Lt. Gen. Valin, Chief of Staff, French Air Force, awarding Croix De Guerre with palm to Col. James Stewart

Oh dear! A rift has taken place in Hollywood over the killings that are going on in Gaza as I write; mind you, it is a rare one because lefty Tinseltown speaks with one mind when it comes to politics. Conservative actors and executives over the hundred or so years that Hollywood has existed have been few, but they definitely counted when Uncle Sam called during World War II. Jimmy Stewart, a conservative, flew twenty missions over Germany and lost a son in Vietnam. Clark Gable, also on the right, was a combat flier; Tyrone Power served in the Navy; and Audie Murphy was the most decorated combat soldier of the war. Neville Brand was also highly decorated, and the great John Ford put his life on the line while filming combat from up close, as did William Wyler.

The present bunch I know nothing about, as I no longer watch movies that make no sense, are about horror and science fiction, and have people mumbling and using the F-word nonstop. What I do know is that Hollywood is mostly Jewish, hence pro-Israel, and very left-wing, hence pro-BLM. The Gaza tragedy, however, has caused a split between all the fellow travelers, and it started with the outrageous Oct. 7 Hamas attack on the kibbutz. There was no flood of support for Israel from celebrities, many of them fearing the aftermath of Israeli reaction that is taking place as I write. If any of you readers are confused, Hollywood types were not out en masse screaming for revenge because they’re well aware that Palestinian rights and Palestinian deaths are parts of the lefty agenda, so it was much wiser to stay quiet.

Ironically, I partly see their point, because I’m having problems of my own. Eight thousand Palestinian dead as of this writing and climbing fast seems a disproportionate response to the Hamas outrage, and I hate to think what the final number will be.

Hollywood’s dilemma is not the only one. Liberal America is also convulsed, with college campuses and Washington’s salons unsure of how to react. Let’s face it: Hamas lost much of the little legitimacy it held among the left, horrifying trendy leftists in Europe as well as in America, and it has left itself totally exposed as Israel moves in for the kill.

The trouble is the innocents who are dying by the thousands. Which brings me back to Hollywood. The trendy types were taught to view the Palestinian cause as an extension of the racial and social justice movements that swept the country after the death of a career criminal, now a martyr-hero, George Floyd, at the hands of a rogue cop. Most of these trendy types happen to be Jewish. Hence the great dilemma: Whose side are they on? Anonymity seems to have won the day.

The Hollywood writers’ guild that represents 11,000 screenwriters refused to condemn the Hamas attack. The Jewish writers among them are screaming bloody murder, and some are planning to withhold dues. The pro-Palestinian among the writers have applauded the union’s decision but are afraid if they make themselves known they will be labeled anti-Semitic. Being called anti-Semitic in Hollywood is a bit like being known as a philo-Semite in Berlin circa 1933. Not a job guarantee by any means.

Divisions among Hollywood types flared when a famous agent, Maha Dakhil, used the word “genocide” in describing Israel’s air strikes in Gaza. She was the agent of gals like Natalie Portman and Reese Witherspoon, but no more after mouthing the unmentionable. This is what I love about Hollywood: Say one wrong word and you’re toast. It was always like that and always will be. The word never to say was “no,” when casting-couch mode was prevalent. Now it is saying things like “genocide.”

What I find amazing is that there are still voices out there that claim there is a history of anti-Semitism in the film industry, from stereotyping of Jews in movies and television shows to the false belief that Jews control the media.

Well, all I can say is that Jews do control most of the media, but that’s like saying that Greeks and Norwegians control most of the world’s commercial shipping, which they do, or that Arabs have a stranglehold on oil, which they also do. By denying something so obvious as the Jewish presence and control of movies and television, what happens is a rising suspicion that they have something to hide.

Hollywood has long existed in a left-liberal bubble, and its product has praised and glorified everything I find repellent. When was the last time you saw a Catholic priest in a movie not shown as a child molester but as a servant of the Lord? When was the last time a patriotic soldier was not portrayed as a rapacious killer? When was a businessman not shown as a crook in a Hollywood movie? If Israeli killings of innocent Gazans do not raise floods of support among Hollywood types, I’m not exactly going to lose any sleep over it. Hollywood anti-West movies have fooled far more people than there are name-droppers there. And done far more harm than even the egregious New York Times and Washington Post have. Enough said.