Awkward: ‘Battleship’ Director Hammers Israeli TV Host Who Admits He Skipped Out on Mandatory Military Service
- Posted on May 15, 2012 at 11:28am by
Billy Hallowell
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An on-air interview took an odd turn when film director Peter Berg (“Battleship”) took the focus off of his new film and shifted it to global politics. Berg awkwardly transformed his discussion with an Israeli reporter into a bizarre commentary about Iran — and Israeli military service.
As Berg railed on about his not-so-positive outlook on the Middle East, he decided to begin turning questions back on the reporter, Jason Danino-Holt. He asked the 25-year-old if he has ever served in the military, a requirement for all Israeli citizens. The “awkward” factor increased when the host answered that he has never served.
"Battleship" director Peter Berg, right, smiles with its cast members, Rihanna, center, and Tadanobu Asano, during a photocall of the film's promotion event aboard aircraft carrier USS George Washington at the U.S. 7th Fleet's headquarters in Yokosuka, near Tokyo, Monday, April 2, 2012.
“What? How did you get out of that? Are you a draft dodger?,” Berg asked. ”You better join the army motherf**ker!”
Holt tried to re-route the conversation, telling the director that “it’s a long story.” He inevitably squashed the bizarre interaction by saying, “We’re not having this conversation.”
Clearly, Holt was uncomfortable and didn’t want to delve into his personal issues. In an interview with YNet News back in 2005, the young host, who is a well-known television personality overseas, said that he was exempted from mandatory military service due to health issues.
Watch the awkward interview, below (caution: language):
It should be noted that Berg is also the director of “Lone Survivor,” an upcoming film based on Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell’s experiences. Luttrell wrote a book by the same title that recaps Operation Redwing and his fellow Seal Team 10 members who were lost in the ambush.
This story has been updated.
(H/T: TMZ)
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Inkmage
Posted on May 17, 2012 at 11:33am@ENCINOM
WRONG!
While it is true MOST of the military is filled with non rich, as its ALWAYS been that way. There are many middle class, and upper class people within the military. Many politicians have family in the military, we just don’t really hear about it.
Report Post »skimmer57
Posted on May 16, 2012 at 9:46amThis guy should have done the same thing as a lot of peoples hero and just poohed his pants for a few days like Ted Nugent ! People on the blaze love Ted
Report Post »OhYeah
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 7:46pmI am going to take this where I don’t see anyone taking this….
Rihanna…. ugh why do these Hollywood people put women (i AM female and served) in military roles that they could never do in real life…. Like Act of Valor they were real and I enjoyed not seeing them sweat with 75lbs of weight on them in dead heat runs and their breathing was of a very little if any…. no matter how many sit ups and pushups Mr. Mission Impossible Tommie does he can never replicate true life…. strength comes from doing hard work over and over again and not by the clock.with a fitness instructor.. 24/7….
Report Post »deano24
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 7:44pmHere’s a video about women serving in the IDF.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fiqoz2p7ql4&list=UUawNWlihdgaycQpO3zi-jYg&index=4&feature=plcp
Report Post »suz
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 7:12pmyou can get out of serving in the idf w/very good reason, so the ambush was unnecessary. however, what the director was speaking about, as it lead to the latter, seemed to be going in the right direction. he should have stuck to it.
Report Post »ThoreauHD
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 6:57pmThat movie was an insult to the military and the human race.
Report Post »syaela
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 4:15pmI first saw this interview as it was attached by one of my facebook friends, and you can’t imagine the glee with which this interview was accepted. Firstly, Peter Berg was not rambling- he put a seemingly complicated situation in the most concise and clear way- there are only two options here- bomb now or be bombed with a nuclear device. That’s it. For some reason our top “security” people as the former Mosad and Shin-Bet directors don’t seem to get this. Secondly, this “interviewer” is a resident of what we in Israel call “the state of Tel-Aviv”; people who deem themselves above and separated from the rest of the country. You see his a citizen of the world (notice he gave the name “Holt” instead of “Danino” that is a Jewish Moroccan name.) Many of them don’t serve in the army ’cause they don’t see themselves part of this conflict. Let someone from the periphery die for them! I regard his type of people as the dregs of our society and I’m glad someone shone a light on him and his ilk! I like Peter Berg!
Report Post »FedUpAlready
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 3:35pmAs, a Female, not required to serve during the Vietnam War, I still enlisted. I was an MP, and I can honestly say, I spent more time chasing AWOL’s, and keeping under control draftees, and draft dodgers then anyother activity.
