Now Meryl Streep is accused of being anti-Israel at the Golden Globes after merely saying Natalie Portman is from 'Jerusalem' - while mentioning every other actor's home nation
By Hannah Parry
Daily Mail
Meryl Streep has been accused of being ‘anti-Israel’ after she said Natalie Portman was from Jerusalem at the Golden Globes.
Streep, who was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award on Sunday, had launched a blistering attack on Donald Trump in front of a room of stunned Hollywood stars.
But while the president-elect may have been the target, the three-time Oscar winner managed to insult football, MMA and now, according to some, the state of Israel, which has battled with the State of Palestine for decades over ownership of Jerusalem.
Meryl Streep (left during her speech) has been accused of being ‘anti-Israel’ after she said Natalie Portman (at the awards, right) was from Jerusalem at the Golden Globes.
Attacking Trump’s divisive rhetoric towards immigrants, Streep said that ‘Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners.’
‘The beautiful Ruth Negga was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and was raised in Ireland… Ryan Gosling, like all the nicest people is Canadian. And Dev Patel was born in Kenya, raised in London, is here playing an Indian, raised in Tasmania.
‘Sarah Paulson was born in Florida… Amy Adams was born in Vicenzia, Italy, and Natalie Portman was born in Jerusalem. Where are their birth certificates?
Some have pounced on the fact that Streep chose to only mention that Portman was from the world famous city of Jerusalem, and not the country of Israel.
‘Meryl Streep at Golden Globes was anti-Israel’, one viewer tweeted. ‘Anti-Israel left refuses to say Israel.’
‘Notice Meryl Streep named every actor’s foreign country except Israel,’ another added.
Trump’s Kellyanne Conway, who has criticized Streep’s speech, also waged in on the backlash, tweeting a link to a story in conservative political news website FreeBeacon, with the caption ‘That too.’
Streep did, in fact, omit the country when she was talking about Dev Patel being raised in another famous city – London – rather than saying London, UK – while American star Sarah Paulson was mentioned as only having been born in Florida.
The Cecil B. DeMille honoree’s speech stunned the audience, leaving many teary-eyedBut the conspiracy theorists believe Streep’s omission of Israel could reflect a hidden anti-Israel bias.
Attacking Trump’s divisive rhetoric towards immigrants, Streep said that ‘Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners,’ adding that ‘Natalie Portman was born in Jerusalem’The ownership of the city of Jerusalem, East Jerusalem in particular, has been a source of conflict for decades.
Anti-Israel and anti-Zionists do not recognize Israel’s ownership of East Jerusalem which occurred after the 1967 Six-Day War, and was sanctified again in the 1980 Jerusalem Law proclamation, which declared a ‘complete and united’ Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Jerusalem is also one of the key issues in the Israeli–Palestinian peace process as both Israelis and the Palestinians want it as their capital.
However, not everyone agreed that Streep was making a political statement on the Israeli–Palestinian peace process when she simply referred to Portman being from Jerusalem.
Some mocked those making anti-Israel comments, branding them as ‘reaching’ and asking if they needed the country pointing out because they don’t know where Jerusalem is.
Streep also managed to insult football and fighting fans when she warned the president-elect that, if he kicks out all the ‘outsiders and foreigners’, ‘you’ll have nothing else to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts.’
Bellator Mixed Martial Arts, MMA, president Scott Coker, responded by defending his sport and even invited the three-time Oscar winner to watch a fight in person.
Donald Trump also hit back at Streep calling her a ‘Hillary lover’ and ‘one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood’ over her remarks.
Streep did not hold back as she went after Trump for mocking disabled reporter Serge Kovaleski in November of 2015 during a campaign rally.
‘That instinct to humiliate, when it’s modeled by someone in a public platform, it filters down into everyone’s life because it gives permission for others to do the same,’ said Streep in front of a audience packed full of Hollywood A-listers.
‘Disrespect invites disrespect, violence incites violence. When the powerful use their position to bully others we all lose.’
Trump responded to Streep’s comments on Monday by taking aim at the actress on Twitter, writing: ‘Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn’t know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes.’
Trump told the New York Times early Monday that he had not seen Streep’s speech or the Golden Globes coverage.
But he said he was ‘not surprised’ that he was being criticized by ‘liberal movie people’.
The president-elect said: ‘I was never mocking anyone. I was calling into question a reporter who had gotten nervous because he had changed his story.
The actress was a vocal Clinton supporter throughout the campaign and even introduced the presidential nominee when she appeared via video feed from her home in New York on the second night of the Democratic National Convention over the summer.
Streep is also fond of the Obamas as well, and was one of the few guests who made the cut for the couple’s final White House party on Friday night.
