Mark Ruffalo, an American actor, joins such profound experts on the Arab-Israeli conflict from the world of entertainment as musician Roger Waters and actress Vanessa Redgrave in his grasp of the matter, which has led to his deep antipathy toward Israel. His story is here: “Mark Ruffalo talks Palestinian issues, calls Israel a ‘kind of apartheid,'” by Zachary Keyser, Jerusalem Post, October 11, 2020:
Actor Mark Ruffalo referred to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the division between the two as a “kind of apartheid” while speaking to television host Mehdi Hasan on the self-titled NBC program.
“A kind of apartheid”? What kind? In Israel Arabs serve in the Knesset, where the Arab Joint List is the third largest political group. Arabs sit on Israel’s Supreme Court. Arabs go abroad as diplomats for the Jewish state. Arabs in Israel study with Jews, work in offices and factories beside Jews, are treated in the same hospitals with Jews, play on the same sports teams and on the same orchestras as Jews. Israeli Arabs have the same civil, political, and religious rights as Israeli Jews. The only difference is that while Israeli Jews are required to serve in the army, Israeli Arabs are exempt, though they may, if they so wish, volunteer to serve, and some, especially Christians and Druze, have elected to do so.
Ruffalo accused the Israeli government of carrying out “asymmetrical warfare” against the Palestinian people, and tied in United States support for Israel as plainly aiding and abetting the separation and the “violence acted upon them.”
By “asymmetrical warfare,” Ruffalo means that Israel is militarily more powerful than the Palestinians, for which presumably it is to be pilloried. Apparently it is unfair for Israel to be stronger than the Palestinian Arabs who wish to destroy it. But it is not Israel that begins these bouts of warfare; rather, the Palestinian terror groups start these mini-wars, waging Jihad against Israeli civilians, and Israel then retaliates. And the Palestinian terrorists are not fighting alone. Depending on the group – Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah — they receive money, weaponry, and diplomatic support from various Arab states, Iran, and Turkey. That makes the warfare a lot less “asymmetrical.”
The Israelis know that both major terror groups, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, hide their weapons in civilian neighborhoods. The IDF makes great efforts to warn Arab civilians to flee from weapons depots that Israel has targeted, using the “knock-on-the-roof” technique that describes the IDF’s practice of dropping non-explosive or low-yield devices on the roofs of targeted civilian homes in the Palestinian territories, as a prior warning of imminent bombing attacks, to give the inhabitants time to flee the attack.
“There’s no reason why an ally of American should not be held to the same standard as we would hold any other nation in the world,” he said.
Does Mark Ruffalo have a single example to adduce showing that America holds Israel to a lesser standard than it does “any other nation in the world”? He hasn’t produced one. Why not? Doesn’t Israel, almost alone among the nations of the world, make great efforts to minimize civilian casualties among its enemies? Colonel Richard Kemp, commander of the British forces in Afghanistan, who has fought in many combat zones, has described why he believes that Israel has “the most moral military in the world.” Here are his observations:
There are two views of the Israeli Military — what you hear in most of the media, and the truth. I’m going to tell you the truth.
I was the Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan. I have fought in combat zones around the world including Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Macedonia and Iraq.I was also present throughout the conflict in Gaza in 2014.
Based on my experience and on my observations: the Israel Defense Force, the IDF, does more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare.
Why is this so?
Firstly, Israel is a decent country with Western values, run on democratic principles. Israel has no more interest in war than Belgium does. In fact, Israel has never started a war. The only reason it ever goes to war is to defend itself. And it has to defend itself because, unlike Belgium, it is surrounded by countries and armed groups that want to destroy it.
Secondly, Judaism, with its unsurpassed moral standards, remains a major influence on the citizens of Israel. I say this as a non-Jew.
Thirdly, the army is composed overwhelmingly of citizen soldiers.
Israel is a small country with a small professional army. To fight a war it depends on its conscripts and its reservists. These are ordinary citizens, from professors to plumbers, called upon to defend their homes. They don’t want to be fighting and they don’t want to harm others.
Nowhere was the essential morality and decency of the IDF more evident than in the Gaza War of 2014. If ever there was a purely defensive war, this was it.
The war was started by Hamas, the terror organization, designated as such by the US State Department, that runs the Gaza strip. In the first six months of 2014, Hamas launched hundreds of rockets at Israeli civilians.
After repeated warnings from Israel to stop, the Israeli Air Force finally conducted precision strikes to halt the rocket-fire. And the IDF advanced into Gaza to destroy a network of terror tunnels that Hamas had constructed to attack Israeli communities near the Gaza border.
