essay – titled The Ongoing Nakba: Towards a Legal Framework for Palestine – by a Palestinian doctoral candidate, Rabea Eghbariah, after it had been edited, fact-checked and initially approved.
The lead actress in the Scream film series Melissa Barrera was dropped from the upcoming new Scream movie after sharing social media posts on Instagram about the conflict in Gaza. Meanwhile, some Harvard student groups issued a statement criticizing Israel’s bombing of Gaza and in an online CNN business article by Matt Egan dated Oct. 12, 2023, billionaire hedge fund CEO Bill Ackman said about the students in the Harvard groups:”If the members support the letter, the namesof the signatories “should be made public” so their views are publicly known.” The CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management said he wanted to ensure his company and others don’t “inadvertently hire” any students belonging to Harvard groups that signed the letter.
The reality right now in the U.S. and Europe is that it’s NOT cool to criticize Israel and it’s definitely NOT cool to have an opinion (freedom of speech) that is the opposite of the Jewish corporate elite whether you are Jewish or not. Victoria’s Secret billionaire founder Leslie Wexner is a case in point when his Wexner Foundation cut ties with Harvard when the university didn’t condemn the students speaking out against Israel’s actions in Gaza. But it must be highlighted that there were plenty of young, Jewish people as well as Orthodox Jews and a number of progressive Jewish organizations protesting Israel’s actions – who are in favor of Israel halting its bombardment of Gaza. Even an American rabbi interviewed by CNN said the bombing must stop. This is what it means to be a humanitarian, not a barbarian. Even the Orthodox Jews filmed in New York City condemned Israel’s actions. And just because people criticize (and rightly so) the mass destruction of Gaza, its civilians and infrastructure does NOT make them antisemitic or anti-Israel.
As the First Amendment states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Despite this statement being the backbone of America’s existence, people are being punished for expressing their outrage at Palestinians in Gaza being bombed into non-existence and being forced to leave their homes and mercilessly taunted and beaten by Jewish settlers if they don’t, as video evidence has shown on mainstream TV channels. A majority of those who are against Israel’s relentless, merciless bombardment of Palestinian civilians are professors, analysts at think tanks, experts on the Middle East, top military officials, intelligent students and ordinary working people who are generally NOT antisemitic or Islamaphobic. What they are, is totally outraged at the blatant ruthlessness of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s ‘an eye for an eye’ attitude, that has been roundly condemned by a number of countries and high-level officials.
Perhaps, Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it best when he told the press: “We must compel Israel to comply with international law and be held accountable for its actions. We should also break the blockade in the U.N.” As Erdogan reminds the world, public conscience has prompted mass protests worldwide against Israel because of its government’s choice to keep on bombing Gaza until there is nothing and no one left – and to leave its civilian population defenseless with no water, no food, no electricity and no fuel. By any logical standards, what’s gone on in Gaza and what’s going on in Gaza is inhumane. As Erdogan reiterated, Western society coming to grips with the legacy of the Nazi Holocaust has miserably failed and is standing on the wrong side of history in the Palestine-Israel conflict.
