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Last update - 09:29 15/06/2009
Filmmaker behind 'drunk Jews' video denies fueling anti-Semitism
By Benjamin L. Hartman, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Jerusalem, Israel News 

The controversy surrounding journalist Max Blumenthal continues in the wake of the release of his video of intoxicated American Jews in Jerusalem insulting President Barack Obama, but he rejects the claims that the footage fuels anti-Semitism.

The video shows young American Jews, who are apparently very drunk, criticizing Obama for his Mideast policies and describing him in derogatory terms. It has also had more than 400,000 hits on YouTube.

"I have received death threats from people, mainly ones calling me a self-hating Jew. I am self-hating, but my self-hatred has nothing to do with me being Jewish," Blumenthal told Haaretz this week.
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Blumenthal says the ad hominem attacks against him and co-producer and cameraman Joseph Dana are being used to obscure the message of the video, and to ignore the statements made by young Jews who could be the relatives of any of us.

"People who feel they have an emotional need to stop this video by eliminating me, that's just a feature of right-wing psychology around the world," Blumenthal said.

If the responses on YouTube are any indicator, the video has elicited an inflamed response from both the left and right, uniting in anger groups as divergent as left-wing Israelis, Kahanists, neo-Nazis, and Islamic fundamentalists. The most ardent Israel supporters say the video merely pours gasoline on the flames of anti-Semitism and drives a wedge between Jewish Americans and African-Americans, who, like them, voted for Barack Obama in overwhelming numbers.

Dana and Blumenthal see as invalid the accusations that the video is exacerbating anti-Semitism and spreading hatred of Jews, and nothing more than an effort to suppress the discussion of painful issues in the Jewish community.

"Let me make this clear", Joseph states, "anti-Semitism is wrong, is fundamentally crazy, they [anti-Semites] will find ammunition for their insane war for themselves. I feel this is an issue for the Jewish community to address. I can't be held to the standards of crazy people. If we [Jews] get hung up on what anti-Semites will say, we'll miss what the point is of all this."

After the video went viral, Dana wrote on the Mondoweiss blog that the interviews shown depict the very core of the difficulties Obama will face in the Middle East and show "what Obama is up against."

For Blumenthal, who filmed the video as part of a month spent writing stories and making videos on Israel's politics, the racist, far-right statements made by the kids in the video are partly a result of the "indoctrination" he says he experienced firsthand during his time on a Taglit Birthright trip, a program which sends young Diaspora Jews to Israel to reconnect with their Jewish roots.

"I know this from my time on Birthright in 2002, and I was told that right where Israel signed the Declaration of Independence - I was told by an official Israeli tour guide that one day there would be a wave of anti-Semitism in the U.S. and we would have to flee to Israel, and he said that this wave would come about with a tone like he hoped it would happen because the Diaspora would have to be brought together. An official tour guide! This was one of the many moments that got me thinking."

Blumenthal and Joseph both admitted they knew only the most basic details about the backgrounds of the subjects in the video, with Blumenthal saying "if I'd known it would have such an impact, I would have made an effort to find out more." They could only confirm that from the statements the kids made, they were a mixture of American-Israelis, students on study abroad, Yeshiva students, and a few Birthright alumni.

"If you just look at the work I've done, I just record work and then I release it," Blumenthal said, explaining how the videos he makes differ greatly from the meticulous nature of traditional broadcast journalism.

This week, Blumenthal released a new video, filmed in Tel Aviv and showing anti-war protestors singing the president's praises. The video, "Israelis to Obama: Save us from ourselves!", references and parodies the original one shot in Jerusalem, and features a short interview with famous Israeli peacenik Uri Avnery and a low-level celebrity cameo by the doctor who inspired the film "Patch Adams."

