Over 4,000 actors, filmmakers sign pledge to boycott Israeli film industry over Gaza

WASHINGTON: More than 4,000 actors, entertainers, and producers, including some Hollywood stars, pledged not to work with Israeli film institutions that they see as being complicit in the abuse of Palestinians by Israel.

Paramount became the first major studio to respond to the pledge, stating that it condemned the pledge.

Some organizations have faced calls for boycotts and protests over ties with the Israeli government as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza from Israel’s military assault grows, and images of starving Palestinians, including children, spark global outrage.

The pledge said it was not urging anyone to stop working with Israeli individuals but instead “the call is for film workers to refuse to work with Israeli institutions that are complicit in Israel’s human rights abuses.”

Israeli film institutions had engaged in “whitewashing or justifying” abuse of Palestinians, it said, drawing parallels with how entertainers had made a similar pledge in the past against apartheid-era South Africa.

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Signatories included actors Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Tilda Swinton, Riz Ahmed, Javier Bardem, and Cynthia Nixon, among others.