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Julianna Margulies and Debra Messing among more than 450 Jewish actors who condemned Jonathan Glazer's Oscar speech

The director of "The Zone of Interest," winner of the award for Best International Film, said he "refute[s] [his] Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people."

A la izquierda: el director de 'La zona de interés', Jonathan Glazer; a la derecha:

(Cordon Press)

Published by
Rosana Rábago Sainz

Actresses Julianna Margulies and Debra Messing are among the more than 450 Jewish individuals who recently condemned the Oscar acceptance speech from director Jonathan Glazer.

They did so in an open letter, obtained exclusively by Variety, in which they branded the filmmaker "anti-Jewish." He received the Best International Film award for his feature film "The Zone of Interest":

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. Every civilian death in Gaza is tragic. 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.

Jonathan Glazer compared the Holocaust to the defense of Israel

The letter goes on to make direct reference to one of the parts of Glazer's speech, the same one in which the filmmaker compared the Holocaust with what is happening right now in Gaza. They claim that this is illegitimate because the war that Hamas started against Israel on Oct. 7 cannot be described as an "occupation":

The use of words like "occupation" to describe an indigenous Jewish people defending a homeland that dates back thousands of years, and has been recognized as a state by the United Nations, distorts history. It gives credence to the modern blood libel that fuels a growing anti-Jewish hatred around the world, in the United States, and in Hollywood. The current climate of growing antisemitism only underscores the need for the Jewish State of Israel, a place which will always take us in, as no state did during the Holocaust depicted in Mr. Glazer’s film.

In Glazer's speech during the ceremony, he assured that he "refute[s] [his] Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people."

All our choices were made to reflect and confront us in the present, not to say look what they did then, but rather look what we do now. Our film shows where dehumanization leads at its worst. It’s shaped all of our past and present. 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 — whether the victims of October the 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all the victims of this dehumanization, how do we resist?

'The Zone of Interest' executive producer critical of Glazer

The more than 450 Jewish people were not the only ones to criticize Glazer's anti-Jewish statements at the Oscars. Also speaking out against the speech was one of the executive producers of "The Zone of Interest," Danny Cohen.

He asserted on the "Unholy" podcast that he "fundamentally disagree[s] with Jonathan" and that both the war and the continuation of the war is solely the fault of Hamas, "a genocidal terrorist organization which continues to hold and abuse hostages."

I just fundamentally disagree with Jonathan. It’s really important to recognize it’s upset a lot of people and a lot of people feel upset and angry about it. And I understand that anger frankly. The war and the continuation of the war is the responsibility of Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization which continues to hold and abuse the hostages, which doesn’t use its tunnels to protect the innocent civilians of Gaza but uses it to hide themselves and allow Palestinians to die. I think the war is tragic and awful and the loss of civilian life is awful, but I blame Hamas for that.
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