No joke in January when Roseanne Barr speaks to dispersed Knesset on BDS
Barr will be coming to Israel on a tour organized by celebrity Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s World Values Network, according to an announcement by the organization on Monday.
By SARA RUBENSTEINUpdated: DECEMBER 25, 2018 19:08Actress Roseanne Barr reacts as she arrives at the 75th Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., January 7, 2018. (photo credit: MARIO ANZUONI/REUTERS)
Roseanne Barr, the star of the recently canceled hit comedy “Roseanne,” will speak against the BDS movement at the Knesset in January.Barr will be coming to Israel on a tour organized by celebrity Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s World Values Network, according to an announcement by the organization on Monday. She was reportedly invited to speak at the Knesset by Deputy Speaker Yechiel Hilik Bar (Zionist Union).Barr said that as “a lover of Israel,” she was looking forward to the trip, and said that Israel is an “oasis of openness, freedom, democracy and tolerance amidst a desert of brutality from an age gone by,” according to a press release.Boteach said, “Bringing an incredibly proud Jewish woman like Roseanne to Israel will be a great boost to its citizens.”Roseanne’s eponymous hit sitcom was canned by ABC earlier this year after she tweeted a racist statement about the African-American former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, comparing her to an ape. The tweet sparked widespread outrage.A month later, Barr expressed deep regret and remorse about her comments in an interview with The Jerusalem Post conducted by Boteach, who has known her for nearly two decades.“I’m a lot of things: a loud mouth and all that stuff. But I’m not stupid for God’s sake. I never would have wittingly called any black person and say they are a monkey. I just wouldn’t do that,” Barr said. “I didn’t do that. And people think that I did that and it just kills me. I didn’t do that. And if they do think that, I’m just so sorry that I was so unclear and stupid. I’m very sorry… I have loved ones who are African American, and I just can’t stand it.Barr said that she had thought Jarrett was a white woman when she tweeted about her.“Valerie Jarrett, I don’t agree with her politics and I thought she was white, I did not know she was a black woman. When ABC called me and said ‘what is the reason for your egregious racism,’ I said, “Oh my God, it is a form of racism. I guess I didn’t know she was black, and I’ll cop to it, but I thought she was white,” Barr said.In the interview, Barr revealed that she had tried to obtain Jarrett’s phone number to personally call her and apologize. She also said that before ABC hired her, she told them that she would not stop defending Israel, despite the controversy her positions might cause.
