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Israeli Actors Face a New Bias in Hollywood; But They Are Determined to Keep Fighting
Michael Aloni as Gabriel, Hila Saada as Rosa, and Swell Ariel Or as Luna in a photo from “The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem” production. Photo: Yes Studios.
“Just being Israeli in Hollywood means that ‘your existence is a political act,’” Swell Ariel Or told me during a recent conversation about her career as an actress. Swell, best known for her starring role in the Netflix hit The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem, now faces a reality where casting decisions are no longer based primarily on talent or professionalism, but on her identity as an Israeli.
“If, before October 7, getting a role was 30 percent talent, 20 percent how you look, 20 percent how you sound, and 10 percent based on your previous work — like, that was the whole equation — now I feel like at least half of it is about where you come from and where you stand on the [Middle East] conflict,” she said.
Swell’s experience mirrors what many of us are seeing across creative industries. As an author and editor, I’ve seen the same bias take hold in the literary world. Jewish authors and publishers are being shut out, marginalized, or blacklisted based on their support for Israel or their Jewish identity. Like the author community, Swell’s strategy for overcoming this bias involves creating “more connections with Jews or allies in the industry,” she said.
Or’s new film, Kissufim, directed by Keren Nechmad and now streaming on Netflix, is set in 1977 and follows the lives of young Israeli soldiers and volunteers living on a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip. The film, inspired by Nechmad’s personal connection to the kibbutz through her father, captures a moment of youthful idealism as the characters experience love, friendship, and the challenges of coming of age. Against the backdrop of post-Yom Kippur War Israel, Kissufim explores the tension between the personal and political, highlighting the characters’ struggles with the trauma of war and the hope for peace.
Tragically, many of the current residents of the real-life Kibbutz Kissufim, where much of the movie was shot, were among the victims of the October 7 terrorist attacks. Swell and the film’s cast and crew had worked closely with members of the kibbutz during production, forming bonds with many who later lost their lives. The crew had received security briefings from local residents before filming, some of whom were later killed in the attacks.
Still, Swell believes that Kissufim has the potential to educate US audiences about the idealistic foundations of Israel, particularly through the lens of kibbutzim. She expressed concern that many, especially anti-Israel activists, mistakenly view kibbutzim as “right-wing, illegal settlements, extremists,” when in reality, they are communities of “people of peace” who want to “work the land” and have historically been strong advocates for Israeli-Palestinian cooperation.
The film aims to humanize Israelis by depicting the daily lives of kibbutz residents.
When I first interviewed Swell last year, just after the October 7 attacks, she was starting to use her platform on Instagram to raise awareness about Israel and combat antisemitism. Now, nearly a year later, I asked her how those efforts were going. While she sees some progress, the situation is still tough. “I feel like it’s getting better a little bit,” she said, but quickly added, “It’s not good yet.”
Swell explained that her approach on social media is not about directly confronting or trying to persuade people who hold anti-Israel views. “My goal is not to convince them,” she said. “It’s to make them think about a more complex situation.”
She wants her followers to see the humanity in Israelis and to understand that their experiences are not so different from people around the world.
“What’s the difference between the Nova Festival and Coachella?” she asked, highlighting the similarities between Israeli and American youth cultures to bridge the gap in understanding. She hopes to expand perspectives and dispel myths about Israel, particularly for younger audiences who may have only been exposed to negative portrayals of the country.
Swell also addressed an open letter signed by more than 200 actors and celebrities, including people like Ben Affleck, Jessica Chastain, and Dua Lipa, urging President Biden to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. She noted that while the hostages were mentioned, there was nothing about the horrors of October 7.
What would she like to say to her fellow actors? “I wish I could talk to them, just like have coffee and talk,” she said.
Swell noted that every time she returns to Israel, she disconnects from the Hollywood world to reconnect with her roots. But now that she’s back in Los Angeles, she’s ready to resume the fight against antisemitism in whatever way she can.
As for upcoming projects, Swell is waiting to see where Kissufim takes her career, and whether it opens new doors. She’s also hopeful for potential future seasons of The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem, though she didn’t have any concrete updates. “Hopefully, I’ll be back home soon with a project or a next season of something,” she said.
Swell remains determined to pursue her acting career despite the challenges Israeli actors face in Hollywood. “I’m still fighting and going to auditions because I feel like it’s a trend and it’ll pass,” she said. “I think that I believe in the goodness of people.”
I’ve interviewed many authors who were blackballed for their Jewish or Zionist identities. Their solution has been to find allies, build new networks, and most of all, keep writing. Swell is doing the same. Like those authors, she won’t let the haters win.
Howard Lovy is an author and editor based in Michigan who is working on a book on how to fight antisemitism. His novel, “Found and Lost: The Jake and Cait Story,” will be released in 2025 from Vine Leaves Press.
