Actors like Debra Messing, Tovah Feldshuh, Jennifer Jason Leigh, producers Amy Pascal, and more than 400+ Jewish creatives, professionals, and hollywood personalities and representatives Jake Fenton of UTA and Jeffrey Greenberg of Gersh have recently signed an open letter, wherein they have denounced director Jonathan Glazer’s acceptance speech, which was quite controversial at the recent Academy Awards ceremony for his film “The Zone of Interest.”
The statement that they made was pretty strong and it basically frowns upon Glazer for appearing to draw “a moral equivalence between a Nazi regime that sought to exterminate a race of people, and an Israeli nation that seeks to avert its own extermination.” It is also co-signed by high-profile names like “La La Land” producer Gary Gilbert and “The Americans” creators Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg.
During his speech after winning Best International Film, Glazer said, “Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people.” These remarks of his were seen by many people as criticizing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.
The letter’s signatories including Julianna Margulies, Brett Gelman, Jonathan Jakubowicz and Noa Tishby imply that describing the Jewish homeland as an “occupation” “distorts history” and “gives credence to the modern blood libel that fuels a growing anti-Jewish hatred.”
On one hand, some attendees like Mark Ruffalo applauded, the fallout has been significant, with figures like Michael Rapaport and Mayim Bialik publicly criticizing Glazer. Two-time oscar winner, Rabbi Marvin Hier, who found the Simon Wiesenthal Center, mentioned that he was “appalled” by the reaction of the audience and also by Glazer’s words.
Currently, Glazer has declined to comment further on this issue. The letter comes to and end by stating the “growing antisemitism” underscores “the need for the Jewish State of Israel” to provide a safe heaven, “as no state did during the Holocaust depicted in Mr. Glazer’s film.”