{"id":220238,"date":"2022-09-26T12:00:30","date_gmt":"2022-09-26T11:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=220238"},"modified":"2022-09-25T03:55:31","modified_gmt":"2022-09-25T02:55:31","slug":"the-israel-files-wikileaks-docs-show-top-hollywood-producers-working-with-israel-to-defend-its-war-crimes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/09\/the-israel-files-wikileaks-docs-show-top-hollywood-producers-working-with-israel-to-defend-its-war-crimes\/","title":{"rendered":"The Israel Files: WikiLeaks Docs Show Top Hollywood Producers Working with Israel to Defend Its War Crimes"},"content":{"rendered":"

23 Sep 2022 – The Israel Files is a new <\/em>MintPress series exploring and highlighting the many revelations about the Israeli occupation of Palestine that WikiLeaks documents disclosed. It hopes to shed light on many of the most important and underreported revelations the publishing group exposed.\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Illustration by MintPress News<\/p><\/div>\n

As Israel was launching a deadly assault<\/a> on Gaza, killing thousands of civilians and displacing more than 100,000 people, many of America\u2019s top TV, music and film producers were organizing to protect the apartheid state\u2019s reputation from widespread international condemnation.<\/p>\n

Together, the Sony Archive<\/a> \u2013 a cache of emails published by Wikileaks \u2013 prove that influential entertainment magnates attempted to whitewash Israeli crimes and present the situation as defending itself from an impending \u201cgenocide\u201d, liaised with Israeli military and government officials in order to coordinate their message, attempted to cancel those who spoke out against the injustice, and put financial and social pressure on institutions who hosted artists criticizing the apartheid government\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n

As Israel attacks, Hollywood plays defense<\/h2>\n

\u201c[Israel\u2019s message] Must be repeated ad infinitum until the people get it,\u201d wrote Hollywood lawyer and producer Glenn D. Feig, in an email chain to many of Tinsel Town\u2019s most influential executives. This was in response to the unprovoked 2014 Israeli attack<\/a> on Gaza, one of the bloodiest chapters in over half a century of occupation.<\/p>\n

Named \u201cOperation Protective Edge\u201d, the Israeli military engaged in seven weeks of near-constant bombing of the densely populated coastal strip. According to the United Nations<\/a>, over 2,000 people were killed \u2013 a quarter of them children. 18,000 houses were destroyed, leaving more than 100,000 people homeless.<\/p>\n

The Israeli military deliberately targeted civilian infrastructure, knocking out Gaza\u2019s only power plant and shutting down its water treatment plants, leading to economic, social and ecological devastation in an area Human Rights Watch has labeled<\/a> the world\u2019s largest \u201copen air prison\u201d.<\/p>\n

Many in Hollywood expressed deep concern. \u201cWe must make sure that never happens again\u201d, insisted<\/a> producer Ron Rotholz. Rotholz, however, was not referring to the death and destruction Israel imposed on Gaza, but to the fact that many of the entertainment world\u2019s biggest stars, including celebrity power couple, Pen\u00e9lope Cruz and Javier Bardem, had condemned<\/a> Israel\u2019s actions, labeling them tantamount to \u201cgenocide.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

\u201cChange must start from the top down. It should be unheard of and unacceptable for any Academy Award-winning actor to call the legitimate armed defense of one\u2019s territory\u2026genocide\u201d he continued<\/a>, worrying that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement \u2013 a worldwide campaign to put economic pressure on Israel in an attempt to push it to meet its obligations under international law \u2013 was gaining steam in the world of the arts. Israel\u2019s legitimacy rests upon political and military support from the U.S. Therefore, maintaining support among the American public is crucial to the long term viability of its settler colonial project.<\/p>\n

Rotholz then attempted to organize a silent, worldwide pressure campaign on arts venues and organizations, including the Motion Picture Academy in Hollywood and the Sundance and Cannes Film Festivals, to stamp out BDS, writing<\/a>,<\/p>\n

