MidEast

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American Actress Greta Gerwig Regrets Signing Israel Boycott Letter

American actress Greta Gerwig has expressed regret for signing a letter calling for a boycott of Israel.

The actress was a member of a group of more than 60 artists who in July signed a letter urging Lincoln Center to cancel performances of “To The End Of The Land,” a play based on a novel of the same name by famed Israeli novelist David Grossman, The Times of Israel reported Thursday.

The signees called for the boycott of the play because it was funded by Israel’s Office of Cultural Affairs in North America. The letter was circulated by the Adalah-NY group, which calls for the boycott of Israel over its treatment of Palestinian Arabs.

Last Friday, Gerwig admitted in an interview with the New York Post that she was not knowledgeable enough on the subject to have called for a boycott.  “This past summer, a close friend asked me to lend my name to a letter,” Gerwig said. “I am generally careful about the causes I support, but in this case I was not. I was unfamiliar with the complexities of the letter and I did not take the time to study them,” she explained.

“Instead,” Gerwig continued, “because the letter had already been signed by many other friends and collaborators I know to be thoughtful and honorable people, I agreed to add my name.” She added: ”While I respect the passion and integrity of others who signed this letter, for me to put my name to something outside of my personal realm of knowledge or experience was a mistake — my mistake — and I am sorry for any confusion or hurt I may have caused.”

The phenomenon of celebrities calling for a boycott of Israel is not a new one and supporters of the BDS movement are routinely threatening artists who are set to perform in Israel, with a number of entertainers saying that the harassment has led them to fear for their lives.

Many major artists, including Alicia Keys, The Rolling Stones, Lady Gaga, and Bon Jovi, have traveled to Israel in recent years, despite the efforts of boycott activists. Pink Floyd founder Roger Waters has established himself as a leader of the BDS campaign, and has criticized musicians who choose to perform concerts in Israel.

In The Rise of ‘Soft’ Holocaust Denial, published in the October 2016 issue of The Tower Magazine, Zach Ben-Amots identified Waters as a prominent proponent of “soft” Holocaust denial due to his comparisons between the Nazi regime and the Jewish state.

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