Report Post »The all volunteer Army, is by far the most deserving of our eccolades. George Washington would be proud to know we still have enough Love for our Country, to fight for it, to this day. However, I‘m sure he wouldn’t presume to start wars in foreign countries, without justification. Bring our troops home, they will soon be needed to defend this country, on the Border and from the enemies within,
encinom
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 3:52pmThe problem with an all volunteer army is that the working class and lower middle class have the burden of filling the ranks of the enlisted. The sons of the middle class and upper class stay safe at home, while their parents can preach the honor of patriotism and the sacrifices of the military, while knowing that their little johnny is at home safe. They are more willing to support neo-cons who preach war since they are risking nothing.
Report Post »MONICNE
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 4:09pmI am just curious where you were located during the war. Did you serve overseas? Or were you an MP in an administrative role in the states? Also, a stateside MP is probably more likely to be involved with the problem makers and fringe elements.
Respectfully please quantify the statement you made – for example what percentage of the returning combat veterans from 64 to 73 do you recollect as being a patriotism problem?
I do understand how different things were back then but it is fascinating to see how there are different opinions between and among Navy women and Army and Air Force and Marines just based on where we served and what our specialties were.
But it is also important that the stories be shared – service is not understood these days, LOL.
Sincere Thanks for your service – and have you visited the VWM yet?
TEA
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 4:54pmAfghanistan harbored Al Qaeda HQ & numerous training camps. Brazil, Peru Botswana, Ukraine, Japan did not. See who we invade dafter they refused to extradite Usama. We asked; they refused.
Iraq violated the 1991 cease fire. Clinton ***** footed around about doing something while he, John Kerry & others gradually increased the rhetoric toward the end of the 1990s. Iraq was behind a Bush Sr. assassination plot & I believe were part of OKC. That is more than enough.
Report Post »MONICNE
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 5:36pm((Walkabout has been drinking heavily – but it’s Tomorrow down under. LOL))
Just a note to self!
Report Post »SgtB
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 3:01pmWell, it seems like I won’t be watching that movie anytime…. EVER! It is plainly obvious that the idiot is one of those people who believes he has the right to use force preemptively against anyone he sees fit if they don’t follow his rules. If people like him make up the majority of Israelis, then I could see no fault in another country wanting to rid the world of them. That is an arrogant and childish view of the world. Imagine if another nation told us that we had to surrender our ability to make nuclear weapons, or nuclear reactors, or gun powder or else they would commit their armies to an assault upon our soil. Just imagine how we would and should react as a nation.
Oh, and for all of you who don’t understand why Iran would be a little on edge by our presence have never looked at a damn map. So I’ll lay it out for you.
IRAQ – IRAN – AFGHANISTAN
That is right. For the last decade we have been occupying territory in the nations on both sides of Iran. Imagine if China or India had military stationed in Mexico and Canada. And I haven’t even gotten to the part about our own CIA helping to overthrow an elected president of Iran, thereby helping to empower the Shaw and all of his religious and tyrannical rule over tens of millions of people.
Report Post »Bob_R_OathKeeper
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 4:45pmOh put a sock in it you antisemitic POS. I’m so sick of you cowards.
Report Post »Bob_R_OathKeeper
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 4:53pmRon Paul will never be president either, you little coward…his son, maybe, not that antisemitic POS you love though…never. Go suck on that for awhile.
Report Post »Pete Davis
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 5:01pm“empower the SHAW”? Robert Shaw? Don’t you mean the Shah, you moron? It’s people like you what cause unrest. Best keep your thoughts to yourself so the rest of us can’t see your ignorance.
Report Post »ChevalierdeJohnstone
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 7:17pmI hate responding to liberal trolls like SGTB but just so nobody is taken in by this obvious BS…the reason the U.S. has a strategic security interest in the countries bordering Iran is that Iran has been at war with the U.S. for going on 23 years now. Remember when they seized our embassy? Since then Iran has pretty openly funded military groups which target and kill American citizens.
Report Post »So…yeah.
SgtB
Posted on May 16, 2012 at 7:59amOkay Bob R Oath Keeper…. How exactly do you get off calling yourself an Oath Keeper? That’s it, I really don‘t give one more f’ing flip about this nation or her people. You idiots can keep on your path of destruction and keep stealing Liberty from men. But one day, maybe soon, people like me will be pushed just one step too far and we will go into violent rebellion against you tyrannical imbeciles.
Report Post »jungle J
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 2:56pmrats and snakes are always the first to stike…two rats striking at each other…now that is some fun…
Report Post »shakedowncrews
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 2:44pmQuick question: did the foul mouthed director ever serve in any military service? A quick check of wikipedia and we know he NEVER SERVED. Interesting that he’s so beligerant and never did any service.