What we can do is urge the leaders of major film, TV and theater organisations, festivals, markets and potentially the heads of media corporations to issue official statements condemning any form of cultural or economic boycotts against Israel.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Others agreed<\/a> that they had to develop a \u201cgame plan\u201d for opposing BDS.<\/p>\n

Of course, when influential producers, festivals and heads of media corporations release statements condemning a certain position or practice, this is, in effect, a threat: stop taking these positions or suffer the professional consequences.<\/p>\n

Loach on the brain<\/h2>\n

The Sony emails also reveal a near obsession with British filmmaker and social activist Ken Loach. The celebrated director\u2019s film, \u201cJimmy\u2019s Hall\u201d had recently been nominated for the prestigious Palme d\u2019Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and in the wake of Israel\u2019s assault on Gaza, he had publicly called<\/a> for a cultural and sporting boycott of the apartheid state.<\/p>\n

This outraged many in Hollywood. Ryan Kavanaugh, CEO of Relativity Media, a film producing company responsible for financing more than 200 movies, demanded that not only Loach, but the whole Cannes Film Festival be cancelled. \u201cThe studios and networks alike must join together and boycott cannes,\u201d he wrote<\/a>. \u201cIf we don\u2019t we are sending a message that another holocaust is fine with Hollywood as long as it is business as usual,\u201d he added, framing the Israeli attack on a near-defenseless civilian population as a Palestinian genocide of Israelis.<\/p>\n

Others agreed. Ben Silverman, former co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios and producer of shows such as \u201cThe Office\u201d, \u201cThe Biggest Loser\u201d and Ugly Betty\u201d said<\/a> that the industry should \u201cboycott the boycotters\u201d. Rotholz, meanwhile, wrote to the head of the Cannes Film Festival, demanding that he take action against Loach for his comments. \u201cThere is no place for [Loach\u2019s intolerant and hateful remarks] in the global world of film and filmmakers\u201d, he insisted<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

Others came up with another way of countering Loach. \u201cHow about we all club together and make a documentary about the rise of new anti-Semitism in Europe,\u201d suggested<\/a> British film producer Cassian Elwes, adding,<\/p>\n

I would be willing to contribute and put time into it if others here would do the same. Between all of us I\u2019m sure we could figure out a way to distribute it and get it into places like Cannes so we could have a response to guys like Loach. Perhaps we try to use it to rally support from film communities in Europe to help us distribute it there\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI love it,\u201d replied<\/a> publishing oligarch Jason Binn, \u201cAnd I will promote it in a major way to all 3.2 million magazine subscribers across all on and offline platforms. I can even leverage Gilt\u2019s 9 million members,\u201d he added, referring to the shopping and lifestyle website he managed.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe too,\u201d said<\/a> Amy Pascal, the Co-Chairperson of Sony Pictures Entertainment. Meanwhile, Mark Canton, producer of movies such as \u201cGet Carter\u201d, \u201cImmortals\u201d and \u201c300\u201d busied himself drumming up more Hollywood support for the idea. \u201cAdding Carmi Zlotnik to this growing list\u201d, he replied<\/a>, referencing the TV executive.<\/p>\n

This whole correspondence was from an email chain of dozens of high-powered entertainment figures entitled \u201cHappy New Year. Too bad Germany is now a no travel zone for Jews,\u201d which ludicrously claimed that the European country had become a Muslim-controlled Islamic theocracy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

\u201cIt is horrible. But in the end, it is no surprise, because apologists for Israel\u2019s oppression of the Palestinians will go to any length to prevent the people opposing them,\u201d Mr. Loach said, when asked for comment by MintPress<\/i>. \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t underestimate the hatred of those who cannot tolerate the idea that Palestinians have human rights, that Palestine is a state; and they have their country,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Shutting down free expression<\/h2>\n

