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Dan Gordon Screenwriter Dan Gordon wrote such movies as Murder in the First, The Hurricane and 1994's Wyatt Earp. He's also published five books. A former Sergeant in the IDF (Israeli Defense Force), Gordon is a peace activist and a dual Israeli-American citizen. The Hurricane was a sympathetic portrait of a guy who most likely murdered three people. Not to mention being a boring film. It was one of the few that I've rented, and then couldn't finished. I eventually turned it off 90-minutes in. FesterSam writes on imdb.com: "Rubin Carter [The Hurricane] was tried and found guilty of murder. Read the evidence. This man is a nightmare. His own people call him Satan. He has lied, beaten and murdered. He was not able to pass ANY lie detector tests, and ballistics matched bullets found in his car to bullets that killed the 3 people. This evidence was found in the presence of unbiased 3rd party reporters. Do not let a good film could the truth. Rubin Carter is a stone cold murderer who walks the streets today while his victims are 6 feet under. The movie is inaccurate and portrays Carter as a victim when he is the true predator. This psychopath deserves to be behind bars now. Do some research and decide for yourself." There's another question today (9/6/02) about Gordon's credibility. Dennis Prager hosted guest screenwriter Dan Gordon on his nationally syndicated radio show May 29, 2001, to talk about his May 24 article in the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles about his recent trip to the Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin. Gordon wrote in the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles: "I was in the Jenin refugee camp on April 16. In addition to noting that there was no smell of death in the camp and that the booby-traps and anti-personnel bombs laid out by the Palestinian gunmen were still very much in evidence, I heard a story, which I did indeed find chilling. It was told to me by Dr. David Zangen, chief medical officer of the Israeli paratroop unit, which bore the brunt of the fighting in Jenin. Zangen stated that the Israelis not only worked to keep the hospital in Jenin open, but that they offered the Palestinians blood for their wounded. The Palestinians refused it because it was Jewish blood. "That is a chilling story to an American of my age, with memories of white, bigoted-racial purists refusing to accept blood from African Americans in the segregated South. The Israeli response, which could easily have been, "fine, have it you own way," was to fly in 2,000 units of blood from Jordan, via helicopters, for the Palestinians. In addition, they saw to it that 40 units of blood from the Mukasad Hospital in East Jerusalem went to the hospital in Ramallah, that 70 units got to the hospital in Tul Quarem and they facilitated the delivery of 1,800 units of anti-coagulants that had come in from Morocco, and thus, were somehow acceptable to the Palestinians where Jewish blood was not. (This information was later confirmed to me by Col. Arik Gordin [reserves] of the IDF Office of Military Spokesman, who supplied the exact numbers of units of blood and anticoagulants and the names of the hospitals to which they were delivered.)" Now, Harold Zwier from Melbourne, Australia, writes the Jewish Journal 9/6/02: "On Aug. 25, there was a meeting in Melbourne, Australia, organized by the State Zionist Council of Victoria. The guest speaker was Zangen. I was not at this meeting, but I understand that Zangen categorically denied ever having said anything like that to Gordon, and denied being aware of any incident in which Palestinians had refused blood from the Israelis." Dan Gordon responds: I spoke with some 50 Israeli soldiers, officers and enlisted men, reservists, conscripts and career army personnel on site in Jenin, Bethlehem, Beit Jallah, at military headquarters (the Kirya) in Tel Aviv and in Jerusalem. I did not write the article in question until almost a month after my return from Jenin. Could I have misattributed a story told by one Israeli officer to another Israeli officer; in this case, Zangen? Yes. I did not, however, misattribute who confirmed the story. That was Col. Arik Gordin (Res.) of the Israeli Military spokesman’s office. On May 13, I received the following e-mail from Gordin: "I made some inquiries about the blood donations. It was confirmed by the spokesman of the office of the coordinator of the government activities in the territories that the Palestinians refused our offer of blood. They said they would not take blood from Israel ... in short, the story you heard onsite is true." If I misattributed the source of that story to Zangen, I again profoundly apologize. I did not however, misattribute the confirmation of that story, nor misstate it as it was related to me. |