A letter signed by over 450 Jewish Hollywood figures condemned Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar speech in which he criticized Israel’s conflict with Hamas and said producers of his film “refute their Jewishness”.
Glazer had directed a film about the Holocaust nominated for awards.
“Our film shows where dehumanization leads at its worst,” Glazer said.
“Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation, which has led to conflict for so many innocent people — whether the victims of October the 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza — all the victims of this dehumanization … How do we resist?”
The letter refuted the hijacking of Jewish identity to draw moral equivalences between Nazi genocide and Israel defending itself from Hamas attacks.
It said Israel targets Hamas, not civilians, and the war would end if Hamas released hostages and surrendered.
The signatories, including prominent actors, directors, producers and executives, saw the speech as hurtful and aligning with growing antisemitism.
“We are Jewish creatives, executives and Hollywood professionals,” the letter read.
“We refute our Jewishness being hijacked for the purpose of drawing a moral equivalence between a Nazi regime that sought to exterminate a race of people, and an Israeli nation that seeks to avert its own extermination.”
They viewed Israel as defending an ancient Jewish homeland and criticized using terms like “occupation” that distort history and fuel anti-Jewish hatred.
“Every civilian death in Gaza is tragic. Israel is not targeting civilians,” the letter added. “It is targeting Hamas. The moment Hamas releases the hostages and surrenders is the moment this heartbreaking war ends. This has been true since the Hamas attacks of October 7th.”
“The use of words like ‘occupation’ to describe an indigenous Jewish people defending a homeland that dates back thousands of years, and has been recognized as a state by the United Nations, distorts history.”
“It gives credence to the modern blood libel that fuels a growing anti-Jewish hatred around the world, in the United States, and in Hollywood,” it read. “The current climate of growing antisemitism only underscores the need for the Jewish State of Israel, a place which will always take us in, as no state did during the Holocaust depicted in Mr. Glazer’s film.”
“There was no concern for how Jewish people are going to react to a speech like that … when not even our hostages are being mentioned, and it’s just incredibly hurtful, incredibly painful,” actor Brett Gelman said. “It’s truly baffling to me that people were choosing to be silent that night.”
“His words sounded eerily similar to Vanessa Redgrave’s infamous ‘Zionist hoodlum’ speech,” “Modern Family” producer Ilana Wernick said.
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