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US Clamps Sanctions on Israel-bashing UN Rights Monitor Albanese
Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, attends a side event during the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
The Trump administration has imposed sweeping sanctions against Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, citing the UN official’s lengthy record of singling out Israel for condemnation.
In a post on X, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the sanctions under a February executive order targeting those who “prompt International Criminal Court (ICC) action against U.S. and Israeli officials, companies, and executives.” He accused Albanese of waging “political and economic warfare” against both nations and asserted that “such efforts will no longer be tolerated.”
“Today I am imposing sanctions on UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese for her illegitimate and shameful efforts to prompt [International Criminal Court] action against U.S. and Israeli officials, companies, and executives,” Rubio announced on X/Twitter.
“Albanese’s campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel will no longer be tolerated,” declared the Trump administration’s top foreign affairs official. “We will always stand by our partners in their right to self-defense.”
Rubio concluded: “The United States will continue to take whatever actions we deem necessary to respond to lawfare and protect our sovereignty and that of our allies.”
The decision to impose sanctions on Albanese marks an escalation in the ongoing feud between the White House and the United Nations over Israel. The Trump administration has repeatedly accused the UN and Albanese of unfairly targeting Israel and mischaracterizing the Jewish state’s conduct in Gaza.
Albanese, an Italian lawyer and academic, has held the position of UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories since 2022. The position authorizes her to monitor and report on alleged “human rights violations” by Israel against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
Last week, Albanese issued a scathing report accusing companies of helping Israel maintain a so-called “genocide economy.” She called on the companies to cut off economic ties with Israel and warned that they might be guilty of “complicity” in the so-called “genocide” in Gaza.
Critics of Albanese have long accused her of exhibiting an excessive anti-Israel bias, calling into question her fairness and neutrality.
Albanese has an extensive history of using her role at the UN to denigrate Israel and seemingly rationalize Hamas’ attacks on the Jewish state.
In the months following the Palestinian terrorist group’s atrocities across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Albanese accused the Jewish state of perpetrating a “genocide” against the Palestinian people in revenge for the attacks and circulated a widely derided and heavily disputed report alleging that 186,000 people had been killed in the Gaza war as a result of Israeli actions.
The action comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits Washington, where he has received a warm reception from the Trump administration. Netanyahu has been meeting with US officials to discuss next steps in the ongoing Gaza military operation.
Gideon Sa’ar, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Israel, commended the Rubio announcement with his own post on X/Twitter, exclaiming: “A clear message. Time for the UN to pay attention!”
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Hardball: Trump Administration Reports Harvard to Accreditor Over Antisemitism Allegations
US President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
The Trump administration escalated its showdown against Harvard University on Wednesday, reporting the institution to its accreditor for alleged civil rights violations resulting from its weak response to reports of antisemitic bullying, discrimination, and harassment following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 massacre across southern Israel.
The US Department of Education (DOE) announced the action on Wednesday. Citing Harvard’s admitted failure to treat antisemitism as seriously as it treated others forms of hatred in the past, the DOE called on the New England Commission of Higher Education to review and, potentially, revoke its accreditation — a designation which qualifies Harvard for federal funding and attests to the quality of the educational services its provides.
“Accrediting bodies play a significant role in preserving academic integrity and a campus culture conducive to truth seeking and learning,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “Part of that is ensuring students are safe on campus and abiding by federal laws that guarantee educational opportunities to all students. By allowing anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination to persist unchecked on its campus, Harvard University has failed in its obligation to students, educators, and American taxpayers.”
The DOE, McMahon added, “expects the New England Commission of Higher Education to enforce its policies and practices, and to keep the Department fully informed of its efforts to ensure that Harvard is in compliance with federal law and accreditor standards.”
As previously reported by The Algemeiner, Harvard’s Presidential Task Force on Combating Antisemitism has acknowledged that the university administration’s handling of campus antisemitism fell well below its obligations under both Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its own nondiscrimination policies.
In a 300-plus-page report, the task force compiled a comprehensive record of antisemitic incidents on Harvard’s campus in recent years — from the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee’s endorsement of the Oct. 7 terrorist atrocities to an anti-Zionist faculty group’s sharing an antisemitic cartoon depicting Jews as murderers of people of color. The report identified Harvard’s past refusal to afford Jews the same protections against discrimination enjoyed by other minority groups as a key source of its problem.
Coming several weeks after President Donald Trump ordered the freeze of $2.26 billion in federal research grants and contracts for Harvard, the task force report found it was “clear” that antisemitism and anti-Israel bias have been fomented, practiced, and tolerated not only at Harvard but also within academia more widely.”
The university is now suing the federal government over the funding halt.
