Ed Koch vs. Woody Allen on Anti-Semitisim

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There are those equally concerned with the protection of French Jews who join Mr. Cukierman in opposing a boycott at this time, e.g., the national director of the ADL, Abraham Foxman. So, in opposing a boycott, you are not alone. But your explanation and reasoning are badly flawed. What do you mean when you compare a call by Jews for a boycott against the French with the Nazi boycott against the Jews? Do you really believe that all boycotts are the same? Did you oppose the boycott of South Africa in order to end apartheid? Did you oppose Martin Luther King's support of a boycott of segregated buses in Birmingham, Alabama, as well as a boycott of the white commercial establishments in that city?

I believe a boycott directed at the French government, until it apologizes for its ambassador's scurrilous comments, is in order. Those comments, still not repudiated by the government, when viewed in the context of the physical assaults on French Jews, convey gross hostility and indifference on the part of the French toward Jews in general.

I am convinced that your comments have given the French people and their government undeserved cover for their tolerance of anti-Semitic behavior and shamefully inadequate response to it.

I do hope that you will reconsider your defense of France, and if you do, convey it to the American and French public, as only you can.

All the best.

Sincerely,

Edward I. Koch

To: Ed Koch
From: Woody Allen
Date: May 28, 2002

Dear Ed Koch:

Thank you for the well reasoned and intelligent fax. I remember our working together just as fondly. Try to understand that when I speak at interviews, I'm there to plug my movie and give fast, impromptu answers to suddenly interjected, complicated questions. Without getting into it too deeply let me just say that I do not believe the French are anti-Semitic because I know a number of French Jews who strongly believe they are not anti-Semitic. More knowledgeable people on the subject than myself like Edgar Bronfman and Shimon Peres also feel strongly that the French are not anti-Semitic. The fact that anti-Semitic remarks can be attributed to certain ones there, even in high places, is no different than the sentiments of many world leaders including (in our country) Richard Nixon, Billy Graham, Jesse Jackson, etc...

 

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