Thousands Sign Open Pledge to Boycott Israeli Film Institutions

More than 4,000 film industry professionals have signed an open pledge this week vowing not to work with Israeli film institutions they say are complicit in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people. The initiative, published Monday by the collective Film Workers for Palestine, initially drew roughly 1,200 to 1,300 signatories and expanded over several days to include a broad roster of actors and filmmakers from around the world, organizers said.

The pledge commits signees not to screen films at, appear at, or otherwise collaborate with Israeli festivals, cinemas, broadcasters and production companies that the signatories consider complicit through whitewashing, justifying or partnering with state policies they call genocidal or apartheid. The statement includes the line, "In this urgent moment of crisis, where many of our governments are enabling the carnage in Gaza, we must do everything we can to address complicity in that unrelenting horror," language reproduced by the group in its public materials. Film Workers for Palestine also cites a 2024 International Court of Justice finding that there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza and that Israel's occupation...