“Jews Film Back” – might be the headline of an article about the new video Gaza flotilla that’s making the rounds of the pro-Israel circuit these days. It’s called “We Con The World” and is a spoof on that ever-popular “We Are The World” one of years past in which entertainment stars raise money for valid causes. The roughly 4.5 minute video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOGG_osOoVg .

This well-done spoof on the cynical anti-Israel arguments made by the pro-Palestinian crowd features American-Israelis crooning in stereotypical Arab outfits (and with stereotypical Arabic accents) about how they are duping the world when it comes to the charade of innocents in Gaza being held hostage to the evil whims of an imperialist Israel.

Hold on! Stereotypical dress and accents? What if the pro-Palestinian crowd had done something from their perspective using Hasidic garb and Yiddish accents? We would rightly be screaming “anti-Semites!” Is this any different?

Now I’ve mentioned that to some friends in Israel and here and most (not all) disagree. I’ve gotten a lot of “They do it to us, so why can’t we fight back in this non-violent way?” My response: “Like Mom told me all those years ago, two wrongs don’t make a right.”

So for the most part I have no problem with the words and the lyrics, which are indeed quite clever. But we don’t need to lower our values to the crash cacophony of the haters of Israel. Do we?

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