A famous playwright prolongs Israel's Year of the Dog . In the most recent fiasco, as related by Salon writer, Justin Elliott, Tony Kushner, a Pulitzer Prize winner, has been denied an honorary degree by the board of trustees of CUNY . Kushner apparently has occasionally been grinding into a raw nerve that Jeffrey Wiesenfeld finds unacceptable "when you spew libel against our sole regional democratic ally for "crimes" concocted by delegitimizers, you are an anti-Semite".
If anyone is wondering what brought about Wiesenfeld's diatribe, it is a long history of Tony's attitude towards Israel, reflected by some of his statements documented on CAMERA site such as, "Israel is a foreign country. I am no more represented by Israel than I am by Italy. --Ha'aretz (4/7/04)", and " [Israel was] founded in a program that, if you really want to be blunt about it, was ethnic cleansing, and that today is behaving abominably towards the Palestinian people. --Yale Israel Review (winter 2005)".
Tony Kushner is a celebrated writer who is a recipient of 15 honorary degrees, but not always without controversy, as Sharon Otterman notes in the New York Times May 5, 2011 " In 2006, some pro-Zionist groups tried to block him from getting an honorary degree at Brandeis University, but the university decided to go ahead with the honor." She goes on to note Ed Koch's support for Kushner's award, "What does Kushner receiving an award have to do with criticism of the State of Israel?" Mr. Koch asked. "What if I were denied an honorary degree because of my strong support for that state?".
In 2005, The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) called for a boycott of the Film " Munich" written by Tony Kushner and Eric Roth and directed by Steven Spielberg. ZOA describes Kushner as an "Israel-hater".
In the end Tony Kushner is guilty of crimes against Israel when he and other 'self-hating Jews' call out Tel Aviv on its 'ongoing' ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and its crimes against humanity.