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H eadlines
E! Celebs: Who Has
Made Anti-Israel
Statements? N AT I O N AL
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OCTOBER 28, 2021
twitter.com/jewishexponent JEWISH EXPONENT
THE YEAR 2021 has not been
a good one for Israel sentiment
among famous people.

Ever since the latest Israel-
Palestine conflict in May, many
international celebrities have
voiced their support for the
Palestinian people.

The latest conflict started
after Palestinians protested
an expected Supreme Court
of Israel decision that would
evict Palestinian families from
an eastern Jerusalem neigh-
borhood. The neighborhood,
Sheikh Jarrah, is contested.

International law claims it
belongs to the Palestinians.

But Israel has asserted sover-
eignty over the territory since
conquering it during the
arguably defensive Six-Day
War in 1967.

Most pro-Palestine celebri-
ties in 2021 haven’t explained
that history in their comments.

They have just made the
comments. Earlier this month, Irish
writer Sally Rooney became the
latest notable person to jump
on the anti-Israel bandwagon.

In a statement, the best-selling
author announced that she
wouldn’t allow her third novel,
“Beautiful World, Where
are You?”, to be published in
Hebrew. Rooney said her decision
was based on her support for
the boycott, divestment and
sanctions movement.

In her statement, she
described BDS as a movement
“calling for an economic and
cultural boycott of complicit
Israeli companies and insti-
tutions in response to the
apartheid system and other
grave human rights violations.”
“It is modeled on the
economic and cultural boycott
that helped to end apartheid in
South Africa,” Rooney added.

By cutting out the Israeli
market, the author joined a
bandwagon that already
included two American
Jews: Ben Cohen and Jerry
Greenfield, the founders of Ben
& Jerry’s Ice Cream.

Ben and Jerry no longer
own or operate the company,
having sold it to Unilever in
2000. But they are still the
names attached to the brand
and, in July, they supported
its decision to stop selling
ice cream in contested Israeli
territories. “We believe it is inconsis-
tent with our values for Ben
& Jerry’s ice cream to be sold
in the Occupied Palestinian
Territory,” the company said in
a statement.

Despite an intense backlash,
Ben and Jerry doubled down
on Unilever’s decision in a
recent interview with Axios on
HBO. “Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever
are being characterized as
boycotting Israel, which is
not the case at all. It’s not
boycotting Israel in any way,”
Greenfield explained in that
conversation. But most celebrities criti-
cized Israel during the conflict
in the spring.

And it was English
comedian John Oliver, on a
May episode of his HBO show
“Last Week Tonight,” who
arguably led the charge.

Oliver said that, for decades,
the United States’ position has
been that we’re a friend to
Israel. He added that he hoped
a real friend would tell him
when he’s doing something
wrong. And definitely when
he’s “committing a war crime.”
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



H EADLINES
Young people are more in the mode of
worshipping celebrities.”
KEN JACOBSON
Ben & Jerry’s no longer sells ice cream in contested Israeli territories.

Around the same time,
U.S. supermodels Gigi and
Bella Hadid called Israel
“oppressors.” English “Game
of Th rones” star Lena Headey
referred to Israel’s actions as
“ethnic cleansing.” U.S. actor
Mark Ruff alo said “it’s time
for sanctions on Israel to free
Palestinians.” English pop star Dua Lipa,
U.S. pop star Halsey and U.S.

actress Viola Davis also made
similar comments.

Th ese famous people have
no real infl uence over the
Linda Gradstein via JTA.org
Israel-Palestine confl ict and the
global approach to handling it.

But they do have millions of
social media followers, and the
cultural infl uence that comes
with that.

“Young people are more
in the mode of worshipping
celebrities,” said Ken Jacobson,
the deputy national director of
the Anti-Defamation League.

“We see it in our young Jewish
community,” he added. “Polls
show a soft ening of support for
Israel among young Jews.”
Such softening support
could lead to more collegiate
student bodies passing resolu-
tions to support BDS, according
to Jacobson. It also could infl u-
ence the Democratic Party to
drift further in the direction of
extremist representatives, like
Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar, who
support the same movement.

But so far, according to
Jacobson, we aren’t that far
down that road. Most univer-
sities don’t support BDS,
even after their students
pass resolutions. And Omar
remains in the minority of her
party on Israel policy.

“But there are a whole host
of worries that could manifest,”
he said.

If they do, Jacobson added,
they could erode the postwar
U.S. consensus of support
for Israel.

To prevent that from
happening, Jacobson thinks
it’s important for young Jews
to stop listening to celebrities
on this issue.

“BDS is not about making
Israel better,” he said. “It’s
about making Israel disap-
pear.” ●
jsaff ren@jewishexponent.com;
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