BDS Leader Lashes Out Against Israel Junket in Oscars Swag Bag
Image by Getty Images
By Lior Zaltzman February 10, 2016
Among goodies like a year’s worth of Audi rentals, a walking tour of Japan, a $250 vape, and a very strange cosmetic procedure called the “vampire breast lift”, one of the gifts in this year’s Oscar “Swag Bag” is a $55,000 VIP trip to Israel.
Jennifer Lawrence, Sylvester Stallone, Kate Winslet, Christian Bale and Leonardo DiCaprio are just some of over twenty Hollywood VIPs who will be receiving the swag bag. “Their visit [to Israel] will have enormous resonance among millions of fans and followers,” according to the Israeli minister of tourism, Yariv Levin.
But Omar Barghouti, a Palestinian leader of the BDS movement, called on the Academy to reject this offer, this Wednesday, claiming that it “evokes memories of Hollywood’s past collaboration with criminal regimes.”
Referring to “Hunger Games” star, Jennifer Lawrence, who will also be receiving the swag bag, Barghouti said:
“There are no Hunger Games in Gaza but there is real hunger, and it is induced by years of Israeli occupation and siege. We hope Oscar nominees will take the moral path of rejecting this free propaganda gift from Capitol while its brutal troops and settlers burn and colonize our District 12.”
The 88th Academy Awards will take place later this month, on February 28.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
