The Emirati-backed Jackie Chan movie is a terrible moral downfall

The art scene has not witnessed a moral and legal downfall like the fall of the international actor, Jackie Chan, who started shooting a movie in Al-Hajar Al-Aswad area, south of Damascus, which was destroyed and deserted at the hands of the Syrian regime. Chan is using the suffering of thousands of Syrians and their destroyed homes to tell the story that occurred in another devasted area, i.e., Yemen.

The movie, called “Home Operation”, is sponsored by China and the UAE, the most hostile regimes against rights and freedoms, and facilitated by the Syrian regime, which prepared the film set with its bloody genius years ago, as if it had been preparing it specifically for Chan’s movie.

Both the UAE and China are drowning in countless international crimes, so it is not surprising that they used the scene of the Syrian regime’s crimes to produce a film that tells a story that took place in Yemen, a country that is witnessing the worst humanitarian crisis due to the military attacks launched by the UAE, as part of an alliance with Saudi Arabia.

Actor Jackie Chan deceived the world with his attractive films, while he is, in fact, no different from many artists in the Middle East who produced films and series that falsified the past and present with the aim of material profit, washing away the crimes of dictatorial regimes and supporting their presence in the face of popular protests.

READ: Jackie Chan is producing Chinese action movie shot in Syria, set in Yemen

In 2019, Chan supported the Chinese government in the face of the popular demonstrations that erupted in Hong Kong and made televised statements similar to those made by Arab artists in such events, that security and safety are a blessing that should not be abandoned, and the regime has the right to do what is necessary to preserve them at all costs.

No respectable international artist with the slightest sense of morals and values ​​would agree to a project that involves the shameful use and exploitation of the suffering of tens of thousands of people, unless they are immoral and only seek financial profit.

Chan, his team and his supporters should know that this film will face legal challenges. The families who were displaced from this region and who lost their loved ones are spread all over the world and are witnesses to the crimes of the regime and its militias. They will not stand by idly and silent in the face of the most heinous exploitation.

The humanitarian community will not allow what the Syrian people have been exposed to and suffered to become a source of entertainment for the purpose of financial profit. There is still time for Chan, his team and the production company to back down from this shameful act and apologise to the Syrian people.

This article first appeared in Arabic in Arabi21 on 19 July 2022

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.