Last week I pondered whether the de-Israelification of Daniel Silva’s main character, Gabriel Allon in Silva’s newest novel, was accidental or on purpose. I wondered whether Silva deliberately decoupled Allon from anything Israeli because of the current Israel-bashing climate.
Perhaps Harper Collins, Silva’s publisher, told him to cancel Allon’s Israeli identity. Perhaps Silva wanted to avoid the malevolent, so-called pro-Palestinian protesters from harassing him at his book appearances. Perhaps Silva bought into the idealogical cult that wants to erase anything Israeli from our minds and from our store shelves.
So I went straight to the sources and sent very polite e-mails to the head of Harper Collins and to Silva himself. I inquired, as a long time reader and fan of the Allon series, why there was nary a trace of Allon’s Israeli background in An Inside Job.
I thought, at least I hoped, I would get an answer, even if it was evasive and unsatisfying. Alas, I got nuthin’. I checked my inbox and my spam, and nothing, not a word from either of them.
In my experience, silence usually speaks volumes and many times it’s used to dodge an uncomfortable truth.
But wouldn’t you know it, just when I thought I had hit a dead end, salvation, at least I thought so, came from a new FriendWithoutBenefits subscriber.
Mr. Anonymous (I’ll protect his name. Not sure why, but it sounds cool), interviewed Silva at a solidly pro-Israel, American Zionist organization event.
At that book tour event, Silva made this allusion to the evolution of the Allon character:
He was very clear that Gabriel has retired from being a spy and has entered a new phase of his life.
I’m not a novelist, but I do read quite a few novels, especially whodunits, mysteries and thrillers, and the main characters become meaningful to me. I’ve gotten to know them, how they think and how they are programmed to act based on their makeup, their past. The same with Gabriel Allon.
His mystique was carefully constructed around being an avenging angel, a larger than life heroic figure with a complicated background as an Israeli spy and spymaster. His complex character was developed by Silva over decades. But now he’s just an art restorer who eats his way around Venice solving humdrum art thefts.
He’s a protagonist without a past.
And if it’s true that Silva merely wanted to turn the Allon character in a different direction by conspicuously canceling his Israeliness, his timing stinks. Without a more meaty, comprehensive explanation, it smacks of a cowardly capitulation to all the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish haters who’ve crawled out of their hidey holes and into every corner of life in the West.
So here’s my final word on Daniel Silva for now. So long. Oh, that’s two words.
Well, the word on the street right now (nifty transition, no?) is that Israel loves to murder journalists.
The latest accusation arose after five Al Jazeera employees in Gaza were blown up by an Israeli missile. Israel says its main target, a guy by the name of Anas al-Sharif, was an active member of Hamas, was on their payroll and was the head of a Hamas cell. Israel says that made him a legit target.
You can believe Israel or not, I’m not here to argue the case. But there is evidence that at the very least, al-Sharif was a huge Hamas sympathizer and reveled in their murderous activities. He was quite open about it on social media.
But as a longtime legitimate journalist, here’s what is so hard for me to fathom.
Ian Williams, the president of the Foreign Press Association said on CNN, “Frankly, I don’t care if al-Sharif was in Hamas or not.”
He said, “We don’t kill journalists for being Republicans or Democrats or in Britain, Labour Party.”
No we don’t. Journalists are allowed to be Republicans, Democrats and even British Labour Party members, because those are not terrorist organizations. The annihilation of another nation is not one of their core beliefs.
I am deeply troubled that many redlines in objectivity and detachment from political positions that I held to as a journalist, are now routinely being crossed. But Ian Williams notwithstanding, we should all care very much if someone who poses as a journalist is in fact a shill for a group of murderous psychopaths.
During World War II, Nazi newsmen were called propagandists, not journalists. The same should be said for the Al Jazeera crew.
I’m with Mike Huckabee, the US Ambassador to Israel who said it best: “One can’t be an objective reporter and a terrorist at the same time.”
On a positive note, I want to give a shout out to former superstar NFL quarterback, Tom Brady.
At the unveiling last week of his statue in front of Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts where he won six Super Bowls with the New England Patriots, Brady prominently and proudly wore his blue “Stand Up to Jewish Hate” pin.
As a long suffering New York Jets fan, I have hated Brady’s guts. And on top of that he jilted my fantasy crush Bridget Moynahan (like what was he thinking?) but Brady has been a staunch supporter of his former boss Bob Kraft’s Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, and we sure as hell need more celebs like him.
So I will now make the following call.
Tom Brady is a mentsch.