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Today, we note the passing of Edward Masry, the trial lawyer who won a gazillion dollar settlement from PG&E, as glamorized in the Julia Roberts movie, “Erin Brockovich.”
While we dislike trial lawyers, frown upon his soaking of PG&E when he never proved the company contaminated any water, and disapproved of the phony movie about him, we note something else we find more important: Although Arab groups dominated by Muslims constantly claimed Masry as a famous Arab American, his politics were otherwise. A Christian of Syrian descent, Masry was a strong supporter of the State of Israel and opponent of Islamic extremists.
“My father was a Christian from Syria who came to the United States in 1912 because of repression in his native country,” Masry once told a Jewish newspaper. “He was one of the first to give money to Israel in 1948. His sympathies were pro-Zionist, not pro-Arab.”
Not shown in Erin Brockovich was another aspect of Masry’s career. He was also agent to several NFL players, including Hall of Famer Merlin Olsen.