‘What about Malki?’
AN Australian-Israeli couple has been leading an outcry against Sarah Silverman, after the American comedian tried to drum up support for a Palestinian teenager who slapped and assaulted soldiers.
AN Australian-Israeli couple has been leading an outcry against Sarah Silverman, after the American comedian tried to drum up support for a Palestinian teenager who slapped and assaulted soldiers.
Silverman tweeted that Jewish people should support the campaign to free Ahed Tamimi, the 17-year-old who has become a Palestinian heroine for the viral video of her slapping an IDF soldier.
The tweet touched a raw nerve for Frimet and Arnold Roth, originally from Melbourne, whose daughter Malki was killed aged 15 during the Second Intifada.
Malki was one of 15 people who died in the Sbarro restaurant bombing in August 2001, perpetrated by Tamimi’s cousin Ahlam Tamimi.
Accusing Silverman of “exploiting” her fame, the Roths responded, “Sarah, did you stand up for our daughter Malki and the other 15 Jewish lives extinguished by Ahlam Tamimi, Ahed’s cousin and role-model-in-life?”
Israel says that Tamimi repeatedly broke the law and is being imprisoned facing trial. But Amnesty International calls for her freedom and says she “bravely stood up against the Israeli occupation” – and Silverman claimed that Jews should “stand up” especially when “wrongdoing” is by Israel.
But the Roths hit back writing: “Entertainers exploiting their fame are often a poor choice for clarifying what’s moral or good.”
They then tweeted a picture of Malki, and got a response from Silverman saying: “Awful. For every story like this, might there be a Palestinian one? I’m genuinely asking – this is not snark.”
They replied that there are child victims on both sides, but the difference is that their daughter’s killer delights in her acts. They warned the comedian, “You see us as two sides of a coin? Don’t.”
Everybody, they said, must “make moral judgments even when the facts seem confusing”.
More than 1500 other people commented, and on Monday Silverman backed out of the topic saying she has come to the realisation that what is “true” and “just” is “wildly subjective”.
Talking to The AJN, Arnold Roth said, “Ahed Tamimi is not some innocent child who woke up one day and, feeling deeply provoked, slapped a heavily-armed IDF service person. She’s now 17 years old and responsible for her own actions. She is capable of formulating her own viewpoint and, surprise, it’s a violent one.”
He said that she has been propelled into hard-line Palestinian activism by a family with extremist tendencies. It includes the activist Bassem Tamimi who was convicted by Israel for violence and who spread a myth about Israel harvesting Palestinian organs. “She has been reared to be a media figure and a performer,” said Roth.
He hasn’t heard from Silverman since their brief exchange, but when another Twitter user asked him about the discussion, he said that he hoped to influence other people besides her.
“Healthy societies don’t turn to stand-up comics to calibrate their moral compass,” he said. “If she thought about our response, fine. But it’s enough if her fame prompts scores of thousands to think, define their own stands, reject hers and realise #AhedTamimi is a performer too.”
NATHAN JEFFAY
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