Thread by @JonahDispatch

So last night I watched the @AlbertBrooks documentary. It's great, especially the first hour. This thread isn't about that, tho.

Like Brooks, it's very Jewish, in some of the main ways I love and identify with Jewishness: humor, guilt, loving nostalgia for family. 1/

It's all build on a conversation/friendship between @robreiner and @AlbertBrooks. They met in high school and had famous funnymen as parents.
To say I disagree w/Reiner on politics is an understatement. But I also feel like he could be a cousin or uncle. Which got me thinking 2/

While watching interviews with Jon Stewart, Jonah Hill, Steven Spielberg, Ben Stiller, Judd Apatow, Larry David, Sarah Silverman -- all Jews -- it dawned on me that if any of them had been on the ground on 10/7 Hamas would have killed them too. 3/

It wouldn't matter what they think of Israel or what their politics are. In fact, it doesn't actually matter whether they're Jewish at all, given that Hamas killed quite a few non-Jews on 10/7. That's not the point. 4/

The point is that for Hamas, and a lot of people defending it, they're all just Jews. And one Jew or "Zionist" in Israel is as deserving of being murdered as another in the name of "resistance." After all there were very leftwing peace activists who were slaughtered on 10/7.
5/

Virtually all of the Jews most Americans like or admire in one way or another count the same in Hamas' eyes as the strangers who were raped, murdered, or tortured. They all could very easily have had relatives or friends who were raped, tortured, or murdered. 6/

When you hear about "global intifada" or even random Jewish college kids being threatened or intimidated or even when it's suggested that American Jews aren't *really* American, it's worth remembering that there really are no "good" and "bad" Jews for these people. 7/

The toddlers being held captive could easily be, I dunno, Adam Sandler's nieces or nephews, Albert Einstein's, Ruth Bader-Ginsburg's or William Shatner's grandkids or great-grandkids. 8/

You can say I'm being manipulative, using famous Jewish-Americans to generate sympathy for "Zionists," Israelis, and Jews generally. Fair enough, I guess. But the point remains, I'm not the one reducing all Jews to a single identity. The anti-Semites are.... 9/

And I mean the anti-Semites of the left and the right. Any talk of "the Jews" -- or whatever euphemisms people come up with -- reduce a diverse group of people into a single identity that erases their disagreements and individuality. 10 thedispatch.com/newsletter/gfi…

Again, I disagree *a lot* with many famous Jewish-Americans. But if you're going to reduce them all to one narrow identity, then I think it's worth pointing out that Hamas -- and its defenders -- would happily murder and torture all of the "good Jews" too. 11/

They'd kill the kids of Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Jon Stewart, Sarah Silverman. They'd rape Mel Brooks' grandkids in front of him or shoot Billy Crystal. And if that horrifies you more than the same being done to accountants or plumbers, that should tell you something. 12/

And the defenders of Hamas, would -- and probably do -- harass, mock, and belittle the relatives of those popular Jews on campuses across the country. At least there's no reason to think they wouldn't

13/

Again, I don't think fame confers any extra moral status (and neither does Hamas!). But I think a lot of people treat the "normal" victims as abstractions. How else could anyone justify putting Hitler mustaches on posters for stolen babies? 14/ telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/10/2…

Anyway, this is just what went through my mind as I watched this wonderful -- and profoundly Jewish -- documentary about Albert Brooks (who was born "Albert Einstein" btw and is Super Dave Osbourne's brother). fin/