In a fiery podcast interview with the American stand up comedian Marc Maron, the Canadian writer and comedian Seth Rogen expressed harsh criticism of Zionism, causing a strong online storm.
Today is @Sethrogen day on @WTFpod! The Jewiest talk ever on this show! American Pickle, Jewish summer camp, who is the toughest Jew, lots more about Jews! Great talk! Fun! Do it up! https://t.co/TRZkCfIIIs
— marc maron (@marcmaron) July 27, 2020
Speaking about his Jewish identity on WTF podcast, Rogen talked about attending a Jewish boys summer camp with Israeli counselors at a young age before saying that "Israel doesn't make sense to him," explaining that "a better strategy to preserve the Jewish identity should have been to send them to different parts of the world following the Holocaust, instead of sending them to only one place."
I’ve been to Israel a few times. My parents met there.
— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) July 28, 2020
In the casual talk about growing up as a Jew in Vancouver, Seth Rogen answered with a "No" to a question on whether he would like to live in Israel or not, saying that he has no religious connection to it, being a non-religious person.
He also went on to talk about how he has been "mislead and told a bunch of lies about it" to believe that upon establishing Israel in 1948, the land wasn't inhabited with other people.
"I also think that as a Jewish person, I was fed a huge amount of lies about Israel my entire life. They never tell you, that oh, by the way, there were people there. They make it seem like it was just sitting there, oh the f*cking door’s open! They literally forget to include the fact to every young Jewish person: Basically, oh yeah, there were people living there."
Responding to his comment, Marc Maron went on to say that this narrative aims "to make Jews frightened of your own survival to the point that when you're old enough, you make sure that money goes to Israel."
Rogen comments triggered mixed social media comments, with many applauding his unusual stance.
That was really disappointing. @Sethrogen needs to have conversations with Jewish leaders. His comments were hurtful, unfair and disappointing. It's okay to level criticism at Israel, we all do, but he disparaged Israeli's as a group. That's unacceptable.
— Olivier Amar (@olivier_amar) July 28, 2020
I grew up in 70/80's South Africa and had no idea about apartheid until I went to high school.
— Jen Lloyd (@jenlloyd001) July 29, 2020
Among comments supporting Rogen's statements on Israel, many Jewish social media users described going through similar experiences of not knowing the other narrative on the conflict in the Middle East and that it does involve a whole other nation; Palestinians.
i was in jewish youth group with @sethrogen, was subjected to the same indoctrination and am totally proud of him for using his platform to speak out against making aliyah to israel here! that said, i can't support his dislike of winnipeg.https://t.co/4ry1fYDdTG
— shutty johns-in (@johnsonbecky) July 29, 2020
"Literally they forget to include the fact to every young Jewish person: Basically, oh yeah, there were people living there."
— CODEPINK (@codepink) July 28, 2020
Thank you, @SethRogen, for using your platform to educate folks on the true history of Israel's theft of Palestinian land👏🏽👏🏿👏🏼👏🏾https://t.co/sCNd2gveFd
Some Jewish commentators described this shift in non-Israeli Jews' attitudes towards the Jewish state as a result of having a "progressive Jewish voice that rejects the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians."
Thank you, @Sethrogen. Young Jews who reject the ethnic cleansing and apartheid in Israel need to say so loudly, both for our older relatives and to show younger Jews another option exists. https://t.co/iDfADcCmxH
— Goy Division/Jew Order (@ben_geier) July 28, 2020
Of course I was just blocked by the @queenofzion for saying, how is it right to displace people who are living somewhere, to allow another group to take over because atrocities happened to them? Why do Palestinians need to pay for Hitler’s atrocities? Seriously why?
— Maureen (@moefromcanada) July 28, 2020
