You can call Woody Allen a self-hating Jew all you want, but don’t make the mistake of thinking he’s not sensitive when others hate on his people.
In an interview in France by Israel’s Channel 2 Monday to promote the European release of “Blue Jasmine,” the legendary filmmaker was asked if it’s harder lately to be a Jew in the United States.
“No, I don’t think so,” he said, according to The Times of Israel. “By the low standards of tolerance for Jews all over the world, America’s been a very tolerant country. I do feel there are many people that disguise their negative feelings toward Jews, disguise it as anti-Israel criticism, political criticism, when in fact what they really mean is that they don’t like Jews.”
The Times goes on to quote a story Yedioth Ahronoth ran last year (translated in the Forward), in which Allen says that he does not believe in organized religion, and that he identifies most with his heritage “mainly when people attack me because of my being Jewish.”
Allen also spoke of his support of Israel, and of the inevitability of a trip there one day.
We’re sure he’ll receive a warm welcome.
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