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Writers Guild of America refrains from statement on Israel-Hamas war, saying ‘consensus out of reach’
(JTA) — Writers Guild of America West, a branch of the screenwriters union that is fresh off of a months-long strike, has come under fire from many of its members over its refusal to issue a statement about the Israel-Hamas war.
After complaints about the lack of reaction, WGA West President Meredith Stiehm wrote an email to members on Friday.
“Like the membership itself, the board’s viewpoints are varied, and we found consensus out of reach,” she wrote. “For these reasons, we have decided not to comment publicly.”
WGA East shared a statement with its members that also avoided a response to the conflict but condemned antisemitism and Islamophobia, which have both been on the rise around the world since Hamas’ attacks on Israel on Oct. 7. The guild branch said that the fact that 40% of its members are journalists complicates how it can respond to world events.
“We in leadership agreed to move away from public statements that did not directly involve our Guild, our industries or the labor movement,” the note read. “Such statements hindered journalist members’ work and divided rather than united us.”
The note acknowledged that “this will strike some of you as inadequate.”
“We also realize that our own personal sentiments about the atrocities in Israel committed by Hamas on Oct. 7 and the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza will not suffice,” it continued. “Representing a diversity of workers means our union is strong enough to hold many different views. However, we want to be clear: There is no place in this Guild — none at all — for antisemitism or Islamophobia.”
Before Stiehm’s email on Friday, a group of 75 WGA members held a Zoom meeting to discuss how to respond to the guild’s silence on the issue. The New York Times reported that some floated withholding dues or resigning from the guild altogether.
On Oct. 15, a large group of guild members signed onto a letter criticizing the union for not standing up for Israel after having stood up during past movements such as Black Lives Matter.
“When it comes to taking a stand, the Writers Guild of America has always led by example,” the letter read. “When employers sought to exploit our work, the Guild bravely spoke up. When the BLM movement took flight, the Guild rightfully spoke up. When the #MeToo reckoning came and Hollywood needed to change, again the Guild spoke up. But when terrorists invaded Israel to murder, rape, and kidnap Jews … the Guild stayed silent. It remains the only major Hollywood union to do so.”
Dozens of celebrities — ranging from Adam Sandler to Katy Perry to Jordan Peele — signed on a letter on Monday calling for President Joe Biden to continue to push for the release of all hostages taken captive by Hamas.
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Iran Is Preparing to ‘Respond’ to Israel, Says Adviser to Supreme Leader
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with a group of students in Tehran, Iran, Nov. 2, 2022. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Iran is preparing to “respond” to Israel, Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to the country’s supreme leader, said in an interview published by Iran’s Tasnim news agency on Sunday.
On Oct. 26, Israeli fighter jets carried out three waves of attacks on Iranian military targets, a few weeks after Iran fired a barrage of about 200 ballistic missiles against Israel. Iran has previously vowed to respond to Isarel’s attacks.
The post Iran Is Preparing to ‘Respond’ to Israel, Says Adviser to Supreme Leader first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hezbollah Rocket Hits Near Tel Aviv After Beirut Airstrike
People gather at the scene where a projectile fell next to a destroyed vehicle, after projectiles crossed over to Israel from Lebanon, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, in Petah Tikva, Israel, November 24, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Lebanon’s Hezbollah fired heavy rocket barrages at Israel on Sunday, with Israeli media reporting that a building had been hit near Tel Aviv, after a powerful Israeli airstrike killed at least 20 people in Beirut the day before.
Israel also struck Beirut’s Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs, where intensified bombardment over the last two weeks has coincided with signs of progress in US-led ceasefire talks.
Hezbollah, which has previously vowed to respond to attacks on Beirut by targeting Tel Aviv, said it had launched two precision missiles at military sites in Tel Aviv and nearby.
There were no reports from Israel of damage to the sites, but broadcaster Kan showed an apartment damaged by rocket fire in Petah Tikvah, east of Tel Aviv. Footage broadcast by the medical service MDA showed cars ablaze in Petah Tikvah.
