Roseanne Barr arrived in Israel Thursday to speak before the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, next week, and did some sight-seeing by visiting the Western Wall.
The Blast published photos of Barr visiting the Old City of Jerusalem, wearing black from head to toe. She placed a note in the cracks in the Western Wall, following traditions. However, sources told the outlet she was disturbed to see trash in some of the wall’s cracks.
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The former Roseanne star announced plans to visit Israel to speak before the Knesset against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which protests Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank. The Knesset meeting on the subject is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 30.
Ahead of her trip to Israel, Barr spoke with the Israeli press, making headlines before she even arrived. In an interview with the Israel Hayom newspaper, Barr called Natalie Portman “sickening” and “repulsive” for declining the Genesis Prize in 2018. Portman decided against accepting the honor in person because it was being presented by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and did not want to appear as if she was endorsing him.
“She was raised in incredible privilege of safety in the Jewish state and knows nothing about antisemitism,” Barr said of Portman. “She’s the darling of the left here, the Jewish left in Hollywood, she is a complete hypocrite who grew up in safety and privilege, like I said before, and knows nothing about what she speaks of.”
During an interview with The Jerusalem Post from her home in Hawaii earlier this week, Barr accused ABC of firing her from Roseanne because she is Jewish.
“I feel that what happened to me, a large part of it is antisemitism,” Barr said. “I think it played a part – the fact that I was never allowed to explain what I meant – and what I meant was a commentary on Iran – so they purposely mischaracterized what I said and wouldn’t let me explain. And in haste they did something unprecedented that they’ve never done to any other artist. And at the base of that I think it’s because I am the most vocal person about Israel and BDS.”
ABC fired Barr in May 2018 after she published a racist tweet about former Obama aide Valerie Jarrett. The network also cancelled Roseanne and replaced it with The Conners, a spin-off series about the rest of the family dealing with Roseanne Conner’s death.
Barr told the Jerusalem Post that what she tweeted “was mischaracterized purposely and repeatedly, so they didn’t even know what I meant, but they wanted to shape it and they did – they said it was something racial, when it was actually something political,” and insisted she has “never in my life done anything racist.”
Photo credit: James Devaney/GC Images/Getty Images