More by Benjamin Hartman:
  • Jews gone wild / Why booze and camcorders don't mix
  • Making swine flu kosher: A symptom of the disease of Israeli politics
  • Benjamin Hussein Netanyahu, or, How a little bit of Obama goes a long way
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      1.   He isn`t funny 22:06  |  Dave 13/06/09
      2.   Blumenthal - I don`t buy it! 22:44  |  Blane 13/06/09
      3.   I think these filmmakers are stupid people and should concentrate 05:35  |  ks 14/06/09
      4.   The filmmaker?! 06:52  |  Yair 14/06/09
      5.   Max Blumenthal 07:01  |  sel 14/06/09
      6.   Cheap shots--cop out journalism 07:14  |  Schmidlap 14/06/09
      7.   Yes it does fuel anti-Semitism 07:16  |  Nechama 14/06/09
      8.   American jews!! 07:23  |  Amir 14/06/09
      9.   Self promoting Jerk 07:36  |  Jon 14/06/09
      10.   Smile, you`re on candid camera 08:14  |  Bazmann 14/06/09
      11.   some people will do anything to get famous 08:22  |  dave 14/06/09
      12.   The kids in the video fuel anti-semitism!! 08:24  |  David 14/06/09
      13.   Blumenthal plagiarizing Larry Daiv 08:51  |  danny 14/06/09
      14.   How can the truth `fuel` anti-Semitism? 09:05  |  Mark Lincoln 14/06/09
      15.   Cinema Verité 09:16  |  Eli 14/06/09
      16.   He made another video, but it isn`t anti-semitic so no mention 09:21  |  Steve Randolph 14/06/09
      17.   Peculiar 09:30  |  Colin Wright 14/06/09
      18.   what else can a dishonest, pr-prone struggling "flam-maker" say? 09:40  |  a voice 14/06/09
      19.   David seems not to understand the concept of propaganda 09:53  |  sz 14/06/09
      20.   Give me a break 09:58  |  Ezra 14/06/09
      21.   absurd 10:11  |  Lee Marks 14/06/09
      22.   No Difference Among Racists 10:16  |  Jack Olson 14/06/09
      23.   Well, the Borat trick works in both directions ... 10:19  |  Andreas 14/06/09
      24.   The kids were Drunk. He is hastening Antisemitism in the USA 10:34  |  Semsem 14/06/09
      25.   How much alcohol does it take to turn a person into a racist? 11:05  |  peacelover 14/06/09
      26.   drunk? so what? 11:08  |  Stan 14/06/09
      27.   To Danny in Vancouver: I believe David stole it from Woody Allen 11:10  |  peacelover 14/06/09
      28.   BTW 11:12  |  dave 14/06/09
      29.   antisemitics are idiots 11:14  |  GaileeHero 14/06/09
      30.   drunk israelis 11:20  |  pistolato 14/06/09
      31.   The worst damage to Jews is by Jews 11:34  |  Sam 14/06/09
      32.   Exploitation of youth, edited audio, no jew would say this 11:42  |  Grinberg 14/06/09
      33.   The making of a future Haaretz reporter 11:43  |  Paul 14/06/09
      34.   Woody Allen - Larry David - Max Blumenthal 11:55  |  David J 14/06/09
      35.   I`m sober and I don`t like Obama 12:15  |  Gedalia 14/06/09
      36.   is lieberman drunk ? is the talk back drunk ? is zionism drunk ? 12:46  |  muslim-- 14/06/09
      37.   Kill the Mesenger! 13:12  |  Johan Odin 14/06/09
      38.   Now I have to see the video 13:13  |  Leroy Brown 14/06/09
      39.   Never looked in the mirror, have U 13:18  |  Tip 14/06/09
      40.   Fuel for thought 13:26  |  Marlene N. 14/06/09
      41.   What a fuss about a bunch of drunks!! 13:30  |  TW 14/06/09
      42.   Au Contraire, Blumenthal is the new Herzl 14:22  |  Abecassis 14/06/09
      43.   `drunk kids` 14:57  |  Sara 14/06/09
      44.   So it wasn`t the n****r hating kids? 15:47  |  Roscoe Robson 14/06/09
      45.   Did you buy them the liquor first Max? 16:16  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 14/06/09
      46.   "He says he`s "self hating" but that "it has nothing to do with 17:09  |  redbourn 14/06/09
      47.   Re; #33 17:40  |  darrell 14/06/09
      48.   Dislike of Barak Obama? 17:48  |  darrell 14/06/09
      49.   To Ezra #18 18:42  |  Alfred 14/06/09
      50.   irrational Obama hatred 19:15  |  Stan 14/06/09
      51.   "no jew would say this" BS! 19:21  |  BBSNews 14/06/09
      52.   Tourguides???? 19:24  |  johnny 14/06/09
      53.   Grinberg are you serious??? 20:01  |  Chaval 14/06/09
      54.   Jews behaving badly 23:05  |  Psychologist 14/06/09
      55.   These kids need to be grounded, not filmed 02:14  |  Peter 15/06/09
      56.   Probably Fraudulent 02:16  |  UsedToPostHere 15/06/09
      57.   Alcohol, racism, and narcissism 03:42  |  nopeacenojustice 15/06/09
      58.   Stop Worrying 09:00  |  david 15/06/09
      59.   The "pol-sci major" who had no clue who 10:12  |  Daniel 15/06/09
      60.   These were Iranian gentiles posing as jews 11:41  |  grinberg 15/06/09
      61.   This is to the haters - there is nothing negative about Israel 11:50  |  grinberg 15/06/09
      62.   AMERICAN DRUNK 12:51  |  ERIC 15/06/09
      63.   Obama comments 13:07  |  Zair 15/06/09
      64.   Aping Ahmadinejad 14:56  |  Ariel 15/06/09
      65.   Grinberg in Love 15:05  |  Chaval 15/06/09
      66.   Fueling anti-Semitism 17:01  |  Lea Har Even 15/06/09
      67.   This is more about moronic Americans 17:16  |  Karla Lindquist 15/06/09
      68.   Blame The Messenger 07:24  |  Charles H Nadler 16/06/09
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