The protest against Israel’s occupation of Gaza, voiced by director Jonathan Glazer during his Oscar acceptance speech for Best International Feature Film for The Zone of Interest, has stirred controversy within Hollywood’s Jewish community. A growing number of industry professionals have begun to mobilize public criticism of the filmmaker. More than 450 artists, executives, and industry professionals signed a letter described by Variety, accusing Glazer of distorting history and feeding antisemitism.
Among the signatories are actors such as Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michael Rapaport, Mark Pellegrino, Julianna Margulies, and Debra Messing; directors Eli Roth and Rod Lurie; producers Lawrence Bender, Amy Pascal, and Gary Gilbert; and writers and showrunners Amy Sherman-Palladino, Joel Fields, and Joe Weisberg.
Equally central to the debate is a notion of moral equivalence invoked by some in the letter. In a formal address on the Oscar night, Glazer, whose film critically portrays the life of the family of a commander at a notorious extermination camp, stated that neither his Jewish identity nor the memory of the Holocaust should be captured or controlled by a conflict that has drawn many innocent people into violence. The letter presenting his remarks contends that describing Israel as an occupation distorts history and lends credence to a modern diatribe that fuels antisemitism around the world, including in the United States and in Hollywood.
The document underscores concerns about the language used to defend a Jewish homeland that traces its roots back thousands of years and has been recognized as a state by the United Nations. Critics argue that such wording aims to shield a national project from scrutiny and to frame the discussion in moral terms that may obscure complex realities on the ground.
Glazer’s speech was met with applause in the Dolby Theatre and included visible support from some attendees, such as actor Mark Ruffalo. He has since declined to comment on the reproof letter that followed his remarks. Variety confirmed there are ongoing conversations about accountability, bias, and the responsibilities of artists when engaging with geopolitics on a global stage.