Jerry O’Connell, Julianna Margulies Among 400 Hollywood Figures Calling for End of Anti-Israel Rhetoric After Israeli Embassy Staffers Killed

Over 400 Hollywood professionals, including actor Jerry O’Connell and actress Julianna Margulies, have signed an open letter calling for an end to extreme anti-Israel rhetoric.

Released by the nonprofit Creative Community for Peace on Wednesday, the letter came in response to the killing of two Israeli Embassy staffers at the Capital Jewish Museum shooting in Washington, D.C., last week. While it acknowledged “well-meaning celebrities and public figures” who sympathize with Palestinians, the signatories felt that they were “manipulated” by misinformation.

“Hamas, Iran and their allies and ideological sympathizers in the West have flooded the world with their hateful lies and antisemitic incitement since Oct. 7 — lies designed to demonize Israel, the Jewish people and their supporters,” the letter said.  “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 went on to cite how anti-Israel and broader anti-Jewish rhetoric led to the deaths of two Israeli embassy staffers by a radicalized American last week.

“I did it for Gaza,” alleged shooter Elias Rodriguez, a Chicago resident, said after the two staffers were gunned down.

It also noted how Hamas has been using the citizens of Gaza as human shields.

The letter included signatures from the likes of Mayim Bialik, Sharon Osbourne, Patricia Heaton, Sherry Lansing, Haim Saban, Rebecca De Mornay, Fred Savage, Ben Silverman and Debra Messing.

In a statement through the organization’s press release, actress Mayim Bialik (The Big Bang Theory) said that “peddling lies about Jews has deadly consequences.”

“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,” Bialik said. “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,” she added.

CCFP co-founder and chairman David Renzer and executive director Ari Ingel said in a joint statement that the anti-Israel movement has led to a “toxic mix of distortion, bigotry and incitement.”

“Given the power of social media, it’s incumbent on entertainers and public figures, with their ability to influence millions around the world, to use their platforms responsibly. Without a course correction, we will only see more hate, more violence, and more innocent people targeted simply for being Jewish,” the pair said.

Read the full letter here.

Paul Roland Bois directed the award-winning Christian tech thriller, EXEMPLUM, which has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes critic rating and can be viewed for FREE on YouTube, Tubi, or Fawesome TV. “Better than Killers of the Flower Moon,” wrote Mark Judge. “You haven’t seen a story like this before,” wrote Christian Toto. A high-quality, ad-free rental can also be streamed on Google Play, Vimeo on Demand, or YouTube Movies. Follow him on X @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.