Social media users suggest Israeli superhero’s name is a reference to massacre that took place during the 1982 Israel-Lebanon war.
By World Israel News Staff
Left-wing Twitter users are hurling a stream of online abuse at Marvel Studios and actress Shira Haas, after the entertainment company announced that it will feature an Israeli superhero called Sabra in an upcoming movie, “Captain America: New World Order.”
Haas, a 27-year-old Israeli actress who has found international success thanks to her work in several prominent TV shows and movies featured on Netflix, will play the superhero who was originally introduced in a 1980 comic book.
The name Sabra is a reference to a cactus fruit native to Israel, and is a relatively common surname for girls. It is also a term used to describe native-born Israelis, similar to the term “Kiwi” in New Zealand.
In Arabic, sabra refers to the same fruit and is also a girl name.
But some Twitter users ascribed a more nefarious reason behind the name, charging that it was a reference to a 1982 massacre of Palestinians which took place in a Lebanese refugee camp of the same name and in the adjacent Shatila camp. The killings were committed by Christian Phalangist forces who were aligned with Israel following the assassination of their leader, Bashir Gemayel.
The death toll is disputed, with claims ranging from 460-3,500. Although IDF forces did not carry out the massacre, an Israeli commission of inquiry held then-defense minister Ariel Sharon indirectly responsible.
“What do you think her superpowers are? Massacring Palestinians or destroying their homes leaving them homeless? #ApartheidIsrael,” wrote one Twitter user in response to the news.
“Israel’s Marvel superhero Sabra has many powers, including demolishing Palestinian homes with her mind and assassinating Palestinian children with her laser beam eyes,” another user added.
“Marvel announcing Sabra as a new character when she’s a Mossad [agent] and Israel propaganda character just one week before the 40th commemoration of the Sabra and Shatila massacre is just… sickening,” wrote one user.
“Can someone explain to me why they keep using the name Sabra?” asked another user The first thing pretty much every Palestinian remembers when we read or hear Sabra, is the massacre of Sabra and Shatila, it feels deliberate.”
Uri Fink, an Israeli cartoonist who claims he created the original Sabra character, said that he wouldn’t be surprised if Marvel depicted the Israeli superhero in a negative light.
“I don’t predict her portrayal in Marvel will be positive in these ‘woke’ times,” Fink told Ynet.
He later told Channel 12 that Marvel employees are largely “progressive,” so he believes that “we won’t get the most accurate depiction of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Fink urged Haas to “carefully review” the script, “so that the character won’t be portrayed in a way that is too problematic.”
The film is scheduled to hit theaters on May 3, 2024.