David Walsh<\/p>\n
The murderous violence unleashed against the population of the Gaza Strip by the Israeli military has horrified and outraged masses of people across the globe. Numerous filmmakers, actors, artists, doctors and scientists have raised their voices in public to denounce the homicidal attack.<\/p>\n
In an open letter published July 28 in Madrid, dozens of Spanish film directors, actors, musicians, writers and others declared their indignation against \u201cthe genocide being perpetrated by the Israeli occupation army against the population of the Gaza Strip.\u201d Prominent among the signatories are award-winning actors Javier Bardem and Pen\u00c3\u00a9lope Cruz and filmmaker Pedro Almod\u00c3\u00b3var.<\/p>\n
The letter explains: \u201cGaza is living through horror these days, besieged and attacked by land, sea and air. Palestinians\u2019 homes are being destroyed, they are being denied water, electricity [and] free movement to their hospitals, schools and fields while the international community does nothing.\u201d It charges Israel with disregard for human rights and \u201cstate terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bardem has been especially outspoken. In an op-ed piece published in the Spanish newspaper\u00a0El Diario<\/em>\u00a0on July 25, the actor, who won an Academy Award in 2007, noted that in the face of the current horrors, \u201cthere is NO place for distance or neutrality. It\u2019s a war of occupation and extermination waged against a people with no means \u2026 I can\u2019t understand this barbarism, even more cruel and incomprehensible considering all of the horrible things the Jewish people have gone through in the past. Only geopolitical alliances, that hypocritical mask of business–for example, the sale of weapons–explains the shameful position taken by the US, the EU [European Union] and Spain.\u201d<\/p>\n In his comment, Bardem acknowledged that he would come under attack by the pro-Israeli lobby (which of course he has), and continued, \u201cI have very dear close friends who are Jewish and \u2026 being Jewish does not automatically mean you support this massacre, just like being Hebrew does not mean you are a Zionist, just like being Palestinian does not automatically make you a Hamas terrorist. That\u2019s just as absurd as saying that being German makes you a Nazi.\u201d<\/p>\n Putting the lie to the claim that all Israelis are united behind the Netanyahu regime, a group of Israeli filmmakers interrupted the program at the Jerusalem Film Festival on July 14 to call on the Israeli government \u201cto cease fire.\u201d They urged the government \u201cnot to send our troops to be killed again, in another pointless, cruel military campaign; we call it to engage in meaningful dialogue with the Palestinian people and its leaders, to achieve a viable peace for both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n Criticizing the Israeli media, which only focused on the suffering of Israeli citizens, the filmmakers\u2019 statement went on, \u201cToday, we want to direct those cameras to the suffering of Gaza residents, men, women and children killed during the last few days. Those filming the suffering of Israelis should be courageous and honest enough to film the killing and destruction in Gaza as well, and tell that story as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Filmmakers Efrat Corem, Shira Geffen, Ronit Elkabetz, Keren Yedaya, Tali Shalom Ezer, Nadav Lapid, Shlomi Elkabetz and Bozi Gete signed the statement, which further pointed out, \u201cChildren in Gaza do not enjoy the protection of the Iron Dome systems. They have no residential secured spaces, and no sirens. Children living in Gaza today are our partners in peace tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n A number of filmmakers participating in the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival solidarized themselves later in the month with the Israeli group. Their statement observed that \u201cin these violent days, it is impossible to talk only about cinema while ignoring the killing and horrifying events\u201d taking place. It went on: \u201cWith the invasion of Gaza now underway, this is not a time to \u2026 be intimidated into silence by those who fear talking about the roots of this tragedy: Israel\u2019s ongoing occupation, and the growth of extremism and racism inside Israel and in Hamas.\u201d<\/p>\n The statement was signed by nineteen directors, including Academy Award winners Jeffrey Friedman (Common Threads: Stories From the Quilt<\/em>) and Jeffrey D. Brown (Molly\u2019s Pilgrim<\/em>), Doug Block (51 Birch Street<\/em>) and Deborah Kaufman and Alan Snitow (Thirst<\/em>).<\/p>\n A group of actors, writers, artists and others has produced a four-minute video, #GazaNames, which consists of various well-known individuals holding signs with the names of Palestinians, young and old, killed by the recent Israeli bombings and shellings.