Report Post »MADDRICK99
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 12:49pmok, in part about two years compulsary. I hate to quote a cult movie, but “Starship Troopers” had the idea. To be a citizen and have a voice in how this country is run, you must serve,either military or federal government. If you don’t want to, you don’t vote period. Voting should be a priviledge, not a right!!!!!
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 1:14pmRobert Heinlein had some good ideals.
Report Post »black9897
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 1:36pmMilitary service should be voluntary. Same with being in a jury. Land of the free, yet we threaten people if they don’t want to do jury duty. It’s only wrong if people do it; if you use a pseudonym like “government” you can do anything you want and magically it makes it ok. Land of the tyranny and home of the oppressive laws.
Report Post »encinom
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 1:40pmI love how the tea party members are so eager to embrace pure facism. Next to free speech and the right to cast a ballot and have a say in your government is the most fundimental right.
Report Post »Haze
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 1:58pmThis is one of the dumbest ideas I’ve ever heard. It goes against everything this country stands for.
Report Post »Mikev5
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 3:12pmblack9897 well said
I only disagree with jury duty everyone should get jury duty a few times in their life a good point is you learn much doing it and if you are a concerned citizen that loves their country it shouldn’t bother you at all but Military duty should be your choice unless all-out War is going on then it’s a must and a duty.
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 4:45pmencinom
HeII, encinom by your estimation your could vote that 6 people could tax 4 people at twice the rate that the 6 are taxed at for whatever reason. Your reasoning is the vote is sacred & oh by the way we have a few more people. Tocqueville had you figured out before you were ever born. He said that people like you would vote yourselves other people’s money. What skin do you have in the game or would you put in the game?
Report Post »MONICNE
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 4:51pmIronically, Heinlein‘s epic Starship Troopers was written to satirize Hitler’s SS, and it just turned out to be a great ‘book’ to use as an action flick. The characterization painstakingly demonstrates how infectious hyper patriotism can be – and it is still a valid warning to overly-corporatist factions of the Taxed Enough Already movement.
Throughout the storyline, we are all too sympathetic to the unbridled lust to pursue victory over loathsome non-human enemies. Not unlike how some heads-down fanatics harmlessly pursue “trolls” hereabouts! LOL
(More ironically, I have heard some military movie buffs criticize that Neal Patrick Harris who starred in the picture – because he is an out gay male, therefore incapable of being a fascist interrogator. LOL)
But, I digress.
TEA – it’s about taxes.
Report Post »encinom
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 7:16pm@Walkabout
Report Post »My citizenship is all the skin in the game I need, you brown shirt.
romadave
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 12:35pm+1 vote for Glenn to invite this director on GBTV.
Report Post »Kaoscontrol
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 1:06pm…Once Berg cleans up his mouth. I agree with his perspective on Israeli service, but when I hear profanity like this, it takes him down a notch in my opinion.
Report Post »Master.Debater
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 12:22pmThat interviewer should have done a better job of controlling the conversation instead of letting Berg ramble off-topic on a wild tangent.
Report Post »IDONTTHINKSO
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 12:37pmYes, by doing his duty!
Report Post »MONICNE
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 12:09pmAmerica should be stronger than Israel. Period.
United States citizens should have compulsive military service for 2 years at the age of 16 (like the Israelis). Rich persons and those otherwise unfit for military service could walk a beat in the Customs and Border Patrol or serve as clerks in immigration courts or perform other national service. Disabled persons could serve as anti-hacker computer experts.
Every American needs to join the NRA, receive training at age 15 to own automatic firearms (like the Israelis) and need to be apply for valid state or municipal CCW permits to safely carry concealed side arms at all times. Except for felons.
TEA – it’s the movement that changes everything.
Report Post »mongastanman
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 12:36pmHave you served in the military? I have, and the last thing I would’ve liked while I was in Az-Crack-istan was serving with people who were forced to be there!!!
Report Post »Mandors
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 12:58pmI agree, Mongo, our noble, all volunteer arm forces have performed brilliantly, albeit for longer than I or they would like.
Report Post »MONICNE
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 1:29pmMaybe if Dick Cheney had served, and maybe if his grandchildren were expected to serve, you would have never had to go to Afghanistan in the first place! Or, once you were deployed they would not have pulled the support you needed so they could attack & occupy Iraq before getting things done in Afghan.
By the way, I was around during the draft (ended in ‘73 I believe) and let me say the majority of draftees were brave and honorable citizen soldiers, and the real ner-do-wells avoided service entirely.
Thank You so much for your service. And your family.
