{"id":1037094,"date":"2026-09-01T15:49:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T15:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1037094\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T15:49:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T15:49:15","slug":"mark-ruffalo-defended-in-open-letter-against-antisemitism-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1037094\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Ruffalo Defended in Open Letter Against Antisemitism Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tMore than 170 Jewish figures from the entertainment industry and beyond have signed a letter in support of Mark Ruffalo<\/a> over what it asserts is a \u201csmear campaign\u201d against the actor.<\/p>\n

\n\tAmong those supporting the letter \u2014 which claims that Ruffalo has been the subject of \u201cspurious charges of antisemitism\u201d \u2014\u00a0are Joel Coen<\/a>, Todd Haynes<\/a>, Ilana Glazer<\/a>, Hannah Einbinder, James Schamus, Emma Seligman, Tony Kushner, Jane Schoenbrun and Wallace Shawn.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe letter comes following a heated week in which Ruffalo has been at the center of a growing confrontation regarding the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger. In a social media post on Aug. 21<\/a>, the Marvel star attacked the deal over its potential consequences for Hollywood, but also accused the Ellison family of being complicit in the \u201cgenocide\u201d against Palestinians, which he said \u201cwas built on an apartheid system of oppression powered by Oracle.\u201d In the post, he highlighted Oracle\u2019s ties to the Israeli military.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn response, a Paramount spokesperson accused Ruffalo of invoking \u201cantisemitic tropes\u201d<\/a> in \u201cpurported service of a business dispute.\u201d Others also joined the debate, with both The Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Creative Community for Peace condemning Ruffalo\u2019s comments, while an industry group including Haim Saban, Teddy Schwarzman and Lawrence Bender<\/a> wrote that it was \u201cunacceptable to introduce Jews, antizionism, or antisemitism into conversations about business transactions, simply because those involved are Jewish.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRuffalo hit back, claiming that Paramount\u2019s accusation that he was antisemitic was \u201cappalling and fundamentally dishonest\u201d<\/a> adding: \u201cCriticizing the actions of the Israeli prime minister, a military technology contract, or the executives who supply it is not the same as criticizing Jewish people.\u201d Others came to his defense too, with Einbinder \u2014\u00a0who is Jewish and has been outspoken in her support for Palestinian rights \u2014 thanking Ruffalo<\/a> for drawing a \u201cconnection between the Ellisons providing military technology to Israel during a genocide and their unprecedented media takeover.\u201d On Tuesday, Oscar-winning filmmaker and playwright Kenneth Lonergan shared a letter in support of Ruffalo in which he said the \u201cnotion that he is antisemitic is overtly preposterous, and the accusation itself a cynical and disgusting lie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe new letter signed by Jewish figures and published on Tuesday echoes the defense of Ruffalo, arguing against what it says are \u201cfalse and dangerous weaponization of charges of antisemitism.\u201d But it also highlights the same links made by Ruffalo about the Paramount\/Warner Bros. merger and the Ellison family\u2019s connections with Israel.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPointing out the crucial connections between what is happening in Gaza and what is happening in Hollywood is the exact opposite of antisemitism,\u201d it claims. \u201cIt is, for us, the very essence of Jewish ethical duty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAlongside signing the letter, Glazer offered a further statement. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cCalling Mark Ruffalo antisemitic because he is questioning a massive corporate merger is not only absurd\u2014 it\u2019s a dangerous way to shut down legitimate criticism,\u201d she said. \u201cMark has consistently spoken out against antisemitism while also standing up for Palestinian rights and dignity for all people. It\u2019s an American\u2019s right to debate media consolidation and the dangers of monopolized corporate power without weaponizing antisemitism to bully people into silence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSee the full letter (also posted online here<\/a> with notes) and list of signatories below.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe are Jewish artists, writers, creative professionals, faith leaders and thinkers who have, in response to the outrageous smear campaign against our respected colleague Mark Ruffalo, a simple message to share with the world: Enough! Enough with the false and dangerous weaponization of charges of antisemitism against those who are brave enough to point out the obvious: 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe proposed merger of Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery is no mere combination of two huge multinational companies. Yes, it will destroy thousands upon thousands of livelihoods. Yes, it will further consolidate the oligarchic control of our media (witness the gutting of CBS News). Yes, it will strangle competition and creativity in film and television production and distribution.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut it will do all this and more as part of a larger project of tech-driven domination, a project Larry Ellison and his partners have never been shy about trumpeting \u2014 and one they themselves have explicitly linked to their support for the ongoing depredations being visited on the people of Palestine and their silencing of critics of those horrors. We all saw this after their Trump-brokered takeover of TikTok \u2014 a takeover they openly proclaimed was in large part motivated by their desire to boost pro-Israel propaganda. Larry Ellison personally, with his astonishing purported $350 million in funding and pledges to the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, has been Blair\u2019s major backer as Blair assumes an influential role in the Trump-concocted \u201cBoard of Peace\u201d takeover of Gaza, a territory which has become an open-air laboratory for AI-driven killing and control technologies like the ones celebrated by former Oracle CEO (and current Oracle and Paramount board member) Safra Catz.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe AI road to WarnerMount runs through Gaza, and Ellison has often let us know the Orwellian world he has in store for us as he consolidates control over what we watch and how we watch it, knowing that as we watch he and his corrupt cohort will always be watching us: \u201cCitizens will be on their best behavior because we\u2019re constantly recording and reporting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPointing out the crucial connections between what is happening in Gaza and what is happening in Hollywood is the exact opposite of antisemitism. It is, for us, the very essence of Jewish ethical duty. According to a recent Washington Post poll, 61% of American Jews now agree that Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza; and four in ten even agree that these crimes amount to genocide. Do those attacking Mark Ruffalo as an antisemite seriously believe that all these American Jews are antisemites too? Or that we don\u2019t see the connection between, on the one hand, the criminal impunities that have led the US and Israel into unending disaster and, on the other, the oligarchic powerplays of the Musks, Ellisons, Thiels and others who are working to dismantle our democracy?<\/p>\n

