Richard Gere to Haaretz: Settlements are an absurd provocation, the occupation is indefensible
Allison Kaplan Sommer Mar 12, 2017 2:00 PM
▻http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/culture/1.776584
Richard Gere says his decision to travel to Jerusalem last week for the Israeli premiere of his new film, ‘Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer,’ wasn’t easy.
Perched on a bench in the courtyard of the Jerusalem Cinematheque, a sweeping view of Jerusalem behind him, the movie star and human-rights activist told Haaretz that despite the fact he has traveled to the country numerous times in the past, this visit “was more complex than any other time I’ve come here.”
Over the course of a full month, Gere says he debated whether “it would be a good thing” for him to make the trip. With Israel swerving even further to the right in the Trump era, and an increasing tendency by the progressive left to embrace the tactic of boycott to protest Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory, many of Gere’s friends and colleagues in both the Israeli and U.S. human-rights communities told him they feared a movie star’s presence in Israel “would be co-opted by a dark government.”
“I had people on all sides – those who have been close friends and people I barely knew – telling me not to come,” he recounts. Even Israelis warned him to think twice. “I had people living here who told me, ‘Look, no good will come of this. The bad guys will use you’ – ‘bad guys’ meaning the policy-makers of this government. It was a complex month of going back and forth: ‘I’m coming … I’m not coming.’”
During his month of indecision, Gere says he discussed his dilemma with “Norman” writer-director Joseph Cedar on a daily basis. In the end, he showed up. (...)
“Obviously this occupation is destroying everyone,” he says. “There’s no defense of this occupation. Settlements are such an absurd provocation and, certainly in the international sense, completely illegal – and they are certainly not part of the program of someone who wants a genuine peace process.” He pauses before adding, “Just to be clear about this: I denounce violence on all sides of this. And, of course, Israelis should feel secure. But Palestinians should not feel desperate.”
Gere’s rejection of “violent extremist factions on either side” is why he said he was “taken” with two groups he visited on the day of the premiere: Women Wage Peace, which rallies Israeli and Palestinian women together in political action; and YaLa, which trains youth for leadership, harnessing social media to learn communication, peacemaking and leadership skills and promoting ongoing dialogue.
“What I liked about both these groups that I met – it wasn’t that fatalistic, depressing energy … it was visionary, hopeful, filled with joy, love and commitment. And it wasn’t about one-off events expressing frustration. It was about, ‘We’re here until it’s over. We’re going to keep doing this.’”
Gere also met with representatives of the nongovernmental organization Breaking the Silence in New York before his trip, and said he planned to meet with them in Israel as well.
The demonization of the group by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others on the right appalled him, he said, as have the condemnations of J Street by the Trump administration’s new ambassador to Israel, David Friedman.
“It is all so counter to what I know of Jewish culture,” Gere says. “Questioning authority makes you a kapo? To question authority makes you a traitor? If you question bad policies you are a self-hating Jew? That is insane. And, of course it’s the last resort of tyrants.”