Surprise blockbuster ‘Sound of Freedom’ echoes antisemitic QAnon conspiracies

Thriller’s ideology draws on blood libel canard, expert says, and star Jim Caviezel has floated anti-Jewish conspiracy theories while promoting the film

While “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” have hogged the Hollywood headlines, a more unlikely blockbuster swept the box office this month: “Sound of Freedom,” a thriller lauded by QAnon conspiracy theorists and high-profile Republicans.

It also draws from a conspiratorial well that includes a number of anti-Jewish canards, including the “blood libel” accusation, while its star, actor Jim Caviezel, has floated antisemitic theories in interviews promoting the film.

Despite the film’s low budget and independent distributor, “Sound of Freedom” has made over $100 million in its first few weeks, going toe-to-toe with “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” since it opened on July 4. The release date aligned with its patriotic Christian undertones, captured by the protagonist’s solemn line, “God’s children are not for sale.”

Caviezel plays a federal agent rescuing children from sex traffickers, and in real life, has openly embraced QAnon. Caviezel’s character is based on Tim Ballard, who worked in the US Department of Homeland Security before founding the anti-trafficking group Operation Underground Railroad.

Caviezel is best known for playing Jesus Christ in Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ,” which stirred accusations of antisemitism when it was released in 2004 — a controversy compounded by Gibson’s antisemitic tirades following its release.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/surprise-blockbuster-sound-of-freedom-echoes-antisemitic-qanon-conspiracies/

Perpetrators of brutal attack on Russian journalist to be held accountable — diplomat

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, warned about the responsibility of those who supplied cluster munitions to Ukraine

Those who were involved in the brutal attack on Russian journalist Rostislav Zhuravlev will be held accountable, and responsibility will also be shared by the suppliers of cluster bombs to Kiev, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement on Saturday.

"The perpetrators of the brutal attack on the Russian journalist will inevitably face deserved punishment. The entire extent of responsibility will also be shared by those who have sent cluster munitions to their Kiev proteges," the diplomat said.

Zakharova believes that the Kiev regime "keeps practicing criminal terror." She recalled that on Saturday afternoon, as a result of the Ukrainian armed forces’ strike with cluster munitions on journalists of the Izvestia multimedia information center and RIA Novosti news agency, one journalist was killed and three more wounded.

"Everything indicates that the attack on the group of journalists was not carried out by chance. The correspondents were collecting information for a report on how the Kiev regime’s militants pound the populated localities in the Zaporozhye Region using cluster munitions banned in many countries. Those are supplied to Kiev by the United States," she said.

"Washington, along with London and Paris that send long-range missiles to Zelensky’s regime, merely pay lip service voicing concern for the safety of journalists, while in fact they are sponsors of terrorists," Zakharova said.

According to the diplomat, there are no illusions that international organizations will prefer, as they have already done in similar cases, "to turn a blind eye to this heinous crime, which, in fact, makes them involved in Kyiv’s terrorist lawlessness."

"This cynical blindness once again confirms their political engagement and dysfunctionality. The silence of such institutions does not mean that evil has been given an indulgence for murders and the endeavor to silence the inconvenient truth," Zakharova concluded.

https://tass.com/politics/1650547