Reel Bad Arabs - The Delta Force 1986 from Planck's Constant

In his 2001 book Reel Bad Arabs, Jack Shaheen cites The Delta Force (1986) as one of the four most anti-Arab Hollywood movies ever made.

Inspired by Shaheen's book, a 9-minute-long trailer called "Planet of the Arabs" was assembled which included numerous clips of the film to show how Arabs and Muslims are stereotyped by Hollywood.

The YouTube video starts off with a scene of the hijacking of an American Travelways (ATW) Boeing 707 on a flight from Athens, Greece to Rome, Italy and then to New York City by a group of Lebanese terrorists armed with pistols and AK-47s. Taking the passengers and crew hostage, the terrorists force the pilot to fly the plane to Beirut, Lebanon, where they make demands to the United States government that, if not met, will result in the death of the hostages.

Now this is quite absurd. Would such a thing happen in real life? Isn't this just an instance of Jewish Hollywood producers making up nonsense simply to demean Arabs? Actually, no. Hollywood made up nothing: there was a real life hijacking of a TWA Flight 847 in 1985; the route is Cairo-Athens-Rome; two terrorists took over the flight, the third one being arrested in Athens; the flight was diverted to Beirut and Algiers.

At the 0:46 minute mark we hear one of the terrorists, Moustapha (played by actor David Menachem), bragging that one day he will drive a truck full of explosives to the White House and "trrcchhh" it will blow. Again, would any Arab ever attempt a suicide mission to blow up the White House or even the Pentagon? Isn't this just too outrageous? It would never happen. How can Hollywood depict Arab terrorists as being so insane, so disregardful of human life? It's unbelievable.

At the 4:29 mark, German stewardess Ingrid Harding (played by Hanna Schygulla) pleads with terrorist Abdul Rafai (played by Robert Forster) not to hurt the Israelis and Jews on the plane. Again, Hollywood is merely repeating what happened in real life: Ingrid was based on the real-life flight attendant Uli Derickson.

At the 5:06 mark little Ellen Levine (played by Natalie Roth) asks her mother (played by Susan Strasberg): "They don't like Jews, huh, Momma?" Now, come on! Arab terrorists who don't like Jews? Where does Hollywood get such ideas?

What else do we see in The Delta Force?

Well, let's examine the film from beginning to end:

The film opens up on Operation Eagle Claw, the American operation to rescue American hostages being held by Muslims at the U.S. embassy in Tehran. The operation is aborted after a fatal helicopter crash. Sound familiar? Based on real life events.

Five years later, in 1985, Hezbollah Shia terrorists hijack an American plane on a flight from Athens, Greece to Rome, Italy. Sound familiar? Based on real life events.

Abdul Rafai kills one hostage, a US Navy diver named Tom. Sound familiar? Robert Dean Stethem, a United States Navy Seabee diver, was murdered by Hezbollah terrorists during the hijacking. Again, based on real life events.

The hostage rescue operation is a knockoff of Operation Entebbe, conducted by Israeli commandos in 1976. Again, based on real life events.

This wasn't a movie with negative images of Arabs and Muslims, this was simply a compilation of news headlines, of real events simply presented in a dramatized manner.

Jack Shaheen should not be criticizing Hollywood for depicting Arabs and Muslims in a negative way, he should be blaming Arabs and Muslims for making headlines that Hollywood writers merely regurgitate for American audiences.

The problem with the film The Delta Force is not Hollywood stereotyping, but Hollywood ripping off newspaper stories. Not Hollywood making up lies, but Hollywood telling the truth. Not Hollywood engaging in outrageous racist or bigoted fiction, but Hollywood engaging in accurate recreations of real life events.

This is post number 9 in the category Muslim Stereotypes.