The production company Marvel Studio has just revealed the first images of its new superhero film, planned for 2024, “Captain America 4: New World Order”. Since then, Lebanese social networks have been on fire.
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In the trailer for this new film, we discover a new superheroine, played by Israeli actress Shira Haas. She wears a blue and white suit, with a large Star of David on the chest. She’s a former Mossad agent turned vigilante. A priori not enough to please the Lebanese, who are still officially at war against their southern neighbor. All films featuring Israeli actors are systematically banned from cinemas.
But what especially reacted and even scandalized some Internet users was the name of this new character: Sabra. Because in Lebanon, it is the name of a Palestinian refugee camp, and especially the place of a massacre, that of Sabra and Chatila. The timing is also particularly badly chosen: Lebanon is precisely commemorating this weekend the 40th anniversary of the tragedy. Thousands of Palestinians coldly executed by Christian militias during the civil war, with the at least passive complicity of the Israeli army. Those responsible for the massacre were never tried. For many Internet users, the name of this new Israeli character, Sabra, is therefore an insult to the memory of the victims.
Sabra first appeared in a Marvel comic released in 1980. Scrolling through this old comic, we find a Sabra chasing the Incredible Hulk. But there are also some racist outings, including an Arab child character, presented as an illiterate thief… In a bubble of the comic, this kid delivers a somewhat naive analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with these words: “Our peoples could have shared this land, if two very old books had not told them to kill each other.” Words that therefore rather advocate appeasement between Israelis and Arabs…
It remains to be seen how this comic will be brought up to date, and adapted to the cinema .Réponse in 2024.