The Simon Wiesenthal Center today criticized Alice Walker’s new book, The Cushion in  the Road for both its ‘hysterical’ and historical revisionism.
In reacting to the book, Rabbi Marvin Hier, the Center’s Founder and Dean said, “I must say, Alice Walker is the princess of historical revisionism, telling us that she fears that one day, ‘Though all focus appears to be on which Arab nation is likely to strike the United States … I imagine Israel just as capable of doing us nuclear harm … because the United States and Israel, working together have done terrible things to others … and it is the nature of thieves to eventually have a grand falling out.”
Rabbi Hier went on to say:
To call the United States and Israel, two countries which are the bedrock of democracy, “thieves” and to simply gloss over what is happening today in Syria, in Iran and in Egypt where people are robbed of their constitution and their rights, is the epitome of ‘hysterical’ revisionism.
Reading her book, The Cushion in the Road, is like reading the last page of a book on the Second World War where the author focuses on the ruins of Berlin, ignoring how the story began; Hitler’s blitzkrieg, his invasion of Europe, and his ‘Final Solution.’
Likewise, Gaza has a first chapter, when Prime Minister Sharon unilaterally withdrew from there, giving the Palestinians their golden opportunity to create a peaceful and heavenly Mecca in the port city and to take a crucial step on the road to an enduring peace with Israel. Instead, what Walker has chosen to ignore, is that the Palestinians chose terrorism by electing a Hamas government that launched suicide attacks throughout Israel, in restaurants, on buses, and in schools, forcing Israel, like any other country, to defend herself.
To skip all the previous chapters, as Walker does, and attempt to make Gaza a benign place would be, to paraphrase her own quote, “… like pouring deodorant over a smell that has polluted the four corners of the world.” |