\n\tBut the virulence and falseness of the slanders they direct towards their critics is evidence of the increasing weakness of their position, based as it is on innuendos. Today, more and more people of conscience are joining together, to loudly and univocally proclaim: The time is over for spurious charges of antisemitism to be trotted out, this time in the defense of war, oligarchy, and AI domination. That tired playbook has run its course.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe stand proudly with Mark Ruffalo, and with all decent people who are bravely rising and speaking truth to power.<\/p>\n

\n\tAaron Costa Ganis, Actor<\/p>\n

\n\tAbbi Jacobson, Actor\/Comedian<\/p>\n

\n\tAlan Snitow, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tAlex Winter, Actor\/Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tAlison Klayman, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tAlison Leiby, Writer\/Comedian<\/p>\n

\n\tAlissa Weiss, Rabbi<\/p>\n

\n\tAllie Gross, Writer<\/p>\n

\n\tAmos Goldberg, Holocaust Historian, Hebrew University<\/p>\n

\n\tAmy Ziering, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tAnat Matar, Snr. Lecturer (Ret.), Tel Aviv University<\/p>\n

\n\tAndrea Weiss, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tAndrue Kahn, Rabbi<\/p>\n

\n\tAnjuli Kronheim Katz, Advocate<\/p>\n

\n\tAnna Pollack, Director<\/p>\n

\n\tAnthony Arnove, Writer\/Producer<\/p>\n

\n\tAriel Friedlander, Artist<\/p>\n

\n\tAriel Wengroff, Artist<\/p>\n

\n\tAtalia Omer, Professor, University of Notre Dame<\/p>\n

\n\tAvi Shlaim, Professor (Em.), St Antony\u2019s College<\/p>\n

\n\tAyelet Waldman, Author<\/p>\n

\n\tBarry Trachtenberg, Professor, Wake Forest University<\/p>\n

\n\tBella Freud, Designer<\/p>\n

\n\tBen Korman, Producer<\/p>\n

\n\tBen Moser, Author<\/p>\n

\n\tBen Natan, Actor\/Producer<\/p>\n

\n\tBrian A. Kates, Editor<\/p>\n

\n\tBruce Cohen, Producer<\/p>\n

\n\tCamille L\u00e9vy Sarfati, Author\/Curator<\/p>\n

\n\tCat Davis, Rabbi<\/p>\n

\n\tChani Nicholas, Astrologer<\/p>\n

\n\tCharlie Goldensohn, Strategist\/Commentator<\/p>\n

\n\tCharlotte Sheedy, Literary Agent<\/p>\n

\n\tCollier Meyerson, Writer<\/p>\n

\n\tCraig Aaron, Journalist<\/p>\n

\n\tDana Kornberg, Assoc. Professor, UC Santa Barabra<\/p>\n

\n\tDaniel Levy, Political Analyst<\/p>\n

\n\tDavid Borenstien, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tDavid Mivasair, Rabbi<\/p>\n

