More than 100 Hollywood celebrities joined the growing opposition to Israel’s designation of six Palestinian human rights groups as “terrorist organizations.”
Actors, film directors, writers and musicians criticized Tel Aviv in an open letter on Wednesday for “an unprecedented and blanket attack on Palestinian human rights defenders” and called on authorities to rescind the designations.
“The vital work of these six organizations to protect and empower Palestinians and hold Israel accountable for its gross human rights violations and apartheid regime of institutionalized racial discrimination is precisely the work that Israel is trying to end,” the letter said, signed by group of stars, including Richard Gere, Mark Ruffalo, Tilda Swinton, Susan Sarandon and Simon Pegg. The signatories of movie director Ken Loach, musician Jarvis Cocker, the band Massive Attack, and authors Rashid Khalidi and Naomi Klein could also be seen in the letter.
Ruffalo added: “1,500 Palestinians face expulsion in #Jerusalem. 200 protesters have been injured. 9 children have been killed,” using the hashtag Sheikh Jarrah – the East Jerusalem neighborhood where Palestinians are being forced from their homes.
Shared by Ruffalo, the petition addressed “U.S. Secretary of State Blinken, Foreign Ministers, Parliamentarians and Heads of State” to “Save Palestinian homes in Jerusalem.”
“The treatment of the Palestinian people has become a stain on the conscience of the world. It is time for the world to stand up and act, to bring sanctions on key Israeli industries until Palestinians are granted full and equal civil rights. We appeal to you for moral leadership and action to save lives,” the petition said.
Another Palestinian advocate Sarandon, shared a spate of tweets during the Israeli offensive in Gaza, asserting that Palestinians have fallen victim to Israel’s colonialism across occupied territories.
The “Hollywood letter” is the latest alarm that has been sounded against Israel’s violations against Palestinians. The United Nations, human rights organizations and U.S. lawmakers all condemned Israel’s move against Palestinian organizations.
“The threat of retaliation is real, and puts at risk not just the organizations themselves, but the entire Palestinian civil society and the tens of thousands of Palestinians they serve everyday,” the letter said.
In late October, Israel designated prominent Palestinian human rights groups as terrorist organizations, sparking international criticism from organizations like Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International, and repeated assertions by Israel’s top strategic partner, the United States, that there had been no advance warning of the move.
Tel Aviv justified the move, asserting that the six groups have links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a group banned by the Israeli military. According to the Jerusalem Post, the Israeli Justice Ministry outlawed the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, the Al-Haq organization, the Bisan Center for Research and Development, Defense for Children Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees.
An Irish-based human rights organization Front Line Defenders (FLD) in its latest investigation revealed that the phones of several members of the Palestinian groups were hacked with Pegasus spyware, developed by the NSO Group. The firm came under scrutiny after a consortium of international news organizations unveiled in July the list of public figures hacked by the NSO Group.
Full list of 114 signatories:
Kevin Macdonald, film director, UK
Peter Gabriel, musician, founder, Womad Festival, UK
Mike Leigh, film director, UK
Jodie Evans, film producer, USA
Robert Wyatt, musician, UK
Alfreda Benge, artist, UK
Aki Kaurismaki, film director, Finland
Liam Cunningham, actor, Ireland
Susan Sarandon, actor, USA
Ece Temelkuran, author, Turkey
Tilda Swinton, actor, UK
Jim Jarmusch, film director, USA
Laura Poitras, film director, USA
Simon Fisher Turner, musician, UK
Iciar Bollain, film director, Spain
Kleber Mendonça Filho, film director, Brasil
Julie Christie, actor, UK
V (formerly known as Eve Ensler), Playwright, USA
Mark Ruffalo, actor, USA
Philip Pullman, author, UK
Stephen Dillane, actor, UK
Brian Eno, artist, UK
Roger Waters, musician, UK
Ken Loach, film director, UK
Paul Laverty, writer, UK
Yann Martel, author, Canada
AL Kennedy, author, UK
Naomi Klein, author, Canada
Robert Guediguian, film director, France
Asif Kapadia, film director, UK
Juliet Stevenson, actor, UK
Yanis Varoufakis, author, Greece
Peter Kosminsky, screenwriter and director, UK
Titi Robin, musician, France
Etienne Balibar, philosopher, France
Harriet Walter, actor, UK
Apichatpong Weerasethakul, film director, Thailand
Bella Freud, artist, UK
David Michôd, film director, Australia
Claire Foy, actor, UK
Mark Rylance, actor, UK
Alfonso Cuaron, film director, Mexico
Thurston Moore, musician, USA
Jeremy Deller, artist, UK
Kamila Shamsie, author, UK
Monica Ali, author, UK
Eric Cantona, actor, France
Phil Manzanera, musician, UK
Laurie Anderson, artist, USA
Michèle Gavras, producer, France
Annemarie Jacir, film director, Palestine
Costa Gavras, film director, Greece
Juan Diego Botto, actor and playwright, Spain
Alberto San Juan, actor and playwright, Spain
Carlos Bardem, actor and writer, Spain
Residente (René Pérez), singer, artist, writer, film director, Puerto Rico
Irvine Welsh, author, UK
Tunde Adebimpe, musician, USA
David Byrne, musician, USA
Ohal Grietzer, musician, Israel
Tai Shani, visual artist, UK
Hany Abu-Assad, film director, Palestine
Simon Pegg, actor, UK
David Mitchell, author, UK
Mira Nair, film director, India
Jarvis Cocker, musician, UK
Fisher Stevens, director, USA
Leopoldo Gout, artist, USA
Julio Pérez del Campo, film director, Spain
Alain Damasio, author, France
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, choreographer, Belgium
Joe Sacco, comic book artist, journalist, USA
Mercè Sampietro, actor, Spain
Ian McEwan, author, UK
Colm Tóibín, author, Ireland
Elaine Mokhtefi, translator, USA
Madeleine Thien, author, Canada
Eliot Weinberger, author, USA
Sabrina Mahfouz, playwright and poet, UK
Joel Beinin, professor, USA
Omar Robert Hamilton, author, UK
John Oakes, publisher, USA
Mary Jane Nealon, poet, USA
Rachel Kushner, author, USA
Lina Meruane, author, Chile
Naomi Wallace, playwright, USA
Rashid Khalidi, author, Palestine
Ben Ehrenreich, author, USA
Adam Shatz, Writer, London Review of Books, USA
Farid Matuk, poet, USA
Michel Moushabeck, publisher, USA
Eileen Myles, poet, USA
Lila Abu-Lughod, Professor, USA
Natalie Diaz, poet, USA
Andrew Ross, New York University, USA
Zeina Azzam, poet, USA
Bernardine Dohrn, human rights advocate, USA
Molly Crabapple, author, USA
Jeffrey Sachs, University Professor at Columbia University, USA
Bruce Robbins, author, USA
Shuchi Saraswat, author, USA
James Schamus, screenwriter and producer, USA
Nancy Kricorian, writer, USA
Jacqueline Rose, author, UK
Andrew O’Hagan, author, UK
Hannah Khalil, playwright, Ireland
Ritu Menon, publisher, India
Janne Teller, author, Denmark
Nicholas Blincoe, author, UK
Rick Simonson, Bookseller, USA
Brigid Keenan, author, UK
Massive Attack, band, UK
Chipo Chung, actor, UK
Richard Gere, actor, USA
Fredwreck, music producer, USA
