Sunday, January 21, 2018

Bringing 'Brand Israel' to Bollywood


Apoorva Gautam, aljazeera.com (Original article constains lks.)


Image from article, with caption: Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan takes a photo with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and other Bollywood personalities during 'Shalom Bollywood' event in Mumbai on January 18

Excerpt:

In October last year, Michael Oren, head of public diplomacy at the Israeli prime minister's office, visited Mumbai to invite Bollywood producers to invest in Israel. He then took to Twitter to declare the "goal" of his visit - "create Israeli jobs and fight BDS [the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement]". ...
If Bollywood so aspires to be apolitical, it should know that by opening itself up to Israeli propaganda, it will become embroiled in politics. Israel wishes Bollywood to be its political tool. It is now upon the members of the Indian film industry to decide which side of history and politics they want to be on - the side of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid, or the side of the struggle for freedom and justice.

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