Jon Voight To Penelope Cruz And Javier Bardem: ‘You Should Hang Your Heads In Shame’
Jon Voight is incensed that Penelope Cruz and husband Javier Bardem have signed a letter condemning Israel for atrocities in Gaza.
The couple, along with some of Spain’s biggest entertainment names, signed a group letter calling for a stronger response by the European Union to stop Israel’s military operation – ‘Protective Edge’ – in the Gaza strip.
It stated that Israel “humiliates, detains, and tramples on the rights of the Palestinian population in all of the West Bank every day, also causing many deaths” and destroying homes while “the international community does nothing”.
Voight wrote an open letter published in Variety.
“My name is Jon Voight and I am more than angry,” it begins. “I am heartsick that people like Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem could incite anti-Semitism all over the world and are oblivious to the damage they have caused…
“You had a great responsibility to use your celebrity for good. Instead, you have defamed the only democratic country of goodwill in the Middle East: Israel.
“You should hang your heads in shame,” he concludes. “You should all come forth with deep regrets for what you did, and ask forgiveness from the suffering people in Israel.”
Billy Jackson August 3rd, 2014 at 2:41 pm
Oh. When I saw the headline, I thought he was blasting them for how bad “The Counselor” was.
Carla Akins August 3rd, 2014 at 2:47 pm
I thought it was going to be for living in sin.
bob barker August 3rd, 2014 at 2:50 pm
voight is the devil
NW10 August 3rd, 2014 at 2:51 pm
Who cares what this irrelevant old has been has to say, especially regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
I refuse to take a side because it’s a complex issue, but I have to say it’s telling how so many people here in the United States media consider it taboo to criticize Israel and Netanyahoo. It’s sad that Israel owns our media and very few actually have the courage to speak their minds regarding Israel.
Billy Jackson August 3rd, 2014 at 3:12 pm
He is pretty good in Ray Donovan……..
His fictional characters, I’ve always liked. Him…….not so much.
uzza August 3rd, 2014 at 2:59 pm
Just for the record [URL=http://s1371.photobucket.com/user/skwiver/media/hint_zpsb9f5ffc3.png.html][IMG]http://i1371.photobucket.com/albums/ag289/skwiver/hint_zpsb9f5ffc3.png[/IMG][/URL]
Jake August 3rd, 2014 at 4:04 pm
I see your point.
fancypants August 3rd, 2014 at 5:20 pm
if you have nothing good to say..say_______ at all
Michael August 3rd, 2014 at 2:59 pm
Good Christians should condemn acts of senseless violence as perpetrated by other Christians. It is what separates the Christians from the Muslim faiths. Muslims say nothing about the horrific violence caused by their radical element. If Christians start burying their head in the sand, then they are just like the Muslims.
Always Right August 3rd, 2014 at 5:54 pm
I don’t believe there are any Christians involved in the Gaza conflict, so what is your point?
John David Peer August 3rd, 2014 at 10:21 pm
Yes, that must be why more people died during the “troubles” in Northern Ireland between Protestants and Catholics, than died on 9/11?
Because Christians the world over “condemned senseless acts of violence”?
Herb Sarge Phelps August 3rd, 2014 at 3:36 pm
Well this how indoctrinated people talk.
arc99 August 3rd, 2014 at 3:43 pm
I do not think that Hamas wants the killing to stop. They know that the tactics of the IDF will inevitably produce civilian casualties which only serves to bolster their cause in the court of world opinion.
On the other hand, suppose the United Nations decreed that all of the land in the United States west of the Mississippi River is to be returned to the native people who originally inhabited that land three centuries ago. How many elements of American society would be resorting to the same kind of violence as Hamas in such a scenario? As much as I think Hamas is the culprit in this latest round of violence, we cannot ignore history.
Call me naive or biased or whatever else you like, I think that if Hamas made an immediate and unequivocal commitment that there would be no more attacks of any kind, Israel would do the same, and we could proceed from there. But as long as Hamas insists on shooting at people with vastly superior firepower, it is difficult for me to avoid placing the ultimate blame for this catastrophe on them.
But to the point of this story, Voight’s rant does nothing except throw some more gasoline into a raging inferno.
Always Right August 3rd, 2014 at 5:53 pm
I agree with your take on the conflict. I don’t believe Voight’s comments are out of line, but I do think that Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem were. You can’t condemn a democracy and defend a lawless terrorist organization; no matter how bad they are getting beat in the battle.
Cruz and her husband have since further clarified their statement and it is more inline with what most fair minded people think. http://www.deadline.com/2014/07/penelope-cruz-gaza-genocide/
John David Peer August 3rd, 2014 at 10:26 pm
I don’t think it is Hamas themselves that are launching the rockets, that’s the difficulty. Of course, one could argue that they could do more to stop it, but this isn’t “one gov’t warring against another gov’t” like Netanyahu would like to frame it.