<\/p>\n Playwright and actor Wallace Shawn, who provides a voiceover for the video, explains, \u201cThe Israeli leaders seem sincere when they say they believe that their actions are appropriate. Apparently, one of \u2018us\u2019 is worth many more of \u2018them.\u2019 American leaders know they are lying when they defend the murder of children in their beds. And we, the public, pay for the bombs, pay for the airplanes, and pretend not to notice what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n The video, asserts its organizers, \u201cis a first of its kind expression of support for Palestinian freedom, equality and justice.\u201d Among the participants are filmmakers Jonathan Demme, Ken Loach and Mira Nair, writers Tony Kushner, Deborah Eisenberg and Eve Ensler, musicians Roger Waters, Brian Eno and Chuck D, director Andr\u00c3\u00a9 Gregory and former professional basketball player Detlef Schrempf.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Hollywood Reporter<\/em>\u00a0commented July 26 that \u201cdirector Jonathan Demme,<\/strong>Tori Amos,<\/strong>\u00a0Rob Schneider,<\/strong>\u00a0Kim Kardashian,<\/strong>\u00a0Mark Ruffalo,<\/strong>\u00a0Anthony Bourdain,<\/strong>Roger Waters,<\/strong>\u00a0NBA stars Dwight Howard and Amare Stoudemire,<\/strong>\u00a0Italy\u2019s goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon,<\/strong>\u00a0D.L. Hughley,<\/strong>\u00a0Mia Farrow,<\/strong>\u00a0Whoopi Goldberg,<\/strong>Stephen Hawking and Annie Lennox are among the other big names who have weighed in with some degree of support for the people of Gaza or outright criticism of the Israeli government.\u201d<\/p>\n When actress and singer Selena Gomez posted an image on Instagram, with the message, \u201cIt\u2019s About Humanity: Pray for Gaza,\u201d more than 500,000 fans responded that they \u201cliked\u201d the message. The image also brought down the wrath of Israeli supporters on Gomez.<\/p>\n Two dozen prominent doctors and scientists from the UK and Italy published an open letter denouncing Israeli military aggression in Gaza in a letter to\u00a0The Lancet<\/em>, the leading medical journal, published July 22.<\/p>\n The statement reads in part: \u201cWe ask our colleagues, old and young professionals, to denounce this Israeli aggression. We challenge the perversity of a propaganda that justifies the creation of an emergency to masquerade a massacre, a so-called \u2018defensive aggression\u2019. In reality it is a ruthless assault of unlimited duration, extent, and intensity. We wish to report the facts as we see them and their implications on the lives of the people.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are appalled by the military onslaught on civilians in Gaza under the guise of punishing terrorists. This is the third large-scale military assault on Gaza since 2008. Each time the death toll is borne mainly by innocent people in Gaza, especially women and children, under the unacceptable pretext of Israel eradicating political parties and resistance to the occupation and siege they impose.\u201d<\/p>\n The\u00a0Lancet<\/em>\u00a0open letter continues, \u201cThe massacre in Gaza spares no one, and includes the disabled and sick in hospitals, children playing on the beach or on the roof top, with a large majority of non-combatants. Hospitals, clinics, ambulances, mosques, schools, and press buildings have all been attacked, with thousands of private homes bombed, clearly directing fire to target whole families killing them within their homes, depriving families of their homes by chasing them out a few minutes before destruction. \u2026 None of these are military objectives. These attacks aim to terrorise, wound the soul and the body of the people, and make their life impossible in the future, as well as also demolishing their homes and prohibiting the means to rebuild.\u201d<\/p>\n The statement by the doctors and scientists provoked a venomous and well-orchestrated response from pro-Israeli organizations and media. All such critics are inevitably abused as \u201canti-Semites\u201d or \u201canti-Jewish,\u201d defenders of \u201cterrorism\u201d or \u201cpro-Hamas.\u201d<\/p>\n This piece<\/a> was reprinted by RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" David Walsh The murderous violence unleashed against the population of the Gaza Strip by the Israeli military has horrified and outraged masses of people across the globe. Numerous filmmakers, actors, artists, doctors and scientists have raised their voices in public to denounce the homicidal attack. In an open letter published July 28 in Madrid, dozens […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":134507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487,16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-134506","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"category-war-terrorism"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}