J.K. Rowling was crowned a Jewish hero on October 22. Within five days her diadem fell.
The author of the Harry Potter series signed a letter to the Guardian newspaper with other famous people who reject a boycott of Israel. Days later she clarified her position on Twitter. Her Jewish fans shook their heads in sadness. Some even cried.
Her tweet seemed to draw a parallel between the Israelis and the Death Eaters (they’re the bad guys, in case you haven’t read the books). Albus Dumbledore (heroic mentor of Harry Potter), you see, was willing to talk to Severus Snape (Uber baddy), so dialogue between the clearly good and clearly bad (read: Israel’s opponents and Israelis), is sometimes worthwhile.
She wrote,
Voldemort believed that non-wizards were subhuman, so it’s valid to draw comparisons between Voldemort and any real human being who regards other races, religions or sexualities as inferior. It would indeed have been a fool’s errand to try and talk Voldemort or Bellatrix Lestrange into laying down their wands for love of their fellow humans. They have no love of humanity and they wanted domination, not peace.
But if that is what Rowling believes, then the good guys are the Israelis, not the Palestinians.
Substitute Hamas for Voldemort and read that tweet again:
Hamas believes that non-Muslims are subhuman, so it’s valid to draw comparisons between Hamas and any real human being who regards other races, religions or sexualities as inferior.
Hamas, voted into power by Gazan Palestinians, most certainly fulfills Rowling’s “Voldemort” criteria. Followers of Hamas are Islamists who view non-Muslims as inferior. They have much in common with members of ISIS, and we know how they view and treat non-Muslims. They turn them into slaves if they don’t subject them to genocide.
Then there is Hamas’s view of Jews. The Hamas charter has so many anti-Jewish statements that I won’t bother to reproduce them here. They are freely available for anyone – including J.K. Rowling – to read on Hamas’s website.
What about Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah? Well, they’ve supported some of the most repulsive regimes of recent times. Under Arafat they sent a letter of support to the Chinese leadership for putting down the protests in Tiananmen Square. They supported Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. Kill a Jewish child with a knife today and there’s a good chance Abbas will name a street after you.
Surely too Rowling must know that Israel is the only country in the entire region whose laws do not “regard other sexualities as inferior.”
So… is Rowling naive or actually a bit of a Death Eater herself?
I do not believe for one second that Harry Potter’s creator is guilty of anti-Semitism. In fact, I am profoundly grateful to J.K. Rowling for several things.
I first discovered Harry Potter by accident. My late wife and I were surprised to see how many patients attending the Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester, England, sat reading one of the Potter books at that famous cancer treatment center. Like us, they needed somewhere they could escape to and J.K. Rowling’s imagination provided the place.
In addition to her literary talents that have brought joy to untold millions, J.K. Rowling is an outstanding humanitarian and philanthropist who has donated large chunks of her earnings to a host of charitable endeavors.
In early 2000, a little girl in New York was dying of a rare form of cancer. The child had just weeks to live and her dearest wish was to find out what would happen in Book Four of the Potter series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.