An open letter opposing the Israeli film boycott, signed by Liev Schrieber, Mayim Bialik and others, is making the rounds in Hollywood
The letter blasts the boycott for trying ‘to censor the very voices trying to find common ground’
Mayim Bialik attends the “Father Mother Sister Brother” red carpet during the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on August 31, 2025 in Venice, Italy. Photo by Elisabetta A. Villa/Getty Images
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(JTA) — Around 1,200 Hollywood names, including stars like Liev Schrieber, Mayim Bialik and Jennifer Jason Leigh, have signed onto an open letter opposing a growing celebrity boycott of the Israeli film industry.
Led by Creative Community for Peace, a pro-Israel entertainment group, the letter argues that the stated boycott against Israeli film institutions will harm Israeli work that pushes for peace and criticizes the government, and further encourage antisemitism. It comes after similar criticism of the boycott from Paramount, whose former chair Shari Redstone also signed the open letter.
“To censor the very voices trying to find common ground and express their humanity, is wrong, ineffective, and a form of collective punishment,” the open letter reads. “Israel’s film industry includes groundbreaking, celebratory, and critical projects about Palestinians and Jews, which many of you have lauded and celebrated.”
The boycott led by Film Workers For Palestine has gathered many top Hollywood names, including Emma Stone, Javier Bardem, Adam McKay and Ava DuVernay, since launching earlier this month. Jews have also signed on, including Andrew Garfield, “The Bear” star Ebon Moss-Bachrach, “The Zone of Interest” director Jonathan Glazer, and “Hacks” star Hannah Einbinder, who also used her recent Emmys acceptance speech to call out, “Free Palestine.”
Some of the names on the boycott have also worked on projects with Israeli filmmakers. Documentarian Alex Gibney, who signed on, produced “The Bibi Files,” an Israeli-made investigative film probing the prime minister’s corruption charges that has been endorsed by the Israeli-led UnXeptable movement.
Most of the big names on the new, oppositional open letter are established pro-Israel advocates in Hollywood. Actor Debra Messing, for example, has spoken at pro-Israel rallies, and producer Haim Saban is a major pro-Israel donor. Noa Tishby, a former actress also on the list, has worked directly for the Israeli government, pushing pro-Israel messaging in the Diaspora. And Creative Community for Peace, the backing group, has previously called for a Palestinian short documentary about Gaza to be barred from the Emmys, citing what it said were links between the creators and terror supporters.
The letter, however, does not take a staunchly pro-Israel stance. Instead, the letter says the boycott paints Israeli film with too broad a brush and notes that Israeli filmmakers often work with Palestinians and “are often the loudest critics of government policy.”
“The pledge uses nebulous terms like ‘implicating’ and ‘complicity,’” the letter continues. “Who will decide which Israeli filmmakers and film institutions are ‘complicit’? A McCarthyist committee with blacklists? Or is ‘complicity’ just a pretext to boycott all Israelis and Zionists — 95% of the world’s Jewish population — no matter what they create or believe?”
A press release accompanying the letter notes that the Ophir Awards, Israel’s equivalent to the Oscars, recently gave its top prize to a film about a Palestinian boy over the government’s objections. The winning film, “The Sea,” had been produced by the Israel Film Fund, which the release noted is one of the boycott’s stated targets. Israel’s culture minister subsequently pulled funding for the Ophirs.
