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‘Enough With the Lies’: Over 400 Hollywood Figures Condemn Anti-Israel Misinformation, Incitement After DC Shooting
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul lays flowers in honor of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, US, May 28, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
More than 400 members of the entertainment industry have signed an open letter denouncing “extremist rhetoric” and the spread of misinformation about Israel in response to last week’s murder of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, DC.
“We, the undersigned, are saying enough! Enough with the lies, and enough with the extremism,” states the open letter released by the non-profit organization Creative Community for Peace (CCFP) on Thursday.
The document was also published in response to several open letters from members of the entertainment and literature industries that accused Israel of “genocide” while criticizing Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip during its ongoing war against Hamas terrorists responsible for the deadly rampage across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Thursday’s open letter debunks several false claims about Israel related to the Gaza war and condemns anti-Israel activists for promoting “the antisemitic blood libel that the Jewish state – and all the Jews that support Israel – are bloodthirsty, intentionally targeting civilians, and committing ‘genocide.’”
“We reject the anti-Israel movement co-opting every social justice cause — outrageously claiming that to stand with the LGBTQIA+ community, or with anti-racist, anti-colonialist, anti-Islamophobic and anti-antisemitic movements, is to stand against Israel,” the letter says. “This is all done to paint Israel — and Jews around the world — as embodying the world’s ultimate evils. This is antisemitism.”
CCFP’s open letter also singles out celebrities for unknowingly assisting in the spread of anti-Israel propaganda and false information. “Some well-meaning celebrities and public figures have been manipulated by this constant stream of misinformation, which they have also helped to amplify,” the letter states. “On May 21, 2025, we saw that these lies can have deadly consequences … these claims are amplified by the media, in addition to celebrities who share this disinformation to their millions of followers on social media.”
Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Milgrim, 26, were gunned down and killed on the evening of May 21 while leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC. The victims were colleagues at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC, and were soon-t0-be engaged. The alleged lone gunman, 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez, yelled “Free Palestine” while being arrested by police after the shooting, according to video of the incident. An FBI affidavit supporting Rodriguez’s federal criminal charges stated that he told law enforcement he “did it for Gaza.”
Rodriguez has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, among other charges, and several voices – including 15 Israeli lawmakers and Israel’s Minister of Culture and Sports Miki Zohar – have called on authorities to pursue the death penalty against the alleged shooter.
Studio executives, actors, actresses, television personalities, musicians, and songwriters are among those who signed CCFP’s open letter on Thursday. The signatories include Uzo Aduba, Jerry O’Connell, Patricia Heaton, Rebecca De Mornay, Debra Messing, Julianna Margulies, Mayim Bialik, Sharon Osbourne, Mattel Chairman and CEO Ynon Kreiz, Matisyahu, songwriter Diane Warren, and Disturbed lead singer David Draiman.
CCFP said the open letter is the first of its kind because it is calling for the entertainment community to “unequivocally condemn the anti-Israel movement’s role in scapegoating and endangering Jews around the globe.”
“We call on all our colleagues to reject this extremist rhetoric and the spread of misinformation so that we can all work toward a future in which all Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side in peace and dignity,” the letter states in conclusion.
Saban Capital Group Chairman and CEO Haim Saban, who also signed the open letter, said it is “a plea for truth, for accountability, and for responsibility — especially from those with powerful platforms.”
“When public figures accuse Israel of genocide, call for intifada, or claim Jews are colonizers, they may not understand the history they’re invoking — but the people who act on those words often do,” he noted.
“History repeats itself: peddling lies about Jews has deadly consequences,” Bialik said in a released statement. “For the past two years, public figures and influencers with millions of followers have consistently promoted fallacious and menacing anti-Israel propaganda masquerading as advocacy. This stream of lies against the Jewish people and the Jewish ancestral homeland has now – unsurprisingly to anyone watching closely – turned deadly in the United States. This moment requires public figures to use their platforms responsibly. We implore these individuals to lend their voices to those of moral clarity, peace and tolerance, instead of division, distortion and delegitimization.”
The Capital Jewish Museum was closed in the days after the deadly shooting but reopened on Thursday with a ceremony in memory of Lischinsky and Milgrim. The reopening ceremony was attended by Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, interfaith leaders, and local officials, among others.
“It is not up to the Jewish community to say ‘support us.’ It is up to all of us to denounce antisemitism in all forms,” Bowser said while speaking at the event. “We know one of the goals in the museum is to inspire visitors to think about our own place in history, and each day, we all have a choice about how we show up … So, one of my messages to our community here in DC is for people of all faiths to keep showing up for the Jewish community and to keep showing up for the Capital Jewish Museum.”
