Connect with us

RSS

‘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.

Continue Reading

RSS

Rubio Heads to Israel Amid Tensions Among US Middle East Allies

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to members of the media, before departing for Israel at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, September 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Nathan Howard/Pool

US President Donald Trump’s top diplomat, Marco Rubio headed to Israel on Saturday, amid tensions with fellow US allies in the Middle East over Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar and expansion of settlements in the West Bank.

Speaking to reporters before departure, Rubio reiterated that the US and President Donald Trump were not happy about the strikes.

Rubio said the US relationship with Israel would not be affected, but that he would discuss with the Israelis how the strike would affect Trump’s desire to secure the return of all the hostages held by Hamas, get rid of the terrorists and end the Gaza war.

“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them. We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” he said.

“There are still 48 hostages that deserve to be released immediately, all at once. And there is still the hard work ahead once this ends, of rebuilding Gaza in a way that provides people the quality of life that they all want.”

Rubio said it had yet to be determined who would do that, who would pay for it and who would be in charge of the process.

After Israel, Rubio is due to join Trump’s planned visit to Britain next week.

Hamas still holds 48 hostages, and Qatar has been one of the mediators, along with the US, trying to secure a ceasefire deal that would include the captives’ release.

On Tuesday, Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an airstrike on Doha. US officials described it as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests.

The strike on the territory of a close US ally sparked broad condemnation from other Arab states and derailed ceasefire and hostage talks brokered by Qatar.

On Friday, Rubio met with Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani at the White House, underscoring competing interests in the region that Rubio will seek to balance on his trip. Later that day, US President Donald Trump held dinner with the prime minister in New York.

Rubio’s trip comes ahead of high-level meetings at the United Nations in New York later this month. Countries including France and Britain are expected to recognize Palestinian statehood, a move opposed by Israel.

Washington says such recognition would bolster Hamas and Rubio has suggested the move could spur the annexation of the West Bank sought by hardline members of the Israeli government.

ON Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an agreement to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state. Last week, the United Arab Emirates warned that this would cross a red line and undermine the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords that normalized UAE-Israel relations in 2020.

Continue Reading

RSS

Netanyahu Posts Message Appearing to Confirm Hamas Leaders Survived Doha Strike

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a Plenum session of the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, in Jerusalem, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

i24 NewsIn a statement posted to social media on Saturday evening, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the Qatar-based leadership of Hamas, reiterating that the jihadist group had to regard for the lives of Gazans and represented an obstacle to ending the war and releasing the Israelis it held hostage.

The wording of Netanyahu’s message appeared to confirm that the strike targeting the Hamas leaders in Doha was not crowned with success.

“The Hamas terrorists chiefs living in Qatar don’t care about the people in Gaza,” wrote Netanyahu. “They blocked all ceasefire attempts in order to endlessly drag out the war.” He added that “Getting rid of them would rid the main obstacle to releasing all our hostages and ending the war.”

Israel is yet to officially comment on the result of the strike, which has incurred widespread international criticism.

Continue Reading

RSS

Trump Hosts Qatari Prime Minister After Israeli Attack in Doha

Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani attends an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, following an Israeli attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

US President Donald Trump held dinner with the Qatari prime minister in New York on Friday, days after US ally Israel attacked Hamas leaders in Doha.

Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an attack in Qatar on Tuesday, a strike that risked derailing US-backed efforts to broker a truce in Gaza and end the nearly two-year-old conflict. The attack was widely condemned in the Middle East and beyond as an act that could escalate tensions in a region already on edge.

Trump expressed annoyance about the strike in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sought to assure the Qataris that such attacks would not happen again.

Trump and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani were joined by a top Trump adviser, US special envoy Steve Witkoff.

“Great dinner with POTUS. Just ended,” Qatar’s deputy chief of mission, Hamah Al-Muftah, said on X.

The White House confirmed the dinner had taken place but offered no details.

The session followed an hour-long meeting that al-Thani had at the White House on Friday with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

A source briefed on the meeting said they discussed Qatar’s future as a mediator in the region and defense cooperation in the wake of the Israeli strikes against Hamas in Doha.

Trump said he was unhappy with Israel’s strike, which he described as a unilateral action that did not advance US or Israeli interests.

Washington counts Qatar as a strong Gulf ally. Qatar has been a main mediator in long-running negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and for a post-conflict plan for the territory.

Al-Thani blamed Israel on Tuesday for trying to sabotage chances for peace but said Qatar would not be deterred from its role as mediator.

Continue Reading

Copyright © 2017 - 2023 Jewish Post & News