Rather, it is a small percentage of inhabitants that continue to lob missiles (mostly) into the desert, drawing a disproportionate response from the Israeli gov’t, and furthering their own cause of stirring up hate.
Jody Tindall August 3rd, 2014 at 3:45 pm
i guess I really haven’t ever understood Israel. While I am not anti-semitic I just can’t figure out why Israel deems it necessary to meet every attack with a counter attack that is often 1,000 times worse and why the U.S. is always standing behind them. The idea that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East is at best tangential if not irrelevant to the problem. Their aggression toward the Palestinian people seems far overreaching in my opinion but maybe I have never understood enough about the situation.
Sara Clifton August 3rd, 2014 at 5:00 pm
Please keep in mind I’m not condoning or condemning what Israel is doing right now. I’m offering a response to Jody Tindall.
Israel is about the size of Florida. At its’ birth, it was attacked by every surrounding nation. With a whole lotta help they managed to survive. But without the threat of complete and massive retaliation as a deterrent, they wouldn’t have lasted very long. The threat had to be so great, that consequences of attack would be unthinkable. It almost seems modeled after Pax Romana.
Herb Sarge Phelps August 3rd, 2014 at 3:54 pm
It is a reflection of how our society has started to reason these days. The gun debate is if you want any regulation then you hate gun owners and guns, if you support Obama in any way then you are an Obama worshipper, if you don’t agree with Israel then you hate them even though they could actually be wrong. It bothers me that we are so lacking in using reason and assign people to groups without looking at the different views they hold.
fancypants August 3rd, 2014 at 5:41 pm
bible thumping is government tax free funded. Try not to spend too much of your time and $$ fighting their goals
Imma Commenter August 3rd, 2014 at 3:59 pm
What’s going to happen when there’s a Jewish State and that darn rapture thingy just don’t happen?
By the way, the GDP of Israel is $242 billion. They don’t need our stinkin’ money. I am tired of giving it to them!
Carla Akins August 3rd, 2014 at 4:15 pm
Well I’m glad you kept it light. 🙂
RioBravoHombre August 3rd, 2014 at 5:01 pm
The USA should cut off any and all aid to Israel immediately. If you truly support Israel, take your ass, and your checkbook, TO israel and stop whining about those of us who are SICKENED by the Israeli government. It’s time for Israel to stand or fall on it’s own.
ResCogitans August 3rd, 2014 at 5:25 pm
Voight is incorrect. Israel’s actions are blameworthy, not bearing witness as Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem have done.
fancypants August 3rd, 2014 at 5:26 pm
meanwhile at angelina jolie’s home….
Knock_knock
whos there ?
John voight
SECURITY !!!!!!!!!
Always Right August 3rd, 2014 at 5:39 pm
Why don’t you tell Hamas to stop firing rockets into Israel and killing people indiscriminately. What would the US response be if Canada started firing rockets into NY? Or if Mexico barraged our southern border with rockets on a continuous basis?
Israel protects their citizens, Hamas uses them as a human shield so they can brainwash people into thinking they are the victims; even though they are the ones who initiated the conflict.
M D Reese August 3rd, 2014 at 6:56 pm
Why don’t you tell Israel to give the people in Gaza somewhere to go. Why don’t you tell them to find out the facts before they lob more missiles or call off a ceasefire.
Always Right August 3rd, 2014 at 7:28 pm
They gave them Gaza, what more can they give them? Israel has occupied the land for more than 3000 years. It has nothing to do with the land, it is all about Muslim hatred for Jews and Christians. Pay attention to what is going on in the middle east, the terrorists are killing all non-Muslims if they don’t convert to Islam.
This site may help you understand why the conflict is not Israel initiated. http://www.indaweb.com/oil/editorialopinion/tzemach.news.service01l.htm
uzza August 3rd, 2014 at 10:05 pm
We don’t care who started it. Our moms taught us not to use that excuse when we were about five.
jasperjava August 4th, 2014 at 12:36 am
“Israel has occupied the land for more than 3000 years”
I wish ignorant people like you wouldn’t blather on about things you obviously know nothing about.
There wasn’t a Jewish majority in the land we now call Israel between 70 A.D. and the late 1940’s. That’s nearly 2000 years, nearly a hundred generations, when OTHER people occupied that sliver of land.
I support the state of Israel and I understand why the international community wanted to create it in 1947. But what happened to the indigenous Arab population is a tragedy. Yes, the Arab states share a large portion of the blame, for attacking Israel at the moment of its founding and creating an immediate refugee crisis that has lasted for 67 years. I support the right of Israel to defend itself, but whenever it does so lately it goes FAR beyond any concept of proportionality. The attacks on UN installations are especially disturbing, as are the deliberate destruction of civilian homes and the killing of innocent people.
