Americans have now been made unequivocally aware that the Tribeca Film Festival doesn’t have a problem with its newest outpost in Qatar refusing to allow Israeli passport holders into their country; nor does it seem to care that Israeli films are banned along with all Israeli products.  Co-directors Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal have joined with a former intern, Sheikha Mayassa, daughter of the ruling family of Qatar to inaugurate the Doha Tribeca Film Festival which will open this week.  Several months ago, the Sony Ericsson WTA (tennis) chose to play in Dubai where Shahar Pe’er, an Israeli athlete, was forbidden entry.  The tournament went on despite this act of blatant discrimination.  It wasn’t until Andy Roddick had the integrity to resign that Dubai was fined, Ms. Pe’er was compensated both financially and in her ranking and the WTA insisted that Dubai must admit Israelis in order to retain a spot on future WTA calendars.

     American Jews and key figures in the entertainment industry have always been in the vanguard of protesting the blacklist, segregation and anti-gay discrimination in our own country.  While South Africa practiced apartheid, a luminary like Robert De Niro would not have lent his good name and support to that government.  Peter Scarlet, the former artistic director of the Tribeca Film Festival and currently on the lucrative payroll of Abu Dabi’s Film Festival, though claiming to regret the exclusion of Israeli films and people from Qatar shrugs, “I’m an arts guy, not a politics guy.”  Nobody made a comment like that when Hollywood drew up a petition recently to protest the Toronto Film Festival’s selection of Tel-Aviv as this year’s cinematic focal city.  In fact, across the country, entertainers, musicians, students, teachers and academicians consider it imperative to raise their voices to punish Israel for its militaristic aggression - aka self defense for Jews.

As for the exclusion of Israelis from Arab countries and the expulsion of Jews along with the de rigeur confiscation of their property, the public outcry is eternally silent.  No protest is raised at the inhumane refusal of Arab countries to extend citizenship to their Palestinian brethren; no artistic voice objects to the 51 year perpetuation of Palestinians as “refugees” kept in squalid camps as political pawns of corrupt leaders squandering billions of dollars of international humanitarian aid for military purposes and personal gain.

     Last week the Susan Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer had to diplomatically beg the Egyptians to allow Israeli doctors and researchers into their country where an international conference is now underway under the auspices of the Foundation.  A charitable cancer group, founded with lots of Jewish money and memorializing a Jewish woman chose to have its conference not in Israel, where enormous medical and scientific research is conducted, but in a Moslem country, ostensibly at peace with Israel, that still refused entry to those Israelis whose findings may save Moslem lives.  The Anti-Defamation League issued a statement praising the Susan Komen administrators for trying to get the Israelis re-instated.  What degradation have we come to when a rights organization expresses appreciation for Jews being treated like normal people instead of pariahs!  The correct response would have been to refuse to hold the conference in Egypt until their policies reflect the human rights that this country claims to represent.  Our message to the Susan Komen administrators should come via our future contributions directed to the Evelyn Lauder Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

     New York Jews and all Americans who believe that Israel, as a staunch ally in our fight against radical Islam, deserves the same standing as any other member of the world community, can send a forceful message to Robert De Niro by not buying tickets to the Tribeca Film Festival this year.  Let De Niro and Rosenthal have the guts to do what Andy Roddick did - stand tall as Americans who disdain apartheid and won’t be tainted by collusion with its sponsors - whether aimed at African blacks or Israeli Jews.

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