Liev Schreiber, Mayim Bialik, and Greg Berlanti are among 1,200 industry figures who have signed an open letter decrying an Israeli film boycott.
Organized by non-profit Creative Community For Peace, the letter (read in full below) described the Film Workers for Palestine boycott, signed by the likes of Mark Ruffalo and Olivia Colman, as “discriminatory and antisemitic.”
The Creative Community For Peace letter, signed by others including Debra Messing and Sharon Osbourne, referred to the rival pledge as an act of “censorship” and “erasure of art.”
The letter said: “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.”
It continued: “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 concluded: “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.”
The Film Workers for Palestine boycott was published earlier this month. It has gathered signatories including Emma Stone, Peter Sarsgaard, Lily Gladstone, Elliot Page, and Joaquin Phoenix.
The pledge said: “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.”
Full Creative Community For Peace letter (signatories here):
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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