Opinion
The Hollywood boycott of Israel is a blow against the prospect of peace
Shutting out Israeli creatives only makes it harder to imagine a secure future for Israelis and Palestinians
September 10, 2025 15:25
2 min read
Shutting out Israeli creatives only makes it harder to imagine a secure future for Israelis and Palestinians
September 10, 2025 15:25Everyone knows that Hollywood loves a cause. Several times a year, a vitally urgent issue captures the hearts and minds of some of the big screens’ biggest stars. In the latest installment of this rather predictable trend, Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Olivia Colman, Aimee Lou Wood, Josh O’Connor, and dozens of others have joined a pledge to boycott Israel’s film industry. To them and their admirers, this may appear to be moral clarity. But, in reality, it is a gesture that punishes the wrong people, silences critical voices, and betrays a troubling double standard.
This boycott does not target government ministers or military commanders, those responsible for the IDF’s actions. It targets Israeli artists— those who, paradoxically, have been among the most persistent critics of their own government and leaders. And it is abusive in its logic: preying on the people most in need of global support, the very sector in Israel that has consistently pushed for dialogue, representation, and peace. For what? The boycott will achieve nothing except to wound those who can actually bring change. It is a blow not against power, but against possibility.
This boycott would ironically make it harder for films like No Other Land to get made, something that I’m sure the signatories wouldn’t want.
The Israeli Film and TV Producers Association captured the paradox in its statement: “The signatories of this petition are targeting the wrong people.” They are right. Israeli creators have produced thousands of films, documentaries, and series that confront occupation, violence, and grief— including Palestinian perspectives often absent elsewhere. To boycott them is not an act of solidarity; it is an act of erasure.
But the deeper hypocrisy is silence. Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo can sign a letter condemning Israel. Olivia Colman, Aimee Lou Wood, and Josh O’Connor can posture against a fragile artistic community half a world away. I may have missed it, but I don't recall billboard campaigns for the release of Israeli hostages, or wailing when Hamas raped Israeli women, who couldn’t scream for help. It seems like their loudest cries seem to arrive only when it is easy, fashionable, and convenient. These actors would never have imagined boycotting Palestinian filmmakers from Gaza after October 7th, yet they are willing to do it to Israelis now. Ask yourself why. The only reason I can muster is that they believe, consciously or not, that October 7th was in some way justified.
There’s also been no similar coverage or concern for victims of other conflicts. Where was the rush to sign a letter for the slaughter in Darfur, for the millions displaced in Sudan, no rallying cry for victims in Myanmar or the Democratic Republic of Congo? Those conflicts draw no high-profile celebrity protests, no red-carpet statements or public grief. Why? Because Hamas’s propaganda machine pumps imagery and slogans into Western feeds daily, turning Gaza into the only war that seems to exist. For these actors, selective outrage has become a performance— one where Palestinian suffering is amplified, but every other tragedy is erased.
Meanwhile, those who actually live the consequences— the Israeli and Palestinian artists still working together— are pleading to be heard. As the Israeli association declared: “We work with Palestinian creators, telling our shared stories and promoting peace and an end to violence… This call for a boycott is profoundly misguided.” Their words are not the language of propaganda. They are the vocabulary of peace.
Hollywood’s problem is not passion. It is selectivity. Stars who once demanded “Time’s Up” for abuse in their own industry now overlook the systematic sexual violence Hamas used against Israelis. Voices who champion “inclusion” at the Oscars now seek to exclude an entire national cinema. The same actors who campaign for free expression are attempting to smother it.
Stories are not weapons of war. They are bridges across it. To silence the artists is to silence the possibility of dialogue, empathy, and change. Hollywood should know better: cinema is not about choosing sides but seeing lives. Boycotting those who risk the most to tell difficult truths is not courage. It is prejudice.
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