New York – Natalie Portman isn’t a fan of Israel’s controversial nation-state law, which defines Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.
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The Jerusalem-born actress slammed the law, which was criticized as it was debated and adopted over the summer, in an interview with BBC’s Arabic language channel published Sunday.
“It’s racist and there’s nothing else to say about that,” Portman said. “It’s wrong and I disagree with that.”
Israel passed the law, which was sponsored by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, in July. It drew ire from Jews in Israel and abroad for relegating Arabic to non-official language status, expressing support for increased Jewish settlement and promoting the status of Jewish religion in legal matters. Others have defended it as codification of longstanding agreed-upon facts about Israel’s identity.
This isn’t Portman’s first time speaking out about her views on Israel. Earlier this year, Portman said she would not travel to Israel to receive the Genesis Prize, an award which calls itself the “Jewish Nobel.”
“I chose not to attend because I did not want to appear as endorsing Benjamin Netanyahu, who was to be giving a speech at the ceremony,” Portman wrote in an Instagram post explaining her decision, adding that she does not endorse the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against the Jewish state.
The Jewish actress, now doing press for her latest film “Vox Lux,” has been supportive of Israel in the past. In 2015, she directed and starred in “A Tale of Love and Darkness,” a Hebrew-language film adaptation of an Amos Oz book of the same name that chronicles the author’s life around the time of Israel’s founding.
Watch Portman’s interview with BBC here:
Why should I or anybody else give a rats patoot what Natalie Portman thinks??
We can thank the orange fascist in the WH for normalizing racism and toxic nationalism through his constant maligning immigrants. The alt-right kugel in Israel is now engaging in the same shande. Feh.
She’s been in galus too long. Wake up yidden
She is correct that Israel is not the Nation-State of the Jewish people; Israel is a Zionist state and is actually anti-Jewish to its core.
So too, the Genesis prize is obviously not the “Jewish Nobel”; it is, perhaps, the “Zionist Nobel”.
the current thought in US is that having a group opinion about any ethnic group or religious group is racist and therefore wrong.
How ever it not only stifles personal opinion, but smothers free speech.
To give vent to the opinion that Blacks are (generally) mentally inferior or Muslims believe in killing infidels (see Koran) is considered in the US as racist and therefore WRONG.
this brainless actress has absorbed the prevailing thoughts of the US pop culture; however, we who live and support Israel know that the truth is not what the masses (or messes) think!
Jews have no Nation state. Jews are not defined by a State nor a capital but by religion. I doubt she understands but shes defntly raising a strong point.
Why are we subjected to hear what actors have to say about anything but their career,
I hope this news doesn’t shock any of you but disagreeing with Bibi does not qualify as anti-Israel, anti-Zionist or anti-Semitic.
In and American model of government Bibi would not be PM. Only the financial interests of the Charaidi parties keep him in office.
My neighbor who is a Mexican thinks otherwise
just like everyone else in the entertainment industry make statements in order to procure continuous work. she herself doesn’t believe in what she says.
#FAKEJEWS
Natalie Portman is to Israel what Jane Fona is the USA. Another celebrity denigrating the very culture that awards media celebrity status by giving aid and comfort and propaganda value to the enemy.