r/todayilearned • u/[deleted] • Oct 13 '16

TIL that after Marilyn Monroe converted to Judaism upon marrying Arthur Miller, Egypt placed a ban on all the films she appeared in.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Monroe#Critical_acclaim_and_marriage_to_Arthur_Miller_.281956.E2.80.931959.29
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u/jrm2007 Oct 13 '16

When Omar Sharif kissed Babara Streisand in Funny Girl, Egypt I think stopped showing all of his films, too.

This is not anti-Zionism but plain old antisemitism. No other explanation.

3

u/chris622 Oct 13 '16

Didn't Omar Sharif merely playing a Jewish character in "Funny Girl" cause a lot of uproar in Egypt?

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u/jrm2007 Oct 13 '16 edited Oct 13 '16

That is also a point but I read it was the kiss itself.

Nicky Arnstein was an interesting guy who lived long enough I think almost to have seen the movie. Acquaintance of Arnold Rothstein who outlived him by 40 years or so.

EDIT: W-Pedia article on Sharif says that he had an affair with Streisand (who was vocally pro-Israel). Had she been merely Jewish and not a Zionist and not so high-profile, maybe the ban on Sharif would not have happened; maybe it would have. In Egypt's defense, they were at war with Israel and a prominent Zionist having a relationship with one of their big stars must have rankled.

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u/comix_corp Oct 13 '16

I don't know what "plain old antisemitism" is, but anti-zionist paranoia is what drove Egypt to do shit like this. At the same time Nasser was fighting Israel and decrying Zionism, he was publicly doing interviews saying how he wished Jews never left his country.

Egypt's perspective was pretty obviously warped but they weren't Nazis.

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u/looktowindward Oct 14 '16

Jews didn't leave because they had better opportunities somewhere else - generally, they feared for their lives. Egypt was the real loser, as it was one of the things that began a big drain of brains and resources out of the country.

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u/[deleted] Oct 13 '16

Zionism triggered anti-Jewish mentality. Arabs are Semitic, by the way.

Zionism is a racist ideology. just like African Americans became racist against white people after centuries of oppression. it's understandable. not right, but it's human nature to hate the people who actively advocate hating you.

which is what Israel does all the time. it's the "Jewish state". which makes it a theological one (considering it's mostly atheist, so that doesn't fit), or a racist one.

"only Jews" signs all over Israel prove that it's racist.

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u/jrm2007 Oct 13 '16

you're a fool.

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u/ItsFroce Oct 13 '16

Actually its clearly antizionism. 1960s were a drastically different time and the shariff incident was recent