Over 1,200 celebrities, including Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo, have signed a letter pledging not to work with Israeli film institutions, claiming those groups are complicit in "war crimes."
Emma Stone is among the more than 1,200 signatures — including Ayo Edebiri — who signed a pledge vowing to refuse work with Israeli institutions and companies "implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people."
— Variety (@Variety) September 8, 2025
See the list of signatures here:… pic.twitter.com/EjG6juSo0B
The pledge statement, published on Monday by the organization Film Workers for Palestine, states that examples of complicity include “whitewashing or justifying genocide and apartheid, and/or partnering with the government committing them.” As per the FAQ accompanying the pledge, this would include the Jerusalem Film Festival, Haifa International Film Festival, Docaviv and TLVfest.
“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,” it reads.
According to the organizers, the mass declaration was inspired by Filmmakers United Against Apartheid, founded by Jonathan Demme, Martin Scorsese and 100 other prominent filmmakers in 1987 to demand that the U.S. film industry refuse to distribute films in apartheid South Africa.
Unlike South Africa, there is no apartheid in Israel.
Nor is there genocide. And that's according to the British government. Yesterday, MP David Lammy, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, sent a letter to fellow MP Sarah Champion, Chair of the International Development Committee in the House of Commons.
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Here is the salient paragraph (emphasis added):
The Government has carefully considered the risk of genocide, including when permitting exports to the F-35 global programme. The high civilian casualties, including women and children, and the extensive destruction in Gaza, are utterly appalling. Israel must do much more to prevent and alleviate the suffering that this conflict is causing. As per the Genocide Convention, the crime of genocide occurs only where there is specific “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.” The Government has not concluded that Israel is acting with that intent.
Given that Hollywood movies haven't been winning over audiences in recent years, with a 3% decline from 2023 to 2024 and 2025 box office numbers well behind last year's, it seems unwise for celebrities to continue being brazenly political.
This news won't seem to sway celebrities from attacking Israel, unfortunately. Nor did any of these celebrities react to yesterday's terror attack in Jerusalem, one that left at least six dead and 11 wounded.
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