Hezbollah is upset that Lebanon has decided not to ban Steven Spielberg’s new movie. 

By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News

After initially banning Steven Spielberg’s new movie because of his links to Israel, Lebanon has approved the screening of the film.

The Post premiered in Beirut last week after Lebanon’s interior minister ruled against the ban. The Lebanese censorship board had nixed the film, citing a “boycott Israel” list that included Spielberg due to his 1993 Oscar-winning Holocaust film, “Schindler’s List,” which included scenes shot in Jerusalem.

Lebanon is officially at war with Israel. According to Lebanese law, Israeli products must be boycotted and Lebanese citizens are prohibited from traveling to Israel or having contact with Israelis.

The Post is being shown in other Arab countries, where there have been no calls for a boycott.

Hezbollah’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah on Friday slammed the decision to show the film, saying it was a mistake.

Stressing the importance of “avoiding all forms of normalizing ties with the Zionist entity,” the leader of the terror organization called for a ban on all movies produced by Spielberg because he donated $1 million to Israel in 2006 after the Second Lebanon War.

“The Post is about Vietnam, yet the money paid to watch the movie may be used by Spielberg to fund any Zionist war against Lebanon,” Nasrallah stated.

The film, starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, tells the story of the Washington Post‘s efforts to publish the “Pentagon Papers,” classified documents that revealed the failures of the US war in Vietnam.

“We aren’t against art, cinema or TV, but don’t simplify things. There is a Lebanese decision to boycott Israel, so commit to your decisions,” Nasrallah said.

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The award-winning director landed on Lebanon’s dubious Israel boycott list.

By: World Israel News Staff

Steven Spielberg’s new movie “The Post” has been banned in Lebanon because of his links to Israel.

The Hollywood Reporter on Sunday quoted a source involved with movie’s international distribution who said the drama was presented to the Lebanese censorship board, which nixed it, citing a “boycott Israel” list that includes Spielberg due to his Oscar-winning Holocaust film “Schindler’s List.” The 1993 film included scenes shot in Jerusalem.

Spielberg is not an Israeli citizen.

The source said that the ban came as a shock. Over the past three years, at least five films either directed or produced by Spielberg were accepted and approved by the Lebanese censorship board. It is only now that the board is invoking Spielberg’s inclusion on the “boycott Israel” list.

The country is officially at war with Israel and has a law that boycotts Israeli products and bars Lebanese citizens from travelling to Israel or having contact with Israeli citizens.

Last summer, Lebanese authorities officially banned the “Wonder Woman” movie, following the casting of Gal Gadot, an Israeli actress, in the movie’s lead role.

Though “Wonder Woman” passed the country’s normal screening procedures, the Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel-Lebanon put pressure on the government to block the film, describing it as “the Israeli Soldier film.”

Gadot, who is from the small central town of Rosh HaAyin, was a combat trainer in the IDF.

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan also banned screening the superhero film over Gadot’s leading role, as did Tunisia, Algeria and the Palestinian Authority.

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