The pro-Israel group in Hollywood also put serious pressure on American institutions to crack down on support for Palestinian human rights. Silverman revealed that he had written to Peter Gelb, the general manager of the New York Metropolitan Opera, in an effort to shut down a performance of \u201cThe Death of Klinghoffer\u201d, an opera that tells the story of the 1985 hijacking of an airliner by the Palestine Liberation Front. \u201cI suggest though that we each call him on Monday at his office at the Met and your point about the Met\u2019s donors\u2019 leverage is important,\u201d he advised<\/a> the other entertainment oligarchs, thereby shining a light on how the powerful move in secret to silence speech they do not approve of, and how they use their financial clout to coerce and strong-arm others into toeing their line. A lot of pressure was necessary, because, as Silverman explained, \u201cas members of the artistic community it is very hard to be pro free speech only some of the time and not all of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the performance did go ahead, but not without a large and coordinated protest<\/a> both inside and outside the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts, as individuals attempted to shut down the performance, claiming it was \u201cantisemitic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liaising with the IDF<\/h2>\n

The email conversations of many of Hollywood\u2019s most influential individuals show that they believe they are on the verge of a worldwide extermination of Jews, and that Israel \u2013 and themselves \u2013 are the only things standing in the way of this impending fate. As Kavanaugh wrote<\/a>, \u201cIt\u2019s our job to keep another Holocaust from happening. Many of you may think that can\u2019t happen, that is extreme\u2026[but] If you pull newspapers from pre Holocaust it seems eerily close to our world today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rotholz was of a similar opinion, writing<\/a> that,<\/p>\n

It is imperative that leading figures in the LA\/NY film, tv, media, digital and theater communities who support a strong and potent Jewish state develop a strategy for liasing with colleagues in London and Europe and also with the creative communities here and in Europe to promote and explain the Israeli cause.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Sony Archive emails also show that, not only were Tinsel Town\u2019s top brass coordinating strategies to silence critics of Israel, but that they were also closely liaising with the Israeli government and its military.<\/p>\n

Producer George Perez, for example, messaged his colleagues in the chain email to introduce them to an IDF colonel, stating<\/a> (emphasis added),<\/p>\n

Everyone please use this \u201creply all\u201d list from here on.\u00a0 I have included Kobi Marom a retired commander in the Israeli army. Kobi was kind enough to give my family and I a jeep tour of the Golan Heights during our June trip to Israel.\u00a0 He also took us to visit an army base on the border of Israel and Syria, an area which has been in the news lately.\u00a0 Hard to imagine that the \u201ckids\u201d that we met at the base are most likely engaged in combat with our enemies.\u201d
\n<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Seeing as the large majority of those who died were Palestinian civilians, it is unclear whether he considers all Palestinians or just Hamas as enemies of Hollywood. Perez also noted that \u201cKobi works closely with the Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces (FIDF) who are in need of donations,\u201d and advised that Hollywood needed to \u201cdig deep to help in the constant struggle for the survival of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hollywood celebrities, including famed producer Haim Saban and actress Fran Drescher, pose with IDF soldiers at the FIDF Western Region Gala<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The group also attempted to recruit Israeli-American movie star Natalie Portman into their ranks. But the Academy Award-winning actress appeared more concerned that her personal details were being shared. \u201cHow did I get on this list? Also Ryan Seacrest?\u201d she replied<\/a>, before directly addressing Kavanaugh, writing,<\/p>\n

[C]an you please remove me from this email list? you should not be copying me publicly so that 20 people i don\u2019t know have my personal info. i will have to change my email address now.\u00a0 thank you\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While Portman\u2019s open contempt for the group of rabidly pro-Israel producers is notable, more so was Kavanaugh\u2019s response, which revealed how close the connection between the Israeli state and Hollywood is. Kavanaugh wrote<\/a> back,<\/p>\n

