"Everything's better in Israel."

So...

The title of this post is a quote from the latest episode of Covert Affairs. In it, our heroine gets entangled in a story line involving an Israeli spy. Throughout the episode the spy talks about how wonderful Israel is and at one point our heroine says maybe they could meet up again on the French Riviera and he says no, they should meet at the beaches in Israel because they are the best in the world and, in fact, everything is better in Israel.

Sigh. It's getting really old, Hollywood. Really, it is. The line has been crossed between political ideology and unbiased storytelling. It's gotten to the point where when you tune into a TV show it seems to quickly shift into an ad for the wonders and greatness of the Jewish nation. It doesn't help that, and this isn't racism, this is just simple numbers, most of the writers, directors, agents, producers and executives in Hollywood are Jewish.

In Hollywood, they like to say they want to hire writers who have experience in certain fields to set them apart. Say, if you want to work on a cop show, it helps to have been a former cop. Experience over imagination, is the viewpoint. It's a silly view to begin with, but it does allow them to find reasons to hire or not to hire. Say if they don't like you on a personal level, well, they have a technical excuse not to hire you so they don't have to flat out say we don't like you. Mind you, this isn't some official rule, more like a rule of thumb. However, this stance doesn't seem to apply to Jewish writers. And the problem with that is, other than the hypocrisy of it, is that we then get writers who fill the scripts with what they know. Just as a cop would write about what he knows on a cop show (being a police officer), a Jewish writer would write about what he/she knows... which often boils down to plots about Jewish issues and all things Israel.

Seriously, next time you watch a show turn on your brain and listen/look for it. Now, I understand the controversial nature of this post and the fact that any perceived criticism of Israel or the Jewish people in general grants you an automatic anti-Semite label, but if we can get past that petty name calling I think there is a real discussion to be had here on the effects of an overwhelmingly Jewish entertainment industry on American television.

I mean, what would happen if there was an American (Jewish or otherwise) on an Israeli TV show and he said the line "everything's better in America"? Most likely ridicule and a criticism of American elitism, if not charges of racism. There's also a danger in tying American TV (and thus America) with Israel so heavily. Imagine if the entertainment business was predominately Muslim. Would we not draw the concern of Israel? Plus, even though Israel is a strong ally of the United States, it is still a separate country with it's own policies and agendas, many of which don't align with our own. If Israel comes under fire for something, like the recent blockade of Palestinian supplies headed for the Gaza strip, it's important that American isn't seen as blindly supportive of Israeli policies. With international TV syndication and distribution at an all time high, we have to keep in mind that for many places in the world their view of America comes from television.

Nobody outside of Hollywood talks about Israel the way the writers on these shows do. So the question is: should there be a bigger distinction between the character's voice and the writer inserting his ideology when it comes to Israel and Jewish issues? Maybe a better way to look at it is if Hollywood is supposed to write for people or write to people?