This is Sabra. She’s an Israeli mutant. Despite existing since the 80’s, Sabra’s remained obscure in superhero discourse for decades. And now she’s been announced for Captain America: New World Order. She’s also being played by Shira Haas, who came to prominence with shows like Unorthodox. Cue the celebrations, a Jewish character’s being played by a Jewish person…right?
Not quite. But before I get into that, I’d like to share my two concerns on this matter:
The first is obvious: her name’s Sabra. The word “Sabra” on its own isn’t a big deal, it’s the Hebrew word for “cactus”, but given that it has partial ties to The Sabra Shatila Massacre, it’s not a great look. It’d be like playing The Bridal Chorus at a Jewish wedding: technically not “offensive”, but with a negative, historical connotation. It doesn’t help that The Sabra Shatila Massacre was relatively-recent, making this a little iffy. Not to mention, calling her “Sabra” is really lame.
The second issue’s more distressing: having an Israeli Jew in a movie about a “New World Order” is…tone-deaf? Jews have been accused of being global puppet-masters since The Middle Ages. Even now, George Soros is the punching bags of Antisemites desperate to blame American democracy’s failings on him. “New World Order” contains lots of baggage, and this doesn’t help.
Now then, time to dump the garbage:
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict has been going on for decades. It’s messy, unpleasant and has victims and perpetrators on both sides. It’s led to wars and casualties, and has gained the attention of the world. The discourse has also been poisoned by bad-faith actors of all stripes, sometimes with lethal consequences. But I’ve covered this in greater detail…
One of the biggest fronts has been online, particularly with PR. Twitter alone has dozens of dummy and propaganda accounts ready to take innocuous situations and warp them to fit an agenda. I should know, I’ve witnessed it firsthand! But it’s the lack of regulations that makes it so easy, and Shira Haas in an MCU film is another example of that. She’s the new Gal Gadot, but without the baggage.
As you’d expect, this led to intense arguing. On the Israeli side, people were calling this a win. On the Palestinian side, people claimed it whitewashed Palestinian self-determination. I can see the frustrations of the latter camp, Palestinian voices have long been marginalized, but it’s ridiculous that a woman who’s Israeli is being boxed into a reductive binary; after all, Haas might be anti-Zionist! We don’t know yet!
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict has been going on for decades. It’s messy, unpleasant and has victims and perpetrators on both sides. It’s led to wars and casualties, and has gained the attention of the world. The discourse has also been poisoned by bad-faith actors of all stripes, sometimes with lethal consequences. But I’ve covered this in greater detail…
One of the biggest fronts has been online, particularly with PR. Twitter alone has dozens of dummy and propaganda accounts ready to take innocuous situations and warp them to fit an agenda. I should know, I’ve witnessed it firsthand! But it’s the lack of regulations that makes it so easy, and Shira Haas in an MCU film is another example of that. She’s the new Gal Gadot, but without the baggage.
As you’d expect, this led to intense arguing. On the Israeli side, people were calling this a win. On the Palestinian side, people claimed it whitewashed Palestinian self-determination. I can see the frustrations of the latter camp, Palestinian voices have long been marginalized, but it’s ridiculous that a woman who’s Israeli is being boxed into a reductive binary; after all, Haas might be anti-Zionist! We don’t know yet!
But I doubt that matters to her detractors. In their mind, Haas is the enemy because she’s Israeli, nothing more. It doesn’t matter what her political leanings are, she’s a supporter of Israeli occupation. There’ve been pushes to boycott Marvel until she’s removed. Never mind that Natalie Portman and Ayelet Zurer have been in Marvel roles prior...
So yes, Shira Haas is “bad”. This bothers me immensely. I’d expect this kind of open bigotry from the far-right, but progressives have increasingly disappointed me by not factoring in nuance to their critiques of Israelis. Israel has over 9 million citizens, and not all of them are Jewish. Many of them are Palestinian! And their views, as shown through surveys and videos, on Israeli society aren’t monolithic.
Not even Israelis are monolithic! There are so many viewpoints in that tiny country that despite there being a far-right extremist issue, as with most countries, the population’s quite diverse. And so are the politicians, with the most-recent government containing 7 political parties of different persuasions before it fell apart. Israelis don’t all think alike, and Haas is no different. Like I said, she could one day come out as anti-Zionist!
So yes, Shira Haas is “bad”. This bothers me immensely. I’d expect this kind of open bigotry from the far-right, but progressives have increasingly disappointed me by not factoring in nuance to their critiques of Israelis. Israel has over 9 million citizens, and not all of them are Jewish. Many of them are Palestinian! And their views, as shown through surveys and videos, on Israeli society aren’t monolithic.
Not even Israelis are monolithic! There are so many viewpoints in that tiny country that despite there being a far-right extremist issue, as with most countries, the population’s quite diverse. And so are the politicians, with the most-recent government containing 7 political parties of different persuasions before it fell apart. Israelis don’t all think alike, and Haas is no different. Like I said, she could one day come out as anti-Zionist!
My concern is that people are overreacting based on minimal information. It’s not like there isn’t already a Palestinian Marvel character named Hayyan Zarour, because there is. It’s that Sabra’s Israeli, therefore Marvel “supports oppression”. This logic is biased and doesn’t make sense. It’s also tiresome.
I’m not sure what’d satisfy her detractors, other than her disappearing altogether. I support Palestinian self-determination! And I won’t act like Palestinian voices haven’t been shafted for decades! But silencing Israeli voices helps no one. Nor does dehumanizing them.
I get that this is a complicated position to be in. For as much as I wanted proper, Jewish representation in The MCU for the longest time, instead of empty lip-service, this wasn’t what I wanted. I also have no doubts that including Sabra was largely a calculated and financial decision. But that doesn’t excuse the backlash the character, and subsequently her actress, is receiving. There’s no shortage of other kinds of representation in The MCU thus far, so why not give someone else a turn for a change? What do you really have to lose with Sabra?
I’m not sure what’d satisfy her detractors, other than her disappearing altogether. I support Palestinian self-determination! And I won’t act like Palestinian voices haven’t been shafted for decades! But silencing Israeli voices helps no one. Nor does dehumanizing them.
I get that this is a complicated position to be in. For as much as I wanted proper, Jewish representation in The MCU for the longest time, instead of empty lip-service, this wasn’t what I wanted. I also have no doubts that including Sabra was largely a calculated and financial decision. But that doesn’t excuse the backlash the character, and subsequently her actress, is receiving. There’s no shortage of other kinds of representation in The MCU thus far, so why not give someone else a turn for a change? What do you really have to lose with Sabra?
I'm fairly certain "Sabra" is a reference to the slang term for an Israeli Jew, and has nothing to do with the massacre. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabra_(person)
ReplyDeleteI know, but some people will most-likely associate it with that given the character's history...
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