If what is colloquially known as “the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” was a Marvel movie, the first scene may go something like this: it’s late at night in a popular Tel Aviv restaurant. Folks from all walks of life are enjoying drinks and delicious dishes when suddenly a Palestinian terrorist, armed with an M16 assault rifle, storms in and opens fire. Some people run to the bathroom for cover; some try to leave, but the terrorist is blocking their way, throwing grenades at the door. When enough people manage to flee, the terrorist crosses the street, pulls out a large serrated knife, and starts stabbing passersby, including Salim Barkat, an Israeli-Arab police officer rushing to the scene to stop the slaughter. Barkat and two others die that evening, and scores of others are wounded.
Meanwhile, because every superhero movie needs its supervillain, the man who planned the attack is lounging in his apartment in Ramallah, celebrating his success. He is Marwan Barghouti, the leader of the PLO offshoot known as the Tanzim, a terror outfit dedicated to the wholesale murder of Israelis and Jews. And when the Israelis arrest him a few weeks later, he stands tall, claiming – stop me if you’ve heard this one before – that he’s not a terrorist but a freedom fighter.
Now, if you know the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) – that mighty cultural machine behind pretty much every hit movie in the last twenty years or so, including Iron Man, The Avengers, Spider-Man and others – you realise that its villains are often larger-than-life figures who enjoy the adoration of millions of dupes, boobs, and morons. That’s because the men who made Marvel the juggernaut it is today, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, were both first generation Americans, Jews whose parents had emigrated from Europe and who were appalled by witnessing the rise of Hitler and the Nazis. To make sure no one ever again rooted for a slick-tongued madman with genocidal fantasies, they gave us a parade of distinctly Jewish heroes, weaklings suddenly endowed with supernatural gifts and charged with saving a frequently ungrateful world.
It's likely, then, that Kirby and Lee would’ve been appalled had they lived long enough to see so many actors made famous by portraying their timeless characters stand up and speak out… for the villain.
A new petition, calling for Barghouti’s immediate release, was signed by more than 20 of the MCU’s stars, including Benedict Cumberbatch (Dr. Strange), Mark Ruffalo (The Incredible Hulk), and Ian McKellen (Magneto).
“We express our grave concern at the continuing imprisonment of Marwan Barghouti,” reads the petition, “his violent mistreatment and denial of legal rights whilst imprisoned. We call upon the United Nations and the Governments of the World to actively seek the release of Marwan Barghouti from Israeli prison.”
So gruelling, in fact, are Barghouti’s conditions that he was permitted to use his time in prison to complete his dissertation, receive a Ph.D. from Cairo University, and receive visits from a long list of luminaries, including members of Knesset, intellectuals, and activists eager to express their admiration.
But the Palestinian narrative, alas, has little patience for facts, which is why Barghouti continued to claim that the Israelis were torturing him and his fellow terrorists. In 2017, he initiated a hunger strike, designed to strengthen the popular notion that he was the second coming of Nelson Mandella. Sadly for Barghouti, his cell was monitored by security cameras, which clearly showed the brave leader prattling to visitors about going feint with righteous hunger and then ambling over to the bathroom, removing a tasty candy bar from the cabinet, and eating it with relish.
You may choose to ignore such deceit as mere trifles. You may argue, as do, no doubt, at least some of the petition’s signatories, that there’s no better figure to lead us to peace than a repentant terrorist who has abandoned his violent ways and is eager to reconcile with his captors. Maybe so, but Barghouti ain’t that guy: He has spent the last quarter of a century repeatedly and gleefully advocating not for coexistence but for “resistance,” the bloodier the better.
Don’t take my word for it: In 2014, commemorating ten years since the passing of Yasser Arafat, Barghouti wrote a letter from prison, arguing that “an ongoing armed conflict with Israel is Arafat’s legacy, and the principle for which thousands of martyrs have already died. The Palestinian Authority must cease all cooperation with Israel, which only strengthens the occupation.” So much for peace.
It's sad for any rational, remotely educated person to support this murderous villain. But there’s something particularly nauseating about seeing so many of the MCU’s actors rush to Barghouti’s defence. Marvel was created by Jews who had to turn to the then-lowly medium of comics because the rest of the refined world wouldn’t hear their please. Their first hero, Captain America, was inked with one goal in mind: get Americans to care about the Jew-hating thugs goose-stepping all over Europe. That the men and women made rich and famous by the genius of Lee and Kirby now cheer for a Jew killer is a travesty.
No worries, though: as us Marvel afficionados know all too well, the slimy pretenders standing in the way of justice always get their comeuppance in the end.
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