\n\tDavid Vine, Author<\/p>\n

\n\tDavid Wilson, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tDeborah Eisenberg, Writer<\/p>\n

\n\tDeborah Kaufman. Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tDeborah Shaffer, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tDebra Winger, Actor<\/p>\n

\n\tDeidre Fishel, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tDr. Mark Perlmutter, Physician<\/p>\n

\n\tEinat Weizman, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tEmily Kunstler, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tEmma Seligman, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tErin Axelman, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tEstee Chandler, Radio Host\/Producer<\/p>\n

\n\tEstelle Tarica, Professor, UC Berkeley<\/p>\n

\n\tEthan Sacks, Writer<\/p>\n

\n\tFrances Fisher, Actor<\/p>\n

\n\tGabor Mat\u00e9, Physician\/Author<\/p>\n

\n\tGili Getz, Photographer<\/p>\n

\n\tGina Gershon, Actor<\/p>\n

\n\tGinny Suss, Producer<\/p>\n

\n\tHana Morgenstern, Assoc. Professor, Newnham College<\/p>\n

\n\tHannah Einbinder, Actor<\/p>\n

\n\tHenry Bean, Screenwriter<\/p>\n

\n\tHoward Rodman, Screenwriter<\/p>\n

\n\tHunter Abrams, Photographer<\/p>\n

\n\tIdith Korman, Musician\/Composer<\/p>\n

\n\tIlana Glazer, Actor\/Writer\/Director<\/p>\n

\n\tIlise Cohen, Scholar<\/p>\n

\n\tItamar Ziegler, Composer\/Musician<\/p>\n

\n\tJames Renton, Professor, Edge Hill University<\/p>\n

\n\tJames Schamus, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tJames Wilson, Producer<\/p>\n

\n\tJamie Zelermeyer, Producer<\/p>\n

\n\tJane Schoenbrun, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tJason Kliot, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tJason Rosenberg, Public Health Advocate<\/p>\n

\n\tJeffrey Kusama-Hinte, Producer<\/p>\n

\n\tJenna Weiss-Berman, Producer<\/p>\n

\n\tJennifer L. Pozner, Author<\/p>\n

\n\tJeremiah Zagar, Director<\/p>\n

\n\tJeremy Yaches, Producer<\/p>\n

\n\tJesse Mechanic, Writer<\/p>\n

\n\tJill Goldman, Artist<\/p>\n

\n\tJillian Neal, Manager<\/p>\n

\n\tJo Firestone, Comedian\/Actor<\/p>\n

\n\tJoel Beinin, Professor (Em.), Stanford University<\/p>\n

\n\tJoel Coen, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tJon Reiss, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tJonathan Feingold, Professor, Boston University School of Law<\/p>\n

\n\tJonathan Lethem, Writer<\/p>\n

\n\tJosette Maskin, Musician<\/p>\n

\n\tKarin Loevy, Professor, NYU School of Law<\/p>\n

\n\tKate Berlant, Actor<\/p>\n

\n\tKathy Wazana, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tLance Kramer, Producer<\/p>\n

\n\tLarry Charles, Screenwriter\/Director<\/p>\n

\n\tLaura Kraftowitz, Writer<\/p>\n

\n\tLeora Barish, Screenwriter<\/p>\n

\n\tLibby Lenkinski, Producer<\/p>\n

\n\tLinda Holtzman, Rabbi<\/p>\n

\n\tLindsay Beyerstein, Journalist<\/p>\n

\n\tLior Sternfeld, Assoc. Professor, Penn State University<\/p>\n

\n\tLisa Cholodenko, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tLonnie Kleinman, Rabbi<\/p>\n

\n\tLiz Flahive, Screenwriter<\/p>\n

\n\tMara Hoffman, Artist<\/p>\n

\n\tMarc Weiss, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tMarianne Hirsch, Professor, Columbia University<\/p>\n

