Just as Mark Ruffalo is being attacked by the big guns of Hollywood, more than 170 Jewish figures from the entertainment industry have now signed a letter in support of him, calling the antisemitic accusation against him as nothing more than a smear campaign.

The letter, which was signed by film players including Joaquin Phoenix, Jonathan Glazer, Joel Coen, Todd Haynes, Ilana Glazer, Hannah Einbinder, James Schamus, Emma Seligman, Tony Kushner, Jane Schoenbrun and Wallace Shawn, argued against what it says are “false and dangerous weaponisation of charges of antisemitism.”

“Pointing 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,” the letter expressed.

Stressing that the proposed merger of Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery will destroy thousands upon thousands of livelihoods, further consolidate the oligarchic control of our media (witness the gutting of CBS News) and strangle competition and creativity in film and television production and distribution, the letter added, “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’t see the connection between, on the one hand, the cr...