It doesn’t serve anything to say idiotic things like “Israel has occupied the land for 3000 years”. It’s not true, and it denies the rights of people who have made their home there for centuries. The international community created the conditions for this problem, and has woefully lacked the resolve to solve it.
bhil August 3rd, 2014 at 6:09 pm
My name is Jon and I have come to tell you about shame.
fahvel August 4th, 2014 at 4:22 am
not true – isrealis are mostly russians and middle europeans – very few are semites.
M D Reese August 3rd, 2014 at 6:53 pm
Oh stop with the anti-Semite accusations. The Jews aren’t the only Semites in the region–in fact the people that they are slaughtering are Semitic.
John David Peer August 3rd, 2014 at 10:14 pm
Yes, well, don’t blame the folks who’s only “geography” in school was memorizing the fifty states and their capitals…
ryan August 3rd, 2014 at 7:23 pm
Wow. He took the “anti-Semite” angle? Shitbird.
Pundit456 August 3rd, 2014 at 8:37 pm
Jon Voight, Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem are actors; they make a living pretending. When Mr Voight says, “…use your celebrity for good.”, he seems to suggest that successful actors are endowed with some super power. Intelligent people know that the opinion of a “celebrity” is no more or less valid than their own; and “good” is often relative.
When Voight says, “…people like Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem could incite anti-Semitism all over the world…”, he is implying that only anti-semites would object to Israel’s actions; that Israel is sacrosanct and therefore beyond reproach.
Voight speaks of Cruz and Bardem’s oblivion while voight himself seems oblivious to the fact that the conflict in the Middle East is a direct result of American ignorance. Without a profound understanding of the dynamics involved, American pushed for the election that brought Hamas to power.
Just as America failed to foresee this unintended consequence of attempting to impose “democracy” on Palestine to effect a regime change, she is incompetent to effect a humane resolution.
Moreover, Israel’s claim to the land it occupies is based on a purported bequest from God. It is therefore bemusing that Voight felt compelled to besmirch fellow actors in defense of Israel while here in America, the courts and the depraved seek to eradicate God from the American lexicon.
The publicly expressed opinion of actors, whose ability to earn correlates to public perception of them, are often scripted; usually not very well informed and indefensible in honest debate.
Voight’s rebuke of Cruz and Bardem is not particularly relevant.
Justin Lynch August 3rd, 2014 at 10:25 pm
Known Semitic cultures includes Aramaic and Arabic along with Hebrew people. So the “anti-Semitic” claim does not hold water.
Nicholas Russell Harris August 5th, 2014 at 8:40 am
Thank you. Finally someone besides myself is willing to kill the BS with HISTORICAL facts
Arturo Jacobo Saiz August 3rd, 2014 at 11:53 pm
It’s past time for Israel to have all US aid cut off, and if Israel needs cash, each and every US citizen who claims to support them should open their checkbook and pony up. Or…go to Israel and sign up to do their slaughter for them. Jon Voight this means you…..sign up and deploy……
pierre August 4th, 2014 at 5:05 am
Jon Voight is a nazi because he is just like this isreali officer who shot 17 times on a 13 years old girl walking on secured area :
http://www.theguardian.com/wor…
” He shot her dead and then “confirmed the kill” by emptying his magazine into her body.”
“Record of a shooting
Watchtower
‘It’s a little girl. She’s running defensively eastward’
Operations room
‘Are we talking about a girl under the age of 10?’
Watchtower
‘A girl of about 10, she’s behind the embankment, scared to death’
Captain R (after killing the girl)
‘Anything moving in the zone, even a three-year-old, needs to be killed’
NAZI ACTED EXACTLY THE SAME WAY
cecilia August 4th, 2014 at 10:40 pm
who did Jon Voight kill???
Phil Grove August 4th, 2014 at 8:54 am
So he approves Israel’s bombing of a UN school. He’s must be BRAIN DEAD.
Joseph August 4th, 2014 at 12:38 pm
I am heart sick that John Voight got so old his brain died.
ShelleysLeg August 4th, 2014 at 4:03 pm
I swear he’s ‘gunning’ for Charleston Heston’s old job as the head of the NRA and nothing more. Either that or early onset dementia.
JamesMMartin August 7th, 2014 at 12:04 am
Is this the same Jon Voight who appeared with Jane (“Hanoi Jane”) Fonda in “Coming Home,” a movie about a Viet vet who returns quadraplegic and angry. It lost Best Picture that year to the more frank, searing portrait of the Viet incursion, “The Deer Hunter.” Ideologies aside, Ms. Fonda jumped all over poor Michael Cimino for making the North Vietnamese look like cowards and torturers. Voight is so good as a Boston hoodlum in Showtime’s “Ray Donovan,” I wish he would stick to acting. Maybe he can replace that lyring s.o.b. Fred Thompson, doing the reverse mortgage commercials.