TEA
Report Post »AvengerK
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 1:31pm“compulsive” MOREACNE/ENCIDIOT/SLEAZY HIPPO? The only thing compulsive around here is the tired routine you’ve adopted of constant mockery of conservatives and your equally wornout “TEA” tagline at the end of your (and sometimes when you’re not too alert, your other on-line personalities’) posts.
Speaking of you being compulsive..I know exactly what your first thought was when you saw this post MOREACNE/SLEAZY HIPPO/ENCIDIOT…you were about to launch into one of your baitfests about immigrants and the U.S. and serving in the military. By all means champ…prove me right…
Report Post »MONICNE
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 1:42pmMandors, I hope you are not saying that the 1.77 Million young men inducted during the Viet Nam conflict were not worthy of our praise (even though they were not welcomed home as war fighters are today). I think some of them might be considered brilliant, who knows?
The all volunteer force is wonderful, ready at a moment’s for endless conflict and makes it easy to go to war whenever we want. And it means 99% of us will never have the profound experience of earning an honorable discharge or two!
God Bless the ALL uniformed services – but especially the Guard and Reserves since 2001.
TEA goes with every meal!
Report Post »TheEDGE
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 12:09pmBerg seems descent enough. Personally, I can’t ever watch a film starring Liam (the Muslim) Neeson, again.
Report Post »Kaoscontrol
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 12:58pmBerg Decent? Maybe. Most decent folks I know don’t use that many F-bombs in a 2 minute conversation.
As far a Liam goes… Sorry he lost his wife and all, but it seems like the movies he appears in are increasingly the kind you find in the $5 bin at Walmart. If Allah is guiding Neeson’s choices, he must not know what a good script looks like.
Report Post »justangry
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 11:53amMaybe he felt compelled to spread the word in Europe.
Report Post »sooner12
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 11:48amThe director is a straight talking man. I like him.
Report Post »SgtB
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 3:09pmI think he is a freaking hypocrite who doesn’t know what he is talking about. No nation has the right to make demands of another nation. Just like you can’t walk into my home and demand me to disarm myself because it scares you, neither can Israel or the U.S. make such demands of Iran. I understand, people are scared little rats who have lost their ability to reason and make sound judgement. But just because that is the reality we live in, it does not excuse a single person’s actions against another.
Report Post »Bob_R_OathKeeper
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 4:47pmSGTB- When nukes get in the hands of mooslims, it changes the game, you antisemitic coward. You are not fooling anyone punk.
Report Post »Individualism
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 11:42amIts fine if they come to avoid service as long as they don’t lobby and control parts of goverment to get American troops to die and fight their battles for Israel. the problem is there are those Dual Israeli-American citizens who are doing that and they need to be stopped.
Report Post »tzion
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 12:11pmMaybe you should give us names then so we know who to look out for. Spouting rhetoric without providing a list of names serves only to ferment distrust and suspicion. You might as well be promoting class warfare.
Report Post »MONICNE
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 12:18pmAustralian expat lobbyists have just succeed in getting the us to pay for a 2500-strong US Marine Corps base in northern Australia near Darwin to help their teeny-weeny, under-funded military try to protect their huge unprotected coastline from shadowy evildoers. Their government apparently needs the tax money offsets to pay for universal healthcare and other commie socialist goodies for our down under brothers and sisters.
TEA – Save the baby Taxes!
Report Post »Yaeli
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 12:22pmAre you delusional Individualism? Israel never has and never will ask America or American soldiers to fight a war on her behalf. Israel, however, has sacrificed a good number of her civilians on behalf of an American war — in the first Gulf War, the U.S. asked Israel not to respond or retaliate when large rockets were rained down on Tel Aviv and the entire country was in bomb shelters for weeks after Iraq attacked us because of America’s war.Israeli civilians died. We only ask that America have our back when we fight our own battles. We’ve long had hers..
Report Post »IDONTTHINKSO
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 12:41pm@Yaeli
Report Post »Great post! Some idiots just don’t get it! People just don’t know history!
Walkabout
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 1:24pmMONICNE
If Indonesia got money from a 3rd party, they could wipe the Aussies off the world Stage.
You know the Indonesians want Papua New Guinea. They have no legitimate claim but they want the whole island.
If the Saudis funded Indonesia, you think Australia has the numbers, the GDP or the willpower to stand on their own?
Judging from you political leanings, I doubt that their are enough Aussies with the willpower, too many Aussies on the left.
The Bali bombing they were just a one off.
Al Qaeda central leadership is inconsequential (ask Obama). We know that Al Qaeda & local Jihadi groups cannot cooperate, cannot regenerate, increase their capabilities or merge. Or that is what a troll like Monicne would have us believe.
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on May 15, 2012 at 4:46pm& Monicne has … nothing.
Report Post »