Marvel movie to feature Israeli superhero Sabra

Anaheim (QNN)- An Israeli actress will be playing Israeli superhero Sabra in the forthcoming new Marvel movie, as Disney announced during this weekend’s D23 Expo.

“Captain America: New World Order,” which is set for release on May 3, 2024, will feature Israeli actress Shira Haas as Sabra, as the cast was revealed at Disney’s D23 Expo on Saturday in Anaheim.

Created by writer Bill Mantlo and artist Sal Buscema, Ruth Bat Seraph, aka Sabra, made her first brief appearance in the 1980’s “Incredible Hulk #250” before making her official debut in 1981’s “Incredible Hulk #256.”

Having bulletproof skin, Sabra has several superhuman powers and is the first superhuman agent to serve Mossad, the Israeli Security Agency.

According to the Marvel lore, she was born outside Israeli-occupied Palestine and, once her powers manifested, was relocated to a state-run kibbutz to “nurture” her abilities under Israeli occupation government observation. She describes herself in cartoons as a “superheroine of the state of Israel!”

Throughout her appearances in various comics, she typically appears dressed in a design based on the Israeli flag and has the weaponry typically given to members of the Israeli occupation forces.

Following the controversial introduction, several Palestinians and pro-Palestine advocates on social media have argued that the character is an example of Israeli military propaganda.

The social media users noted that the term “Sabra” was “offensive” due to the massacre of Palestinians in Beirut’s Sabra and Shatila camps in 1982.

Following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the Israeli occupation committed the massacre against the camps’ residents, lasting for three days, 16-17-18 September 1982, during which a large number of martyrs, including men, children, women and elderly unarmed civilians, mostly Palestinians, were savagely killed. Several Lebanese citizens also fell during the massacre, and the number of martyrs was estimated at between 3,500 and 5,000 of the 20,000 people who were living in Sabra and Shatila at the time of the massacre.

What has ‏angered the Palestinians and pro-Palestine advocates is that the timing of Sabra’s announcement is so close to the date of the massacre anniversary.

A low blow from @marvel naming a ‘superhero’ after the Sabra and Shatila Israeli massacre of Palestinians. Apologists of Israeli war crimes and genocide🤮🤬 pic.twitter.com/uD6mbeUwTk

— Shareefa Energy (@ShareefaEnergy) September 12, 2022

Apparently ‘Sabra’ is a term used to refer to Jews born in historic Palestine (correct me if I’m wrong). It is also the name of the neighborhood in Beirut where Israeli forces oversaw the massacre of thousands of Palestinian refugees in the Sabra & Shatila Massacre in 1982. https://t.co/PevrnulixH

— Yumna (@yumna_patel) September 11, 2022

Marvel announcing Sabra as a new character when she’s a Mossad and isr**l propaganda character just one week before the 40th commemoration of the Sabra and Shatila massacre is just… sickening

— Aya 𓂆 آية (@jimzawiya) September 11, 2022

Not MCU announcing an occupation superhero “Sabra” in the same month of the 20th anniversary of the “Sabra and Shatila massacre”. https://t.co/rn4mqthN0m

— àbd 🇦🇲🇵🇸 (@tiredpali) September 10, 2022

While we’re on the subject of Sabra, it’s worth noting the Sabra and Shatila massacres that occurred in 1982 in which Zionist forces in Beirut allowed fascist Phalangist militias into an area containing Palestinian refugees and assisted their efforts to murder upwards of 3,500. https://t.co/a43DKG4WhS

— DSA BDS and Palestine Solidarity🇵🇸🌹 (@DSA_Palestine) September 10, 2022

Sabra is a Jewish marvel character who helps settlers in Israel and kills Palestinians to "protect" them, was developed by Marvel two years after the massacre of Sabra and Shatila of Lebanese & Palestinian civilians by IDF-backed Christian militia during the Lebanese civil war. https://t.co/BI7ERksSpk

— Abdul (@abdullmuqeett) September 12, 2022

The new marvel superhero is an Israeli mossad agent named Sabra. Can someone explain to me why they keep using the name Sabra? The first thing pretty much every Palestinian remembers when we read or hear Sabra,is the massacre of Sabra Shatilla, it feels deliberate

— 𓂆 Demographic Threat 𓂆 🇵🇸 𓂆 (@ynPaliAmerican) September 11, 2022

Others even lamented Marvel’s involvement of an Israeli superhero, regardless of the character’s name and its origin.

Israel’s Marvel superhero Sabra has many powers, including demolishing Palestinian homes with her mind and assassinating Palestinian children with her laser beam eyes pic.twitter.com/5mye32ZH7f

— Matthew (@MatthewJohn666) September 10, 2022

We are troubled by the distasteful announcement that the upcoming movie "Captain America: New World Order" will feature an Israeli Mossad agent named "Sabra" as a superhero.
We call on @Disney & @MarvelStudios to immediately reverse the harm it has caused & cancel “Sabra!” (1/2) pic.twitter.com/j83x7u2LTH

— American Muslims for Palestine (@AMPalestine) September 13, 2022

Can't wait to see Sabra bomb a Palestinian hospital and say "Welp. That just happened…" https://t.co/x67j53kpe6

— The Blue RRRaja (@TheRealSobBaget) September 10, 2022

Critics have also called out the insensitive portrayal of Palestinians in comics where Sabra appeared.

For example, in her first appearance in 1980’s “Incredible Hulk” No. 256 “Power in the Promised Land,” she mistakenly believes that the Hulk is working with “terrorists” and the two fight. In their final confrontation, the Hulk cradles the body of Sahad, an “Arab” boy he befriended who was killed in an explosion by “terrorists”. The Hulk explains to her that the boy was his friend.

“Boy died because boy’s people and yours want to own land!” the Hulk tells Sabra, in reference to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. “Boy died because you wouldn’t share. Boy died because of two old books [the Quran and Bible] that say his people and yours must fight and kill for land!”

This is how Arabs are presented in Sabra’s first appearance in Marvel comics. The word Palestinian is never used. An Arab child in the comic who is an illiterate liar and thief is killed by black veiled bombers so Sabra can cry over them. Literally shoot and cry propaganda. pic.twitter.com/qh10S9VzsF

— Khaldoun Khelil 🥇Ennie 🇵🇸🇩🇿 #freePalestine (@kkhelil) September 11, 2022

2) The character’s disturbing origin story centers on the death of a Palestinian child, employing a slew of racist, anti-Muslim stereotypes and dehumanizing depictions of Palestinians—all while glorifying Israeli military violence.

— IMEU (@theIMEU) September 12, 2022

“To make her see this dead arab boy as a human being”.

The latest marvel character who is an Israeli mossad agent.

You can’t make this shit up. pic.twitter.com/zu1dvgHtY5

— Salem Barahmeh (@Barahmeh) September 11, 2022