\n\tMaris Kreizman, Writer<\/p>\n

\n\tMark LeVine, Professor, UC Irvine<\/p>\n

\n\tMati Shemoelof, Author\/Poet<\/p>\n

\n\tMatt Bernstein, Content Creator<\/p>\n

\n\tMax Zev Reynolds, Rabbi<\/p>\n

\n\tMeryl Crean, Rabbi<\/p>\n

\n\tMichael Greif, Director<\/p>\n

\n\tMichael J. Drexler, Assoc. Professor, Bucknell University<\/p>\n

\n\tMichael Skolnik, Organizer<\/p>\n

\n\tMichael Rothberg, Professor, UCLA<\/p>\n

\n\tMiranda July, Filmmaker\/Writer<\/p>\n

\n\tMneesha Gellman, Professor, Emerson College<\/p>\n

\n\tMolly Crabapple, Author\/Artist<\/p>\n

\n\tMordechai Liebling, Rabbi<\/p>\n

\n\tMorgan Bassichis, Writer\/Performer<\/p>\n

\n\tMorgan Spector, Actor<\/p>\n

\n\tNaomi Klein, Author\/Professor<\/p>\n

\n\tNathan Thrall, Author<\/p>\n

\n\tNicole Morse, Educator<\/p>\n

\n\tNina Menkes, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tNoa Avishag Schnall, Journalist<\/p>\n

\n\tOrian Zakai, Assoc. Professor, George Washington University<\/p>\n

\n\tOrli Matlow, Comedian<\/p>\n

\n\tPeter Beinart, Journalist<\/p>\n

\n\tPhyllis Bennis, Writer<\/p>\n

\n\tRachel Leah Jones, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tRaphael Greenberg, Professor (Em.), Tel Aviv University<\/p>\n

\n\tRaz Segal, Assoc. Professor, Stockton University<\/p>\n

\n\tRebecca Vilkomerson, Author\/Analyst<\/p>\n

\n\tRick Pearlstein, Author<\/p>\n

\n\tRinat Abastado, Rabbinic Student<\/p>\n

\n\tRoee Rosen, Artist<\/p>\n

\n\tRomy Soleimani, Make-up Artist<\/p>\n

\n\tRosanna Arquette, Actor\/Director<\/p>\n

\n\tSai Koros, Student Rabbi<\/p>\n

\n\tSandi DuBowski, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tSarah Kunstler, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tSarah Schulman, Writer<\/p>\n

\n\tSarah Sherman, Comedian\/Actor<\/p>\n

\n\tSarah Sophie Flicker, Artist<\/p>\n

\n\tShira Klein, Assoc. Professor, Chapman University<\/p>\n

\n\tSigal Primor, Artist<\/p>\n

\n\tSimone Zimmerman, Podcast Host<\/p>\n

\n\tSpencer Ackerman, Author<\/p>\n

\n\tSteve Quester, Anti-Racism Coach<\/p>\n

\n\tSteven Katz, Screenwriter<\/p>\n

\n\tSusan Margolin, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tSusan S. Lanser, Professor (Em.), Brandeis University<\/p>\n

\n\tTamir Sorek, Professor, Penn State University<\/p>\n

\n\tTavi Gevinson, Actor\/Writer<\/p>\n

\n\tTed Hope, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tTerri Ginsberg, Asst. Teaching Professor, Rutgers University<\/p>\n

\n\tTia Lessen, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tTodd Haynes, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tTony Gerber, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tTony Kushner, Screenwriter\/Playwright<\/p>\n

\n\tUdi Aloni, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tUdi Raz, Writer<\/p>\n

\n\tV (formerly Eve Ensler), Playwright\/Author<\/p>\n

\n\tVanessa Hope, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tVanessa Nunes, Physician<\/p>\n

\n\tWallace Shawn, Actor\/Playwright<\/p>\n

\n\tWendy Ettinger, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tYael Bridge, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tYael Ronen, Director<\/p>\n

\n\tYoni Golijov, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tZach Woods, Filmmaker<\/p>\n

\n\tZachary Foster, Historian<\/p>\n

\n\tZachary Lochman, Professor, NYU<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 170 Jewish figures from the entertainment industry and beyond have signed a letter in support of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1037095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[9],"tags":[171,157841,170857,71090,101873,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-1037094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ilana-glazer","tag-joel-coen","tag-mark-ruffalo","tag-todd-haynes","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117196578125975808","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1037094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1037094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1037094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1037095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1037094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1037094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1037094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}