The IDF took extraordinary measures to give Gaza civilians notice of targeted areas, dropping millions of leaflets, broadcasting radio messages, sending texts and making tens of thousands of phone calls. Let me repeat that. The Israelis called Gazans on their cell phones and told them to leave their residences and move to safety. Never in the history of warfare has an army phoned its enemy and told them where they are going to drop their bombs.
Many IDF missions that could have taken out Hamas military capabilities were aborted to prevent civilian casualties, increasing the risk to Israeli citizens and soldiers.
Despite all of this, of course innocent civilians were killed. Every war is chaotic and confusing, and mistakes are frequent. But mistakes are not war crimes.
Hamas, on the other hand, committed war crimes as official government policy.
Hamas deliberately positioned its military assets among the civilian population, hiding weapons in schools and hospitals, and placing rocket launchers alongside apartment buildings, then forced those civilians to stay in areas they knew would be attacked. They also instructed their people to report the lie that every Gazan killed was a civilian, even if they were actually fighters.
And if there were no civilian deaths, Hamas made them up! Numerous Internet sites show Palestinians elaborately staging sniper victims and smashed ambulances, among other phony horrors. It’s so common there’s even a term for it — Pallywood, as in Palestinian Hollywood.
Ironically, it’s the leaders of Hamas themselves who best understand the extraordinary measures the IDF will take to protect innocent civilians. They take full advantage of Israel’s decency and adherence to the laws of war.
No army takes such risks in order to protect civilians as the Israeli army does. I say this as a professional soldier. I say it because it’s true. And people who care about truth should know it.
Well, Mark Ruffalo, what about your claim, quoted above, that “there’s no reason why an ally of American should not be held to the same standard as we would hold any other nation in the world”? Israel doesn’t need to be held to a high standard by its American ally. As Colonel Kemp, a British officer who has fought in many different theatres of war and observed the standards of many different combatants, has concluded, Israel already has “the most moral army in the world.” It holds itself, without any American prompting, to the highest standard of any army in the world. Perhaps you could spare a few minutes to read Kemp’s observations. And just possibly you will learn something that might give you pause.
revereridesagain says
They should ask “Professor Hulk”* They’d get more intelligent answers than they can from Ruffalo. For that matter, they’d get more intelligent answers from original Hulk. The man’s mind is a sieve. He is contributing to the rise of antisemitism and should be ashamed of himself.
* Non-“Avengers” fans check out “Endgame” for details.
william carr says
I only vaguely know the name so I looked him up. As far as I remember I may have seen him once. h
He has been b nominated many times for awards but has won rarely
Isabella van der westhuizen says
That is why one should encourage torrent and movie piracy.
I am not saying I beat the Devil, but I watched his movies for free
NO need to pay good money to Hollywood
gravenimage says
Actually, Isabella, stealing from creative people is not a virtue as you claim.
mortimer says
Hugh Fitzgerald has left off the parentheses as in ‘expert’ referring to Mark Ruffalo, who in fact is a pretentious, unread, unstudied, preposterous and spontaneous professional fool
His views on Israel (uninformed as they are) should be taken on the level of his other jests (whether funny or simply ‘groaners’).
This slander of Israel is worse than a groaner. It’s an enablement of the most intolerant and vicious terrorist on earth.
It should be noted by Mark Ruffalo that jihadists are in practice SOCIOPATHIC and care nothing for the lives of anyone who stands in their path. In contrast, Israel’s Defence Force is the most ethical military organization on earth. They telephone Arab families warning them to leave the vicinity of their coming attacks.
Mark Ruffalo is a thoughtless, unthinking man.
Ray Jarman says
You are correct and it is amazing what comes out of these fools’ mouths when the words are not written for them. It appears that when there is no writer for the words and a director instructing them how to say the words, they are simple blithering fools.
murad says
“Mark Ruffalo is a thoughtless, unthinking man.”
Does he know what he is talking about? Or is he a coward and very safe to reverse the real situation? Did he know how many Jews were in Baghdad and Cairo and Damascus and Sana’a in 1930s? Does he know how many are left there today? Why? Who is apartheid?
Does he have any brains or honor to spew such poison and lies?
Deano says
Well, Mark did have brain surgery several years ago and they may have removed much of the part of the brain that deals will logic and reality.
rubiconcrest says
Most people will have to look up his name to know who he is which is good for infidels since he will change fewer minds. Of course he’s completely wrong and self righteous to boot; a perfect combination.
DazzleMe says
I personally think he is a waste of breath!
mortimer says
Hugh Fitzgerald is correct. There is practically no apartheid or segregation in Israel save for that which occurs in the gender segregation in certain houses of prayer. Arabic is an official language of Israel. In contrast, Jordan and PA-controlled areas have no Jews or virtually none living there. That is the example of apartheid to be looked at more closely by Mr. Ruffalo.
