Natalie Portman Breaks Silence On Prize Snub — And BDS

Image by Getty Images
Natalie Portman says she refused to visit Israel to receive a $2 million prize as a protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and because of Israeli “atrocities” — but insisted she doesn’t back the boycott of the Jewish state.
The Hollywood superstar said she didn’t want to seem to be endorsing the escalating violence against the Palestinians by meeting Netanyahu at a gala for the Genesis Prize, which is sometimes called the “Jewish Nobel.”
“The mistreatment of those suffering from today’s atrocities is simply not in line with my Jewish values,” Portman said. “Because I care about Israel, I must stand up against violence, corruption, inequality, and abuse of power.
Despite scrapping the trip, the “Black Swan” actress insisted that she does not back the movement to Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement against Israel.
“I am not part of the BDS movement and do not endorse it,” she said in a statement released late Friday just before the start of Shabbat. “Like many Israelis and Jews around the world, I can be critical of the leadership in Israel without wanting to boycott the entire nation.”
Mentioning that Israel just celebrated its 70th birthday, she suggested that the Jewish state should stand against oppression since it was born in the aftermath of the Holocaust.
Portman, who was born in Jerusalem and moved to the U.S. with her family as a toddler, pointedly denounced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said she did not want to appear with him at the gala to accept the award.
“I did not want to appear as endorsing … Netanyahu,” she said.
She stressed that she had no intention of abandoning Israel or shunning its culture.
“I treasure my Israeli friends and family, Israeli food, books, art, cinema, and dance,” she said.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 2
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion In Trump’s war against campus antisemitism, hate the tactics but don’t ignore the problem
-
Yiddish כ׳בענק נאָך די וועלטלעכע ייִדן וואָס האָבן אָפּגעריכט אַ טראַדיציאָנעלן סדר Longing for those secular Jews who led a traditional seder
מײַן פֿעטער יונה האָט נישט געהיט שבת און כּשרות אָבער בײַם אָפּריכטן דעם סדר האָט ער געקלונגען ווי אַ פֿרומער ייִד
-
Fast Forward Rabbi who left Harvard calls Trump threat ‘reasonable’ — but warns of looming consequences
-
Fast Forward Secretive GOP firm distorts Democratic candidate’s views on Israel in NJ governor race
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.