Thursday, March 28th, 2024

In case you couldn’t tell from my recent posts about Jonathan Glazer and about the red ceasefire pin worn at the Oscars, I’m a huge movie buff.  I am not a particularly big James Bond fan.  Nothing against those films. They’re just not my thing.

But James Bond is in the news right now, for a very peculiar reason.  After the Sean Connery / Sir Roger Moore / Pierce Brosnan / Daniel Craig eras, the James Bond franchise is now ready to cast the British actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the famous 007. In spite of the impression one might get from his hyphenated last name, Aaron Taylor-Johnson was born Jewish. And that’s why James Bond is in the news. It’s a problem.

A few years ago, this would have been a non-issue, completely irrelevant to anyone’s life. No one would have even noticed. Today, however, we live in a time when anti-Semites who roam the earth are empowered to openly spew their Jew-hatred, all under the guise of freeing the oppressed Palestinians from the evil Israel. The common refrain is “I’m not anti-Semitic; I’m just anti-Zionist.”

Almost immediately after the news broke that Aaron Taylor-Johnson was offered this role, there was an uproar. Masses of people are going to boycott the film if he gets the part. (I know – I couldn’t believe it either.)  I don’t even think these protesters are aware of the irony here. Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, was a rabid and open anti-Semite. No hiding behind Zionism for him. He was a racist and that was that. Even so, I don’t think he would have stopped a popular Jewish actor from playing the role if the producers let him know how much money it would bring in.

Personally, I would hardly describe Aaron Taylor-Johnson as a “Jewish actor”. When you hear that term, you think of Dustin Hoffman, Walter Matthau, Barbra Streisand. For today’s youth, the term conjures images of Mayim Bialik, Andy Samberg, even Ben Stiller (who was raised Catholic). But none of this would have mattered to Hitler, and none of it matters to the anti-Semitic pro-Hamasniks of today. A little bit Jewish is Jewish, and that is enough. That is more than enough. To them, that is just unacceptable and something must be done about it. Period.

Do I think these people speaking out will actually boycott the film?  Maybe they will and maybe they won’t. Hopefully, by the time the film comes out, the hostages will have been long released and far along on their paths to healing. Maybe the protesters will have moved on to the next angry cause and maybe there will be peace by then. As I type this, a tiny, miserable inner voice adds, “Maybe pigs will fly” but I shut that voice down. I will remain hopeful as I pray for a better future and peace for Am Yisrael. And, when it comes out, I might even watch the new Bond movie with a martini in my hand. Shaken, not stirred.

Am Yisrael Chai!