The way people treated Jews is the ‘canary in the mine’ which says what those anti-Semitic people truly are!
Cornelius says
>“A kind of apartheid”? What kind? In Israel Arabs serve in the Knesset, where the Arab Joint List is the third largest political group. Arabs sit on Israel’s Supreme Court. Arabs go abroad as diplomats for the Jewish state. Arabs in Israel study with Jews, work in offices and factories beside Jews, are treated in the same hospitals with Jews, play on the same sports teams and on the same orchestras as Jews. Israeli Arabs have the same civil, political, and religious rights as Israeli Jews. The only difference is that while Israeli Jews are required to serve in the army, Israeli Arabs are exempt, though they may, if they so wish, volunteer to serve, and some, especially Christians and Druze, have elected to do so.
I’m going off topic here…..but in American we’ve had a black President, we have black Senators, black Congress-people, black Governors, literally thousands of elected black local officials, black CEOs of companies, black millionaires, a substantial black middle class…..and yet, everyone wants to pretend that we live in the 1950s and that blacks face systemic racism that precludes their capacity to climb the ladder of success..
Like with Israel, one wishes the left had a semblance of objectivity when dealing with American realities.
Bad Penguin says
Ruffalo is like a lot of movie stars…he’s just not very intelligent he just plays a really smart person in movies.
Tony Naim says
If this actor thinks of himself as an enlightened genius, he may benefit reading the
Religious edicts -Fatwas- of Ibn Taymiyya or his pupil Ibn Alkayem Aljouziya. the former being the ideological father of modern terrorism and the latter (the pupil of the former) the father of Dhimmitude.
Muslims settle in the west, they receive equal rights and opportunities, while christians and Jews in the Middle East get the short end of the stick all the time.
No hope in ignorance!!
Tony Naim says
There is more a active live model of apartheid in the present world than the F@&$ing practice of Dhimmitude.
Tony Naim says
Dhimmitude is the true apartheid
Rarely says
Anti-Semitism has never troubled itself with the truth. It would be inconvenient to do so and interrupt the agenda.
It is the very essence of racism and bigotry to ignore or adjust the truth to justify the hatred. There is no point trying to reason with racists and bigots they are beyond that. One can only hope to muzzle them so they infect as few others as possible.
James Lincoln says
Rarely,
An accurate post – very disturbing…
mgoldberg says
“…Therefore, said Hussein, Shariah law prohibits Palestinians from recognizing Israel, within any borders, and commands that every Muslim has a personal duty to wage war against the Jewish state until the “Muslim” land is freed.- The Imam of Jerusalem
This is the authentic Islamic Apartheid, not the fake one Israel is accused of.
Walter Sieruk says
Who cares what that Middle East “expert”, Mark Ruffalo thinks feels and says. For Ruffalo is overruled . To be more specific, that guy is greatly overruled, by other other than God.
God has declared in His Word, the Bible that the Jewish people have every right to all of that land, including the West Bank. As seen, for example, in Genesis 28:13-15. 35:48, 49. Psalms 105:7-11. 135:4.
Furthermore, the Jewish people should also have that land by historic rights. As found in First Kings 4:20,21,24,25. 8:55,56.
So in spite of some people calling Ruffalo an “expert” that man is really just an ignorant fool
Kesselman says
Talking about apartheid one could go to any Moslem country to find it. It goes for women, Jews (if any left), and a diminishing Christian congregation.—Ruffo seems to be the actors’ prototype ignoramus.—“Experts,” up my @$$!
gravenimage says
+1
tim gallagher says
I think that these entertainment types, when they start pontificating on subjects about which they usually seem to know very little, should probably be completely ignored and treated as the joke that they are. If they want to start making statements about political issues, then they should go off and study up on the subject until they actually do know something about the subject, and then, maybe, speak up. I’ve enjoyed Mark Ruffalo’s performances in a couple of movies I’ve seen him in, but I have zero interest in his views about political issues. I wonder if these types of people are mainly seeking the praise of their fellow left wing members of the entertainment business and that’s why they speak up on issues like this. Anyway, their views count for nothing.
gravenimage says
Unfortunately, Tim, these useful idiots have a big platform, for completely unrelated reasons.
