An open letter from Artists for Palestine UK, signed by more than 3,000 actors, artists and musicians, is being criticized for its tone deaf condemnation of Israel and complete omission of the Hamas terrorist attacks which targeted civilians.
The letter claims Israeli airstrikes and the government’s decision to cut off food, water and fuel to the region amounted to “war crimes,” but of the slaughter of babies and elderly at the hands of Hamas terrorists, apparently not so much.
Those who signed the letter include actress Tilda Swinton, actor/comedian Steve Coogan, “Outlander” star Sam Heughan, directors Michael Winterbottom Mike Leigh and Asif Kapadia, “Game of Thrones” star Charles Dance and actress Miriam Margolyes, who played Professor Sprout in “Harry Potter,” as well as a host of authors, playwrights and visual artists. The complete list of signatories can be found here.
The open letter from Artists for Palestine UK claimed Israeli airstrikes and the government’s decision to cut off food, water and fuel to the region amounted to “war crimes.”
“Our governments are not only tolerating war crimes but aiding and abetting them,” said the letter, also signed by “Game of Thrones” star Charles Dance and actress Miriam Margolyes, who was Professor Sprout in “Harry Potter.”
“We are witnessing a crime and a catastrophe. Israel has reduced much of Gaza to rubble, and cut off the supply of water, power, food and medicine to 2.3 million Palestinians. In the words of the UN’s undersecretary for humanitarian affairs, ‘the spectre of death’ is hanging over the territory.
Gaza is already a society of refugees and the children of refugees. Now, in their hundreds of thousands, bombarded from air, sea and land, Palestinians whose grandparents were forced out of their homes at the barrel of a gun are again being told to flee – or face collective punishment on an unimaginable scale. Dispossessed of rights, described by Israel’s minister of defence as “human animals”, they have become people to whom almost anything can be done.
Our governments are not only tolerating war crimes but aiding and abetting them. There will come a time when they are held to account for their complicity. But for now, while condemning every act of violence against civilians and every infringement of international law whoever perpetrates them, our obligation is to do all we can to bring an end to the unprecedented cruelty being inflicted on Gaza.
We support the global movement against the destruction of Gaza and the mass displacement of the Palestinian people. We demand that our governments end their military and political support for Israel’s actions.
We call for an immediate ceasefire and the opening of Gaza’s crossings to allow humanitarian aid to enter unhindered.”
David Mencer, an expert on the Middle East and former director of Labour Friends of Israel, joined GB News and pointed out the ridiculousness of the letter saying, “I’m speaking to you live from Tel Aviv,” Mencer said, “and I think the perspective from here right now is to me, it looks like you’ve got to be a special kind of Jew hater to sign this sort of drivel.”
He added: “This letter is so misguided and misplaced, I simply say to this group of misfits and weirdos, that I invite them to rescue their alien careers and try their chances as artists in Gaza under the Hamas regime.”
“You know, if they do that, I promise to sign a letter when they are locked up by Hamas.”
“They’d be lucky if they’re locked up because they’d be most likely, judging from Hamas record, have their throats cut.”
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Mencer was asked if he had a message for those who signed the letter and shared, “I would say that it would be a great idea if you took a little trip down to Hamas and educated yourself into the Gaza Strip and see what it’s like for artists trying to, you know, perhaps give over any sort of opposition from the genocide or Islamic under all this regime.
“Now just educate yourself. Go and visit and then come over to Israel and see the flourishing democratic scene which exists here in Israel and compare the two and then I make a decision about where you’d rather live.”
Some of those who signed the letter are walking back their initial support after backlash.
Heughan, from Outlander fame, retracted his signature and claimed he “inadvertently signed something that does not reflect my beliefs.”
— Sam Heughan (@SamHeughan) October 19, 2023
In seems actors and Harvard students struggle with reading comprehension.