Hundreds of artists pledge boycott of Israeli film institutions over Gaza

More than 1,300 artists, including some Hollywood A-listers, have promised not to work with Israeli film institutions complicit in abuses against Palestinians as Israel intensifies its war on Gaza.

In a pledge released on Monday, the artists – who include Olivia Colman, Ayo Edebiri, Mark Ruffalo, Riz Ahmed, Tilda Swinton and Javier Bardem – decried the “unrelenting horror” in Gaza, where Israel has killed more than 64,000 Palestinians and flattened most of the territory.

“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 statement read.

Examples of being complicit in Israeli rights violations include “whitewashing or justifying genocide and apartheid, and/or partnering with the government committing them”, it added.

The pledge cited International Court of Justice rulings that concluded a genocide charge against Israel is plausible and found the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory is illegal.

Over the 23 months of the Gaza war, leading academics, rights groups and United Nations experts have accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians.

Genocide – defined by the UN as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group” – is one of the gravest war crimes.

Palestinian rights advocates have long called for celebrities to use their reach and status to bring awareness to the plight of Palestinians.

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Mike Lerner, one of the signatories to the statement, said the pledge was a “non-violent tool” to undermine the impunity that Israel enjoys for its conduct against Palestinians.

“It is the responsibility of every independently minded artist to use whatever powers of expression they possess to support the global resistance to overcome this horror,” Lerner said in a statement.

Hollywood has been historically pro-Israel, producing movies like the 1960 film Exodus, which valorised the founding of Israel, and regularly inserting positive references to the country in blockbusters.

But in recent years, many actors and directors have spoken out against Israel’s policies – sometimes to the detriment of their own careers.

For example, in 2023, actor Susan Sarandon, who signed Monday’s pledge, was dropped by her talent agency after attending a Palestine solidarity rally.

After the outbreak of the war in Gaza, Melissa Barrera, who also joined the boycott call, lost her role in the horror franchise Scream over social media posts critical of Israel.

Still, voices sympathetic to Palestinians continue to grow louder in the film industry.

In March, No Other Land, an Israeli-Palestinian film focused on the ongoing destruction of the Palestinian community of Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank, won the Oscar for best documentary feature.

More recently, The Voice of Hind Rajab, which tells the story of a five-year-old Palestinian girl who was trapped in a car with slain family members before Israeli soldiers also killed her, received a 23-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival.

The movie centres on Rajab’s heart-wrenching calls to rescuers while under Israeli fire in Gaza City.

Monday’s pledge comes as Israel pushes to systematically destroy Gaza City, having already levelled most of the besieged enclave.

“As filmmakers, actors, film industry workers, and institutions, we recognise the power of cinema to shape perceptions,” the statement said.

“In this urgent moment of crisis, where many of our governments are enabling the carnage in Gaza, we must do everything we can to address complicity in that unrelenting horror.”