G says
Mark Ruffalo – as in the actor? The guy who takes off his clothes to teach us how to mail in presidential ballots? He is going to teach us about Middle East history and politics?
https://youtu.be/fMOC71rrBog
underbed cat says
No, but he and other biggies might help the left vote… and he may be clueless about deception in Quranic warfare or sharia but that’s hollywoods mission right now…..it may get attention…they like attention, crafty. I always think of a line from a movie paraphase,if you want to sell a lie, send it to Hollywood. Guess it’s sometimes true.
tim gallagher says
When you talk about these fools having a big platform, gravenimage, that is something I have trouble comprehending. I suppose that is because I take no notice of clowns in the entertainment industry and their pontificating on political issues. But maybe a lot of people do actually take notice of them, very foolishly. I have no idea why anyone would take notice of them. I thought that “Zodiac” as a pretty good movie and I think Mark Ruffalo as one of cops in that, the partner of Jake Gyllen? (however you speel his name). I also liked that movie “Just Like Heaven” where Reese Witherspoon was haunting Ruffalo’s grieving, heavy drinking character. But I’m probably pretty easy to please. That’s all I’ve seen him in, but i don’t mind him. As a political commentator I’m sure he’s a complete wanker, but most of these leftie entertainment fools are. On politics, most of them have shit for brains in my opinion. The vaguely leftie type of people that I like as people, such as Emmylou Harris and Nanci Griffith, well, I just ignore their politics and continue to like them because they seem to be such very pleasant human beings.
carpediadem says
He’s a good actor. Lousy on the facts.
tim gallagher says
Yes, I agree, carpediadem. I’ve only seen him in a maybe three movies, but I thought he
does a good job of seeming like a very average kind of person, not anyone special. Just Mr Average in society. As I said, I take no notice of the political crap that many of these clowns come out with and that includes him.
gravenimage says
Tim, I’m not saying that actors should automatically have large platforms–just that they often do.
tim gallagher says
gravenimage, I understood that you weren’t saying that actors or others in the entertainment industry should have large platforms because I’m sure we see things the same way,(I think we usually do. I see things the same way as many of the people who comment here at Jihad Watch). I suppose I was merely trying to express my exasperation that there are people out in our communities who are actually foolish enough to listen to, and be influenced by these clowns of actors when they pontificate on political issues. But I guess there are quite a few people who do take notice of these activist type actors and musicians and, probably visual artists too. I have no idea why.To me, it makes no sense for people to take notice of people who make big public statements on subjects that they probably know absolutely nothing about. I have a vague memory of Ricky Gervais getting up at one of the award ceremonies and telling the actors in the audience to stop making these political statements because they usually knew bugger all about the subject. He said it in a joking way, but I thought it was spot on. On the left wingers, I don’t know if you heard this in the USA, but, on the radio news yesterday here in Australia, I heard them say that Bruce Springsteen had said that if Trump wins the election, he is moving to Australia. Sounds like the rubbish the leftie celebrities said after Trump won last time. I don’t think any of them moved. I suppose it must mean that Springsteen liked Australia when he has toured here.
dapto says
Of course Mark Ruffalo say this he’s a pedowood Nazi member and as a Nazis there allowed to hate Jews and Israel.
gravenimage says
Citations?
gravenimage says
Mark Ruffalo, Middle East Expert, Denounces Israel
……………
Just appalling–what a tool.
L Mayor says
As my old friends in Texas would say, if Ruffalo had a brain, he`d be outside playing with it.
nora says
Another high-profile coward who doesn’t want to be another high-profile target.
Quazgaa says
Interestingly enough, Captain America actor Chris Evans also appeared in The Red Sea Diving Resort, a movie about a Mossad operation.
Seems there’s some common sense left in Hollywood.
Paul Wheeler says
If it is true that “Israel has never started a war”, as Mr. Spencer claims, he might explain how in the Six-Day War the Egyptian Air Force was destroyed ON THE GROUND. One heckuva defensive response, no?
gravenimage says
One might say that if the Allies ever destroyed Nazi planes on the ground that ergo they started WWII. The fact is that Muslim nations had threatened Israel since the beginning, and always hoped to destroy her.
Previously Paul Wheeler has sneered at non-Muslims concerned over Turkey turning Hagia Sophia into a Mosque–although other of his posts have indeed been anti-Jihad. Odd stuff.
Max Shir says
Arab autonomy without a single Jew was created in Palestine at the end of the last century.
Jews owe Arabs neither a centimeter of land, nor a liter of water, nor a shekel of benefits.
There was no case in history that a victor in a war gave his land to a defeated enemy or fed millions of enemies for 70 years.
Solution of the decennary – natural, fair and fast:
ALL Palestinian Arabs between the sea and the Jordan receive identity cards issued in Ramallah and pay taxes ( income tax and health tax) to the Arab Authority.
After 2 million Arabs become citizens of their state (without an army), they will be gradually absorbed in Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin, Hebron, Jericho, Abu Dis, Bethlehem, Gaza, etc.
It’s time to release the “occupied” and compare the rights of Arabs in Haifa and Jaffa to the rights of Jews in Ramallah and Gaza.
Palestinian-Jordanian ☪️ citizenship, Abu Dis and Shu’afat – for Arabs,
Israeli ✡️ citizenship and Jerusalem – for Jews !