Over 1,800 Hollywood filmmakers, actors, and other film industry members sign pledge to boycott Israeli movie festivals, theaters, and production companies, while accusing the Jewish state of committing genocide in its war against the Hamas terror organization.
By World Israel News Staff
Over 1,800 Hollywood figures, including A-list actors and prominent filmmakers, have signed onto a pledge letter, vowing to boycott the Israeli film industry.
The open letter, first published in The Guardian, accuses Israel of committing “genocide” in its war on the Hamas terror organization in the Gaza Strip, and links Israel’s entertainment industry to the alleged genocide.
“In this urgent moment of crisis, where many of our governments are enabling the carnage in Gaza, we must do everything we can to address complicity in that unrelenting horror,” the letter reads in part.
“We answer the call of Palestinian filmmakers, who have urged the international film industry to refuse silence, racism, and dehumanization, as well as to ‘do everything humanly possible’ to end complicity in their oppression.”
The pledge was drafted by the Film Workers for Palestine group, which compared the boycott to previous boycotts of the film industry in apartheid-era South African.
The signatories vowed to avoid any involvement with Israeli theaters, movie festivals and production companies which are “implicated in genocide and apartheid.”
“We pledge not to screen films, appear at, or otherwise work with Israeli film institutions — including festivals, cinemas, broadcasters, and production companies — that are implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people,” the pledge reads.
Without giving a clear definition for which institutions are considered “implicated in genocide,” the letter said the ban would cover any company or organization which engages in “whitewashing or justifying genocide and apartheid.”
An accompanying document said the boycott would cover the “vast majority of Israeli film production and distribution companies, sales agents, cinemas, and other film industry institutions,” saying they had “never endorsed” Palestinian statehood.
Actresses Emma Stone, Ayo Edebiri, Cynthia Nixon, Aimee Lou Wood, Olivia Colman, and Tilda Swinton were among those who had joined the pledge, along with actors Riz Ahmed, Josh O’Connor, Joe Alwyn, Mark Ruffalo, and Javier Bardem.
Other signatories included filmmakers Ken Loach, Yorgos Lanthimos, Adam McKay, Gael García Bernal, and Ava DuVernay.
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