One of the many instances of Jews not only promoting a pro-Palestine agenda—whether a two-state or the more popular one-state, replacing Israel—but also propping up an anti-Zionist position is a recent letter signed by “Jewish artists and thinkers” in support of Hollywood actor Mark Ruffalo. They assert that there is a “dangerous weaponization” of antisemitism involved.
Opening this time with “We are Jewish,” rather than the usual “As Jews,” its main charge is that “the assault on the Palestinian people and the assault on our liberties at home are deeply interconnected, and there is nothing antisemitic about recognizing that fact.” In a previous instance, Hollywood actress Natalie Portman, who has Israeli roots, joined the “racist supremacy” charge against Israel.
Ruffalo, who has worn a pin highlighting an upside-down red triangle—the Hamas symbol pointing to Israeli targets, expressing direct identification with violent terror—had compared the merger of media giants David Ellison’s Paramount with Warner Bros. Discovery to the ongoing hostilities in Gaza.
And the link? Larry Ellison, he asserted, is an “oligarch” because he provides financial backing to his son David’s business merger. That wealth, he continued, was earned from technology used by the Israeli military.
I found that convoluted, if not an outdated-but-improved Marxist dialectical thought process. I am, however, doubtful about Ruffalo’s ability to actually think rather than just spout revolutionary rhetoric.
For example, back in July 2014, Ruffalo tweeted: “Do you honestly think these people, these fellow human beings, would use their own children as shields? Use your heart.”
The “people” he was referring to, of course, were Hamas terrorists. More than a decade later, despite the slaughter of 1,200 men, women and children one morning in October 2023 and the executions of fellow Palestinian Arabs in Gaza before and after that date, Ruffalo is still at it. Only this time, he’s lashed out at Jews in business—the entertainment business.
His linking a commercial transaction with being a tool of Gaza suffering wields the trusty “blame a Jew” paradigm, as antisemites understand it.
In May 2021, he did issue an apology for his accusations, writing: “I have reflected & wanted to apologize for posts during the recent Israel/Hamas fighting that suggested Israel is committing ‘genocide.’ It’s not accurate, it’s inflammatory, disrespectful & is being used to justify antisemitism … .”
But he’s beyond that now. And scores of Hollywood Jews are proud to support him against Paramount leaders accusing Ruffalo of invoking antisemitic tropes.
We’ve seen this before. Back in 2009, one of this year’s signees, Wallace Shawn, was interviewed by The Jewish Chronicle. Questioned on his overt support for Palestine and sharp criticism of Israel at that time, his response needs to be quoted extensively.
“The agony the Israelis might inflict on a Palestinian family today,” he replied, “is seen in the perspective of Jewish families in agony all over the world in the past.”
He added that, “I find it horrifying that Jews are seen—particularly by a young generation who do not know the history—as victimizers who are very self-righteous about what they do. … From a moral point of view, it was better when we were victims.”
In Israel, Jews are being subjected to Arab terror. Abroad, Jews are being subjected to violent antisemitism, including shootings and fire-bombings, because their assailants identify them as “oppressors of Palestinians.”
His Aug. 21 post employed the term “genocide” as one “built on an apartheid system of oppression powered by Oracle.”
Their technologies, he suggested in a devious Jews-against-the-world fanciful vision, “will most likely be merged into one of the largest media conglomerates in the world and one day used on you.” From poisoned wells to draining Christian blood to the rape of Christian maidens to genocide in Gaza, Ruffalo has introduced Oracle as Jewish-Israel mind entrapment.
His linking a commercial transaction with somehow being a tool of Gaza suffering (I wonder what he thinks of Iran arming and training Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis) wields the trusty “blame a Jew” paradigm, as antisemites understand it.
Astoundingly (or not), other Jewish celebrities rushed to his side. Hannah Einbinder, Joel Coen, Emma Seligman, Naomi Klein and Ilana Glazer, among others, sympathize with his position and railed against Ellison. Whether or not Ruffalo is antisemitic to this or that degree (and even if he will, as in the past, seek to apologize), the actions and views of these Jews and others outside the film and artistic industry are wrong.
Their effusive support for him, in particular, and their mostly anti-Zionist orientation in general are not very Jewish.
The synagogue service on the morning of the first day of Rosh Hashanah (this year on Saturday, Sept. 12) includes a Haftarah reading from the book of Samuel.
Every year, the biblical Elkanah ascends to the Tabernacle at Shiloh. The story, however, is not solely about temple worship. It is intensely human, for one of his wives, Hannah, is barren. Despite Elkanah’s attempts to console her, she bursts into the temple area against custom and prays fervently for a child.
Commentators link the Haftarah text to that of remembrance, a central theme of Rosh Hashanah. Nevertheless, the biblical verses do not avoid one of the central pillars of Judaism: the Land of Israel.
A national geography that is a foundational element in Judaism cannot be escaped or ignored. It has been so since Avram set out for Moriah and the Children of Israel existed in Egypt for the land of their forefathers. It has been so throughout the centuries and until our times.
It is an identifying national, religious and cultural geography that has been sanctified through the performance of mitzvot that raise Jewish consciousness as to why we are to be in that space and what we are to do in it. It is recalled at Passover, Chanukah and Tisha B’Av. It is central to Rosh Hashanah as well.
Jews of Hollywood who sign letters in support of Ruffalo and an independent entity of “Palestine,” and who degrade Israel’s right to defend itself or even exist while shielding Arab Islamist forces of inconceivable immorality, remain locked within one of the unfathomable, once-upon-a-time Hollywood fairytales.
