More than 1,800 actors, entertainers pledge to boycott Israeli film institutions over Gaza

Over 1,800 actors, entertainers, and producers, including some Hollywood stars, signed a pledge released on Monday refusing to work with Israeli film institutions or any companies complicit in Israeli "apartheid and genocide" against Palestinians. The list includes several Oscar, BAFTA, Emmy and Palme d’Or winners and spans several fields within the entertainment industry.

Some companies 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 — victims of Israel's man-made famine — spark global outrage.

"Inspired by Filmmakers United Against Apartheid who refused to screen their films in apartheid South Africa, 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," the pledge read.

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. It noted last year's International Court of Justice opinion that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal and assessments by multiple rights experts and scholars that Israel's military assault on Gaza amounts to genocide.

Signatories included actors Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Tilda Swinton, Riz Ahmed, Javier Bardem, and Cynthia Nixon, among others. Israel's government has previously dismissed boycott calls against Israeli institutions as discriminatory. Israel claims its military onslaught against Gaza, in which it has killed more than 64,000 people, is "self-defense" after the October 2023 Hamas-led attack that resulted in the deaths of 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel, supported by the U.S., has displaced Gaza's entire population, demolished much of the Strip and created a man-made famine as a result of a suffocated blockade. Last week, The Voice of Hind Rajab, a film about a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli forces in Gaza last year, recieved a 23-minute standing ovation at its premiere at the Venice Film Festival. Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara and Jonathan Glazer were among the film's executive producers, though they did not sign the aforementioned pledge.