The post ‘Enough With the Lies’: Over 400 Hollywood Figures Condemn Anti-Israel Misinformation, Incitement After DC Shooting first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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FBI Investigating ‘Targeted Terror Attack’ in Boulder, Colorado, Director Says
FILE PHOTO: FBI Director Kash Patel testifies before the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on President Trump’s proposed budget request for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
FBI Director Kash Patel said on Sunday the agency was aware of and fully investigating a targeted terror attack in Boulder, Colorado.
While he did not provide further details, Patel said in a social media post: “Our agents and local law enforcement are on the scene already, and we will share updates as more information becomes available.”
According to CBS News, which cited witnesses at the scene, a suspect attacked people with Molotov cocktails who were participating in a walk to remember the Israeli hostages who remain in Gaza.
The Boulder Police Department said it was responding to a report of an attack in the city involving several victims. It has not released further details but a press conference was expected at 4 p.m. Mountain Time (2200 GMT).
The attack comes just weeks after a Chicago-born man was arrested in the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington, D.C. Someone opened fire on a group of people leaving an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee, an advocacy group that fights antisemitism and supports Israel.
The shooting fueled polarization in the United States over the war in Gaza between supporters of Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
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Terrorist Responsible for Death of 21 Soldiers Eliminated
An Israeli F-35I “Adir” fighter jet. Photo: IDF
i24 News – Khalil Abd al-Nasser Mohammed Khatib, the terrorist who commanded the terrorist cell that killed 21 soldiers in the southern Gaza Strip on January 22, 2024, was killed by an Israeli airstrike, the IDF said on Sunday.
In a joint operation between the military and the Shin Bet security agency, the terrorist was spotted in a reconnaissance mission. The troops called up an aircraft to target him, and he was eliminated.
Khatib planned and took part in many other terrorist plots against Israeli soldiers.
i24NEWS’ Hebrew channel interviewed Dor Almog, the sole survivor of the mass casualty disaster, who was informed on live TV about the death of the commander responsible for the killing his brothers-in-arms.
“I was sure this day would come – I was a soldier and I know what happens at the end,” said Almog. “The IDF will do everything to bring back the abductees and to topple Hamas, to the last one man.”
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Stanley Fischer, Former Fed Vice Chair and Bank of Israel Chief, Dies at 81
FILE PHOTO: Vice Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve System Stanley Fischer arrives to hear Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney delivering the Michel Camdessus Central Banking Lecture at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, U.S., September 18, 2017. Photo: REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo
Stanley Fischer, who helped shape modern economic theory during a career that included heading the Bank of Israel and serving as vice chair of the US Federal Reserve, has died at the age of 81.
The Bank of Israel said he died on Saturday night but did not give a cause of death. Fischer was born in Zambia and had dual US-Israeli citizenship.
As an academic at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Fischer trained many of the people who went on to be top central bankers, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke as well as Mario Draghi, the former European Central Bank president.
Fischer served as chief economist at the World Bank, and first deputy managing director at the International Monetary Fund during the Asian financial crisis and was then vice chairman at Citigroup from 2002 to 2005.
During an eight-year stint as Israel’s central bank chief from 2005-2013, Fischer helped the country weather the 2008 global financial crisis with minimal economic damage, elevating Israel’s economy on the global stage, while creating a monetary policy committee to decide on interest rates like in other advanced economies.
He was vice chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2017 and served as a director at Bank Hapoalim in 2020 and 2021.
Current Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron praised Fischer’s contribution to the Bank of Israel and to advancing Israel’s economy as “truly significant.”
The soft-spoken Fischer – who played a role in Israel’s economic stabilization plan in 1985 during a period of hyperinflation – was chosen by then Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as central bank chief.
Netanyahu, now prime minister, called Fischer a “great Zionist” for leaving the United States and moving to Israel to take on the top job at Israel’s central bank.
“He was an outstanding economist. In the framework of his role as governor, he greatly contributed to the Israeli economy, especially to the return of stability during the global economic crisis,” Netanyahu said, adding that Stanley – as he was known in Israel – proudly represented Israel and its economy worldwide.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog also paid tribute.
“He played a huge role in strengthening Israel’s economy, its remarkable resilience, and its strong reputation around the world,” Herzog said. “He was a world-class professional, a man of integrity, with a heart of gold. A true lover of peace.”
The post Stanley Fischer, Former Fed Vice Chair and Bank of Israel Chief, Dies at 81 first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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