Last month, a large number of Hollywood celebrities signed a letter in support of a boycott of Israel’s film industry over Israel’s campaign to root out the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza. This month another group of Hollywood artists have signed a letter of their own rejecting last month’s boycott pledge.
Actors including Adam McKay, Olivia Colman, Mark Ruffalo, Cynthia Nixon, Tilda Swinton, and Javier Bardem had signed onto a campaign to boycott Israel’s film industry for “complicity” in what it falsely claims is a “genocide” in Gaza and looks for examples including “whitewashing or justifying genocide and apartheid, and/or partnering with the government committing them.”
This month, yet another large group of more than 1,200 members of Hollywood’s film industry are rejecting the earlier call for a boycott and boldly asserting that the boycott is undergirded by “lies” that are “dressed up as justice,” The Wrap reported.
“We know the power of film. We know the power of story. That is why we cannot stay silent when a story is turned into a weapon, when lies are dressed up as justice and when artists are misled into amplifying antisemitic propaganda,” the latest letter said in a Thursday release through Creative Community for Peace and the Brigade.
Those signing onto the rejection of the Israeli boycott include Liev Schreiber, Mayim Bialik, Gene Simmons, Debra Messing, Sharon Osbourne, Greg Berlanti, Jerry O’Connell, Howie Mandel, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Lisa Edelstein, Erin Foster, Anthony Edwards, Rebecca De Mornay, Sherry Lansing, Haim Saban, and many more.
“The pledge circulated under the banner of ‘Film Workers for Palestine’ is not an act of conscience. It is a document of misinformation that advocates for arbitrary censorship and the erasure of art,” the new letter rails. “To censor the very voices trying to find common ground and express their humanity, is wrong, ineffective and a form of collective punishment.”
The letter goes on to insist that Israel’s film industry is a “vibrant hub of collaboration between Jewish and Palestinian artists” and adds that Israeli filmmakers are often critical of the Israeli government.
The letter goes on to slam the boycott for using false terms to push lies.
“The [September] pledge uses nebulous terms like ‘implicating’ and ‘complicity.’ Who will decide which Israeli filmmakers and film institutions are ‘complicit’? A McCarthyist committee with blacklists?” the latest letter asks. “Or is ‘complicity’ just a pretext to boycott all Israelis and Zionists — 95% of the world’s Jewish population — no matter what they create or believe? History warns us. Censorship has been used to silence filmmakers before: Nazi Germany’s propaganda machine, Soviet censorship and even Hollywood’s own blacklists. Every time it was dressed up as virtue. And every time it was oppression. Every time, its targets expanded.”
The letter goes on to warn the previous letter’s signers that their names are being “weaponized.”
“We know that many of you have good intentions and believe you are standing for peace. But your names are being weaponized and tied to lies and discrimination. This pledge erases dissenting Israeli voices, legitimizes falsehoods and shields Hamas from blame,” the letter states.
The letter concludes by calling on the earlier group of celebrities to reject their boycott pledge.
“If you want peace, call for the immediate release of the remaining hostages. Support filmmakers who create dialogue across communities. Stand against Hamas. Let art speak the whole truth,” the letter concludes. “We call on all our colleagues in the entertainment industry to reject this discriminatory and antisemitic boycott call that only adds another roadblock on the path to peace.”
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