Sorry. You are right Jews being slaughtered for their beliefs and Cannes members calling for the boycott of anything Israel or Jewish is much much less important than your email address being shared with 20 of our peers who are trying to make a difference. my deepest apologies\u2026I had lunch yesterday with Israel consulate general who brought J street up to me. He was so perplexed confused and concerned when he heard you supported them that he begged me to connect you two.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thus, the leaked emails prove beyond any doubt that both the Israeli government and the IDF liaise with some of the most powerful people in the entertainment world in order to push forward a pro-Israel message and stamp out any deviance from that line.<\/p>\n

Hip hoppers for apartheid<\/h2>\n

While their efforts at recruiting Portman fell flat, one star who responded enthusiastically was hip hop mega producer Russell Simmons, founder of Def Jam Records and the brother of Joseph \u201cRev.Run\u201d Simmons, one third of Run DMC. Simmons has recently been the subject of controversy, after 20 women have come forward, charging<\/a> him with rape or other sexual misconduct.<\/p>\n

The emails reveal that promoting engagement with Israel within the African-American community is one of Simmons\u2019 primary interests. When asked if he had any ideas how to improve Israel\u2019s image, he said<\/a>, \u201cSimple messaging from non Jews specifically from Muslims promoting peace and Israel\u2019s right to exist\u2026We have resources and the desire to win rather than lose the hearts of young Muslims and Jews.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

What these resources were, he explained<\/a>,<\/p>\n

We have hundreds of collaboration programs between Imams Rabbis and their congregations We have many respected imams who would join former chief rabbi metzker (spelling) rabbi Schneier and non Jews in promoting the Saudi peace plan\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThrough this campaign we will be helping Israel,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

Turning the tide<\/h2>\n

Despite the best efforts of Simmons and others, however, American public opinion has, in recent years, begun to turn<\/a> against Israel. Young Americans, in particular, are more likely to sympathize with the plight of the Palestinian people and support an independent Palestinian state.<\/p>\n

Much of this has to do with the rise of social media and a new generation of activists breaking through the barriers to highlight injustices being carried out by their government. Today, Americans are more likely to see first-hand, unvarnished accounts of Israeli brutality on social media platforms. As veteran political scientist Noam Chomsky explained<\/a> to MintPress<\/i> last year, \u201cThe veil of intense propaganda [is] being lifted slowly, [and] crucial U.S. participation in Israeli crimes is also coming more clearly into view. With committed activism, that could have salutary effects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, U.S. government support for Israel continues to rise. Between 2019 and 2028, it is scheduled<\/a> to send nearly $40 billion in aid, almost all of it military, meaning that American taxpayer funds are contributing to Palestinian oppression and displacement.<\/p>\n

Loach was even more upbeat on the issue, telling us that those who stand in the way of justice will be judged poorly by history, stating,<\/p>\n

The denial of human rights of the Palestinians is one of the great crimes [of the modern era] and Palestinian rights is one of the great causes of last century and this century. We should all support the Palestinians. If you have any care for human rights, there is no question: the Palestinians have to be supported. And these people who oppose them, in the end, will fade away. Because history will show this was a terrible crime. Palestinians suffered ethnic cleansing of their homeland. We have to support the Palestinians, full stop.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Those people, however, have no intention of \u201cfading away\u201d, and continue to organize on behalf of the Israeli government. Thanks to the leaked documents, those who care about Palestinian self-determination have a clearer understanding of how they operate.<\/p>\n

______________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Alan MacLeod is an academic, journalist, and senior staff writer for\u00a0<\/em>MintPress News. He is a contributor to <\/em>Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting-FAIR<\/a>. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books:\u00a0<\/em>Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting<\/a> \u00a0and \u00a0<\/em>Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent<\/a>,\u00a0as well as<\/em>\u00a0a<\/em><\/a> number <\/a>of <\/a>academic <\/a>articles<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0He has also contributed to<\/em>\u00a0The Guardian<\/a>,\u00a0Salon<\/a>,\u00a0The Grayzone<\/a>,\u00a0Jacobin Magazine<\/a>,\u00a0and <\/em>Common Dreams<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/span> Republish our stories! <\/a> <\/strong><\/em> MintPress News is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 mintpressnews.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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