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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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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.