Around 1200 artists and executives from the entertainment world have signed an open letter condemning any Israeli film boycott calls amid the Gaza conflict.
“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 released on Thursday by the non-profit organizations Creative Community for Peace and The Brigade states. Among the high profile signers of the open letter are Liev Schreiber, Mayim Bialik, Gene Simmons, Debra Messing, Sharon Osbourne, Greg Berlanti, Jerry O’Connell, Howie Mandel, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Sherry Lansing and Haim Saban.
Their intervention follows around 1300 Hollywood filmmakers, actors and creatives backing a pledge to not work with Israeli film institutions and companies that were “implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.” Among the Film Workers for Palestine supporters to sign the pledge are Olivia Colman, Mark Ruffalo, Riz Ahmed, Hannah Einbinder, Cynthia Nixon, Adam McKay, Asif Kapadia, Javier Bardem and Tilda Swinton.
For their part, the anti-Israeli film boycott supporters said the silencing of fellow artists and filmmakers would be self-defeating.
“Israel’s entertainment industry is a vibrant hub of collaboration between Jewish and Palestinian artists and creatives, who work together every single day to tell complex stories that entertain and inform both communities and the world. Israeli film institutions are not government entities. They are often the loudest critics of government policy,” their open letter states.
The letter concludes: “We call on all our colleagues in the entertainment industry to reject this discriminatory and antisemitic boycott call that only adds yet another roadblock on the path to peace.”
The full letter from the Creative Community for Peace and The Brigade follows:
To our fellow artists and the global film community,
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 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. To censor the very voices trying to find common ground and express their humanity, is wrong, ineffective, and a form of collective punishment.
Israel’s film industry includes groundbreaking, celebratory, and critical projects about Palestinians and Jews, which many of you have lauded and celebrated. Israel’s film community is restless, argumentative, and independent, where directors challenge ministers and many of the very festivals you target, consistently program dissent. Israel’s entertainment industry is a vibrant hub of collaboration between Jewish and Palestinian artists and creatives, who work together every single day to tell complex stories that entertain and inform both communities and the world. Israeli film institutions are not government entities. They are often the loudest critics of government policy.
The pledge uses nebulous terms like ‘implicating’ and ‘complicity.’ Who will decide which Israeli filmmakers and film institutions are ‘complicit’? A McCarthyist committee with blacklists? 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.
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. 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. 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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