Dear Sarah, Congratulations on winning the award for the best first film at the Venice Film Festival. You didn't surprise us. When we know about a film festival in the first act, and a Jew wins in the second act, we already know that in the third act - from on stage - there will be curses and insults against the Jewish state.
It's interesting: Never, but never, have we heard a Muslim or Arab winner take the stage and condemn the jihad that kills Arabs. We've never heard an Arab woman take the stage and condemn the oppression of women in the Muslim world. But always, almost without exception, it will be a Jewish winner who condemns the Jewish state.
No, Sarah Friedland, you are not brave. You are part of the herd mentality. It's fashion. It's tradition. You have no idea what you're talking about. You said there, on stage, that: "As a Jewish American artist working in a time-based medium, I must note, I’m accepting this award on the 336th day of Israel’s genocide in Gaza." Genocide? All the claims of "genocide" have already been refuted in at least five research articles that examined the data. And who provides the data? Hamas. One of the most murderous organizations to emerge in the current century, one in a long line of jihad organizations, sowing destruction, death and ruin wherever they operate.
As Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, of which Hamas is a part, wrote, "Islam is a death industry." Not all Islam. Radical Islam. Political Islam. Islam that seeks to conquer the entire world. Islam that is a murderous imperialism. Islam that oppresses women. Islam that executes anyone whose sexual orientation deviates by a millimeter from the dictates of the priests. Islam that not only speaks but also acts. Some 95% of the victims of this radical Islam are Muslims. Islam, whose speakers declare that the goal is the annihilation of all Jews and Christians. Islam, whose most important legal scholar, who was also the spiritual leader of Hamas until his death, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, said that "Muslims should complete Hitler's work."
Many brave Muslims speak out against this Islam. Hamas is our problem, they say. Hezbollah is our disaster. Iran is the head of the snake of violence in the Middle East. But you refuse to understand what they understand. Because something bad happened to the media and academia in the free world: There is brainwashing; There is suppression of facts; There are manipulations.
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Sarah Friedland poses with her awards for Best Director and the Lion of the Future Luigi de Laurentis Award for "Familiar" during the 81st Venice International Film Festival at Palazzo del Cinema
(Photo: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)
But the herd says something needs to be said against Israel. So you say it too. It's hard for you to understand, but all the propaganda of lies against Israel is the disaster of the Muslims themselves.
Because instead of fighting radical Islam, which is the main enemy of most Muslims, you and your progressive friends are becoming the propaganda mechanism of Hamas. And no, Israel is not to blame for what happened and is happening in the Gaza Strip. It's Hamas, which if it could would carry out genocide against anyone it considers an infidel.
If there are more and more voices like yours, with hatred for Israel, jihad in the world becomes stronger - then they will come for you too. There is no immunity for those who supported Hamas just as there is no immunity for Muslims, who are the main victims of jihad. Just as it won't help transgender people and queers who demonstrate against Israel and in favor of Hamas. Everyone, but everyone, is on the jihad's kill list. But blindness makes so many – you too – useful idiots of Hamas.
Ms. Friedland, it is possible to believe that your intentions are good. You hear the word "genocide" over and over again, and that's what you say on stage when you accept your international award. But it seems that even cultural and artistic figures, who are doubtful if they understand anything about radical Islam, can make a little more effort before they express an opinion. The ceremony where you spoke was in Venice. Well, radical Islam has no plans to be content with "liberating Palestine" (meaning, genocide of Jews in Israel). All the heads of radical Islam speak repeatedly about conquering the entire West. Including Rome. That's close to Venice.
On February 4th, a Kuwaiti preacher, Tareq Al-Suwaidan, said that "October 7 was the first step toward liberating Palestine. Rome will also be in our hands." On February 2, the Islamist preacher Ra'ad Salah, who lives in Israel, said that "Islam will enter the White House and conquer Rome and all of Europe." Khaled Mashal, a leader of Hamas, said back in 2008 that "within a few years, the whole world will submit to the will of Islam." There are countless expressions of this kind. But nothing of this is published in most of the leading newspapers in the world, and they are not taught in most departments of Islamic and Middle Eastern studies.
If you have a drop of decency left, and assuming you don't intend to be another anti-Zionist or anti-Israel activist, and certainly not antisemitic, you are invited to learn a little about the facts. Hopefully they influence you. Then, if you are honest and fair, you are invited to admit: I was wrong. The problem is not Israel. The problem is those who threaten to destroy Israel and conquer the world.
Winston Churchill once said: “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile - hoping it will eat him last.” Just listen, Sarah, to what the leaders of jihad are saying. If you, and any decent person, prefer to ignore what they say, they will come to eat you too.