Jonathan Glazer poses with his Oscar fo rThe Zone of Interest. Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images

By PJ Grisar March 19, 2024

In an open letter, over 450 Jewish “creatives, executives and Hollywood professionals” slammed The Zone of Interest director Jonathan Glazer for his controversial Oscar speech. 

Signatories include The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel co-creator Amy Sherman-Palladino, filmmaker Eli Roth, actors Jennifer Jason Leigh, Debra Messing, Bret Gelman, Julianna Margulies, Noa Tishby and co-creators of The Americans Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields. Rabbi David Wolpe also signed. Michael Rapaport, who has been to Israel since Oct. 7, appearing on the comedy show Eretz Nehederet, identified himself in the letter as an “actor/disruptor.” 

The letter, first provided to Variety on Monday, inverted Glazer’s words, misconstrued by many as a denouncement of his Judaism, to say “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.”

The letter continues, stating that “every civilian death in Gaza is tragic,” but hastens to add that Israel is targeting Hamas, not civilians.

“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 letter read.

The statement also took issue with Glazer’s mention of the word “occupation,” saying that using it “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 is unclear what Glazer meant by “occupation.” Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem is recognized as such by international bodies. Some pro-Palestinian voices claim, erroneously, that the entire state of Israel is occupied and that all Israelis are “occupiers.”

The letter said that the use of the word “gives credence to the modern blood libel that fuels a growing anti-Jewish hatred around the world, in the United States, and in Hollywood.”

Across the internet, many reacted to the letter with outrage. Some accounts on X called the letter a shanda.

Others joked about how underwhelmed they were by the signatories. Many of the big names — like Messing, Rapaport, Tishby and Margulies — have been vocally pro-Israel since Oct. 7. 

Jennifer Jason Leigh’s inclusion was a surprise to some. Many on X went so far as to say that, seeing her name on the letter, they were “glad Noah Baumbach,” her ex-husband, now with Greta Gerwig, “cheated on her.”

Some pro-Israel voices celebrated the letter. Todd Richman, co-chair of Democratic Majority for Israel, posted to X, “sorry Jonathan Glazer of @ZoneOfInterest and your refuting of your Jewishness. PS remember the Nazis and Hamas wouldn’t care if you refuted it or not.” 

The letter concluded that “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.”

Since Glazer gave his speech, public opinion in the Jewish world has been divided. Danny Cohen, a producer on The Zone of Interest called Glazer’s remarks a “distraction” on the podcast Unholy: Two Jews on the News. Piotr M.A. Cywiński, head of the Auschwitz Memorial Museum, where Glazer’s film was shot, defended his director’s remarks on X, writing that “critics who expected a clear political stance or a film solely about genocide did not grasp the depth of his message.”

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