MICHAEL MOORE: I'M NOT AN ANTI-SEMITE

Michael and me
By SHMULEY BOTEACH

Who says that God doesn't have a sense of humor? My regular readers will remember that at the Democratic National Convention, I found myself sitting a few feet from filmmaker Michael Moore. I had been eager to talk with Moore about his positions on Israel, since I had read several negative comments attributed to him. I tried to speak with him, but he turned me away.
But last night at the Republican National Convention, I was working on my laptop from one of the press desks when a Secret Service agent suddenly walked in and told me that the empty seat next to me would now have an occupant. A moment later Michael Moore sat down beside me. He was there to write a column on the convention for USA Today. I shook his hand, welcomed him, and asked him if he was feeling comfortable surrounded by Republicans. He told me that everyone had been friendly and kind to him since his arrival.

A moment later, he was swarmed by the press, until it became such a distraction that they were whisked away by the Secret Service. Suddenly, it was me and him alone, again, this time cordoned off by a Secret Service perimeter, and I had my chance. I leaned over. "Mr. Moore, you were quoted in the New York Times as saying that you place Israel in your own private axis of evil. It was very painful for Jews to read that. Do you stand by the quote?"

"No, I don't," he said. "That quote was taken completely out of context. I believe strongly in Israel's security and Israel's right to defend itself."

"Well, Mr. Moore," I said, "the impression, sadly, is that you're an anti-Semite. That's a shame. However much you and I disagree on the major issues, you shouldn't come across as a Jew-hater. Joe Scarborough even asked me on his MSNBC show whether or not I believed you were an anti-Semite. That's the impression you've been giving. I trust that you are not a Jew-hater. Indeed, I bet you don't consider yourself any kind of hater. So why give that impression?"

He told me, "Of course I'm not a hater, and you would be surprised at just how little you and I disagree on all the issues, and on the Israel issue in particular. I really want to correct that because I am not an enemy of Israel. I should really sit down and do an interview just about this because I want it corrected."

"You know," I said, "there are people who want you to visit Israel so you can see the situation there for yourself."

"I like Israel," he said. "I've visited twice, the first time during the first intifada," he said.

"Well, then you'll know that Israelis are victims, too, and that they have suffered terribly under terrorism. But Jews have the impression that you don't identify with Israeli suffering, that you forget that the Jews have suffered horrific oppression. And that's a shame because it undermines the morality of your message."

He then said something that I did not expect: "I regard the Jewish people as the most oppressed people on earth."