President Trump has spoken scathingly of Harvard, calling it, for example, an “Anti-Semitic, Far Left Institute … with students being accepted from all over the world that want to rip our Country apart” in an April post to his Truth Social platform.
In recent weeks, however, both Trump and McMahon had commended Harvard’s constructive response in negotiations over reforms the administration has asked it to implement as a precondition for restoring federal funds. The requested reforms include hiring more conservative faculty, shuttering diversity, equity, and inclusion [DEI] programs, and slashing the size of administrative offices tangential to the university’s central educational mission.
The administration has since changed its tone in the wake of a report by The Harvard Crimson that interim Harvard President Alan Garber has said “behind closed doors” that he has no intention of doing anything that would make Harvard more palatable to conservatives.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration’s Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism issued Harvard a formal “notice of violation” of civil rights law. Charging that Harvard willfully exposed Jewish students to a flood of racist and antisemitic abuse both in and outside of the classroom, it threatened to strip whatever remains of Harvard’s federal funding.
“Failure to institute adequate changes immediately will result in the loss of all federal financial resources and continue to affect Harvard’s relationship with the federal government,” wrote the federal officials comprising the multiagency Task Force. “Harvard may of course continue to operate free of federal privileges, and perhaps such an opportunity will spur a commitment to excellence that will help Harvard thrive once again.”
In Wednesday’s announcement, US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Harvard’s conduct “forfeits the legitimacy that accreditation is designed to uphold.”
“HHS and Department of Education will actively hold Harvard accountable through sustained oversight until it restores public trust and ensures a campus free of discrimination,” he said.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Hardball: Trump Administration Reports Harvard to Accreditor Over Antisemitism Allegations first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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IDF Strikes Hezbollah Sites in South Lebanon as Terror Group Pushes to Rebuild Amid US Disarmament Talks
IDF operating in southern Lebanon. Photo: IDF Spokesperson
Israeli forces uncovered and destroyed Hezbollah weapons caches in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, as a new report indicated that despite ongoing U.S.-led efforts to secure a disarmament deal, the Iran-backed group is making repeated, largely concealed attempts to rebuild its military presence in the area.
Troops carried out several operations targeting Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon on Wednesday morning, destroying weapons depots, explosives and multibarrel launchers concealed in forested terrain, the IDF said, in violation of the November ceasefire, which requires Hezbollah to withdraw its forces 20 miles from the Israeli border.
A new report released this week by the Alma Research and Education Center found that Hezbollah is focused on rebuilding in three areas: operational deployment, weapons acquisition, and financial recovery.
“Hezbollah didn’t give up its resistance narrative and motivation,” Alma’s director, Lt. Col. (Res.) Sarit Zehavi, told The Algemeiner.
“It wants to rebuild its capabilities and infrastructures, whether it’s the villages that will be used as human shields or the military infrastructure in South Lebanon and in Lebanon in general.”
According to Zehavi, Hezbollah is attempting to return Radwan fighters to positions south of the Litani River as part of a wider plan to restore its elite forces to operational readiness. The IDF on Monday killed Radwan commander Ali Abd al-Hassan Haidar in a targeted strike. The action came hours after US Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack met with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut to discuss a long-term deal that would include an Israeli withdrawal and complete disarmament of Hezbollah.
Barrack described the Lebanese response to the proposal as positive. Later, he issued a blunt warning to Hezbollah in response to a vow by the terror group’s leader, Naim Qassem, not to lay down its arms. “If they mess with us anywhere in the world, they will have a serious problem with us,” Barrack said in an interview with Lebanese news network LBCI. “They don’t want that.”
Zehavi said it was premature to predict the outcome of the diplomatic efforts. She warned that the challenge of disarming Hezbollah remains enormous and emphasized that the Lebanese Armed Forces have not demonstrated the capability or willingness to confront the group.
“It’s too soon to be optimistic or pessimistic,” she said, noting that no firm commitments have emerged from the Beirut talks.
Hezbollah’s efforts to smuggle and manufacture weapons have been complicated by both Israeli strikes and the regional realignment over recent months. While Israeli strikes have disrupted many supply routes, according to Zehavi, Syrian authorities have intercepted far more Hezbollah-bound weapons than the Lebanese Army, which claims to have uncovered 500 arms caches but has provided no evidence.
The financial front marks the third aspect of Hezbollah’s rebuilding effort. Last week, the group halted cash payments to Shiite civilians whose homes were damaged in the war, citing liquidity problems. Zehavi attributed the shortfall to disruptions in Iran’s funding networks — an outcome of the 12-day war against the regime in Tehran — and said the constraints would likely hamper Hezbollah’s ability to compensate its base and sustain operations.
“I hope they will continue to have problems with the cash flow, that way it will be very difficult for them to recover,” she said.
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