Angers flare in Hollywood over Zone of Interest director’s ‘anti-Semitic’ speech
More than 1,200 Jewish creatives working in Hollywood have signed a letter denouncing the Oscar acceptance speech of Jonathan Glazer, director of “The Zone of Interest”.
The letter, signed by the likes of Debra Messing, Amy Pascal and Eli Roth among others, reads: “We refute our Jewishness being hijacked for the purpose of drawing a moral equivalence between a Nazi regime that sought to exterminate a race of people and an Israeli nation that seeks to avert its own extermination.”
They were responding to Glazer’s Best International Feature acceptance speech, in which he said: “Our film shows where dehumanisation leads at its worst. Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation, which has led to conflict for so many innocent people – whether the victims of October 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza – all the victims of this dehumanisation. How do we resist?”
The letter condemning Glazer acknowledged the deaths in Gaza, but said: “Israel is not targeting civilians. It is targeting Hamas. The moment Hamas releases the hostages and surrenders is the moment this heartbreaking war ends. This has been true since the Hamas attacks of October 7th.”
Glazer had not responded to the statement as of press time
