Princess Bride and Clueless actor Wallace Shawn this week compared the Israeli treatment of Gaza to Nazi Germany.
Shawn, who is Jewish, said on the Katie Halper Show that Israel is “doing evil that is just as great as what the Nazis did.” His comments have sparked outrage from the Jewish community, but not surprise as he has been vocal in sharing his divisive views before.
Regarding the Nazi comparison, Shawn contended: “In some ways it’s worse, because they kind of boast about it. Hitler had the decency to try to keep it secret. For some reason, Hitler didn’t want people to know he was doing these things to the Jews. The Israelis are almost proud of it, and it’s demonically evil. And anybody who doesn’t recognize that it’s evil, I can’t, probably, communicate with that person. That might be temporary insanity.”
Elsewhere in the episode, Shawn reflected on the development of his leftist politics, saying he struggled with self-hate when first realizing that “I was myself a character in the drama that was unfolding, I was one of the privileged people who benefited from the status quo on earth.” Since then, he said, while his distaste for the system has not faltered, “I don’t really hate anybody anymore.”
Later, he added, “I can imagine that some Israelis who are today in support of what their country is doing in Gaza or in the West Bank, even some of them might in 10 years wake up and say, ‘Why did I justify that?’”
After his segment on the Nazis, he said, “Of course, [Israelis] must consciously or unconsciously know that every single day they are making the hatred increase. And the hatred level is something we can’t imagine.”
Shawn is known for his many roles on film and TV, including his voice acting in The Incredibles and the Toy Story franchise and on television in Young Sheldon.
The actor has long spoken out against Israel’s treatment of Palestinian people, including in a 2014 op-ed for The Hollywood Reporter.