Hezbollah fired 170 rockets at Israel on Sunday, according to the Israeli military, which said many had been intercepted, but at least four people had been injured by rocket shrapnel.
Video obtained by Reuters showed a projectile exploding on impact as it smashed into the roof of a building in the northern Israeli city of Nahariya.
Israel warned on social media that it planned to target Hezbollah facilities in southern Beirut before strikes which security sources in Lebanon said demolished two apartment blocks.
On Saturday, it had carried out one of its deadliest and most powerful strikes on the center of Beirut, killing at least 20 people, Lebanon’s health ministry said. The Israeli military did not comment on the strike or the target.
Israel went on the offensive against the Iran-backed Hezbollah in September, pounding the south, the Bekaa Valley and Beirut’s southern suburbs with airstrikes after nearly a year of hostilities ignited by the Gaza war.
US CEASEFIRE PROPOSAL AWAITS ISRAEL’S RESPONSE
The Israeli offensive has uprooted more than 1 million people in Lebanon.
Israel says its aim is to secure the return home of tens of thousands of people evacuated from its north due to rocket attacks by Hezbollah, which opened fire in support of Hamas at the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
US mediator Amos Hochstein highlighted progress in negotiations during a visit to Beirut last week, before traveling to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, and then returning to Washington.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Sunday said a US ceasefire proposal was awaiting final approval from Israel.
“We must pressure the Israeli government and maintain the pressure on Hezbollah to accept the U.S. proposal for a ceasefire,” he said in Beirut after meeting Lebanese officials.
Diplomacy has focused on restoring a ceasefire based on U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended a 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war. It requires Hezbollah to pull its fighters back around 30 km (19 miles) from the Israeli border, and the Lebanese army to deploy in the buffer zone.
The Lebanese army said on Sunday at least one soldier had been killed and 18 more injured in an Israeli strike that caused severe damage at an army center in Al-Amiriya near the southern city of Tyre.
The Israeli military said it regretted and was investigating the incident, and that it was fighting against Hezbollah, not the Lebanese Army.
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, said the attack “represents a direct bloody message rejecting all efforts to reach a ceasefire, strengthen the army’s presence in the south, and implement … 1701.”
Borrell said the EU was ready to allocate 200 million euros ($208 million) to support the Lebanese army. ($1 = 0.9600 euros)
The post Hezbollah Rocket Hits Near Tel Aviv After Beirut Airstrike first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hezbollah Arrested Dozens Accused of Espionage
Hezbollah members hold flags marking Resistance and Liberation Day, in Kfar Kila near the border with Israel, southern Lebanon, May 25, 2021. Photo: Reuters/Aziz Taher
i24 News – The Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, identified with Hezbollah, reported Sunday that more than 200 people had been in the Dahieh quarter of Beirut since the beginning of last September on suspicion of espionage.
Among the detainees are also foreign nationals, reportedly, and all suspects have been transferred to Lebanese state security forces.
According to the report, some of the additional detainees were arrested for drug trafficking or burglary offenses they committed in the homes of residents who had left their homes. The detainees were identified as Lebanese, Syrians, and citizens of other nationalities such as Americans, French, and Brazilians.
One of the US citizens previously worked as a US police officer and toured the Dahieh neighborhood with a Lebanese citizen. He said during his interrogation that he came to document himself touring in the war. Another French citizen was arrested filming who claimed he was a journalist – when his cell phone was checked, it turned out that he had filmed a number of buildings in the Dahieh.
The report also alleged that more than 50 Syrians were arrested, some of whom were associated with opposition organizations in their country and made use of foreign citizenships they possessed to land in Beirut and photograph buildings associated with Hezbollah in Dahieh.
The post Hezbollah Arrested Dozens Accused of Espionage first appeared on Algemeiner.com.