Enough! An Open Letter from Jewish Creatives and Thinkers in Defense of Mark Ruffalo

A group of Jewish artists, writers, creative professionals, faith leaders and thinkers—including Emma Seligman, Gabor Maté, Hannah Einbinder, Ilana Glazer, James Schamus, Larry Charles, Joel Coen, Miranda July, Molly Crabapple, Sarah Sherman, Tavi Gevinson, Todd Haynes, and Tony Kushner—have signed an open letter “in response to the outrageous smear campaign against our respected colleague Mark Ruffalo.”

Ruffalo, a longtime advocate for Palestinian rights who has been vocal in his condemnation of Israel’s conduct in Gaza and the West Bank, was accused by media giant Paramount Skydance of invoking “antisemitic tropes” in his criticism of its $111bn merger with Warner Bros Discovery (WBD).

In a statement shared on his social media channels last month, the actor had highlighted the links between Paramount Skydance, run by CEO David Ellison, and Oracle, the technology company run by Ellison’s father, Larry. Oracle has supplied software to the Israel Defense Forces for decades and Ellison Sr. is the largest donor in history to the nonprofit Friends of the Israel Defense Forces.

As well as condemning the “false and dangerous weaponization of charges of antisemitism against those who are brave enough to point out the obvious,” the open letter goes on to detail the depth of connection between the Ellisons and the Gaza genocide, and highlight a recent Washington Post poll which found that 61% of American Jews now agree that Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza.

Below is the letter, and list of signatories, in its entirety.

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“Enough!”

We are Jewish artists, writers, creative professionals, faith leaders and thinkers who have, in response to the outrageous smear campaign against our respected colleague Mark Ruffalo, a simple message to share with the world: Enough! Enough with the false and dangerous weaponization of charges of antisemitism against those who are brave enough to point out the obvious: that the assault on the Palestinian people and the assault on our liberties at home are deeply interconnected, and there is nothing antisemitic about recognizing that fact.

The proposed merger of Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery is no mere combination of two huge multinational companies. Yes, it will destroy thousands upon thousands of livelihoods. Yes, it will further consolidate the oligarchic control of our media (witness the gutting of CBS News). Yes, it will strangle competition and creativity in film and television production and distribution.

But it will do all this and more as part of a larger project of tech-driven domination, a project Larry Ellison and his partners have never been shy about trumpeting—and one they themselves have explicitly linked to their support for the ongoing depredations being visited on the people of Palestine and their silencing of critics of those horrors. We all saw this after their Trump-brokered takeover of TikTok—a takeover they openly proclaimed was in large part motivated by their desire to boost pro-Israel propaganda. Larry Ellison personally, with his astonishing $350 million in funding and pledges to the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, has been Blair’s major backer as Blair assumes an influential role in the Trump-concocted “Board of Peace” takeover of Gaza, a territory which has become an open-air laboratory for AI-driven killing and control technologies like the ones celebrated by former Oracle CEO (and current Oracle and Paramount board member) Safra Catz.

The AI road to WarnerMount runs through Gaza, and Ellison has often let us know the Orwellian world he has in store for us as he consolidates control over what we watch and how we watch it, knowing that as we watch he and his corrupt cohort will always be watching us: “Citizens will be on their best behavior because we’re constantly recording and reporting.”

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. 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 criminal impunities that have led the US and Israel into unending disaster and, on the other, the oligarchic powerplays of the Musks, Ellisons, Thiels and others who are working to dismantle our democracy?

But the virulence and falseness of the slanders they direct towards their critics is evidence of the increasing weakness of their position, based as it is on innuendos. Today, more and more people of conscience are joining together, to loudly and univocally proclaim: The time is over for spurious charges of antisemitism to be trotted out in the defense of war, oligarchy, and, now, AI domination. That tired playbook has run its course.

We stand proudly with Mark Ruffalo, and with all decent people who are bravely rising and speaking truth to power.

 

Notes:

To see Safra Catz at an Israeli-American Council summit discuss Oracle’s “scary” secret weapons in Gaza: “I don’t want to brag, but…” Oracle executives are crystal clear in their Israel stance: “Supporting Israel is in our DNA — even if it costs us clients. That’s our agenda.” Catz has been very insistent that she will not tolerate employees at the companies she helps run who do not share her views: “For employees, it’s clear: if you’re not for America or Israel, don’t work here.”

For details on Oracle’s partnerships with the Israeli military and police: Oracle. Here’s Ellison on his goal of “constantly recording and reporting.”

On Ellison and Blair’s partnership see Blair and the Billionaire. Watch Blair and Ellison chat about AI global domination: “An amazing opportunity to reimagine the state…” On Blair and his role in Gaza, see Blair Takes on Larger Role.

On TikTok and Israel, see Benjamin Netanyahu proclaiming the takeover as “the most important purchase happening” during the war: “Weapons change over time…”

On the increasingly dangerous weaponization of antisemitism as a tool to destroy free speech and other rights, and how Jews are fighting back against this weaponization, visit the Diaspora Alliance.

For recent polling on American Jews’ increasingly critical views of Israel, see The Washington Post’s “Most Jews say Israel is committing war crimes – and 39 percent say genocide…”

 

Signatories

Aaron Costa Ganis, Actor

Abbi Jacobson, Actor/Comedian

Alan Snitow, Filmmaker

Alex Winter, Actor/Filmmaker

Alison Klayman, Filmmaker

Alison Leiby, Writer/Comedian

Alissa Weiss, Rabbi

Allie Gross, Writer

Amos Goldberg, Holocaust Historian, Hebrew University

Amy Ziering, Filmmaker

Anat Matar, Snr. Lecturer (Ret.), Tel Aviv University

Andrea Weiss, Filmmaker

Andrue Kahn, Rabbi

Anjuli Kronheim Katz, Advocate

Anna Pollack, Director

Anthony Arnove, Writer/Producer

Ariel Friedlander, Artist

Ariel Wengroff, Artist

Atalia Omer, Professor, University of Notre Dame

Avi Shlaim, Professor (Em.), St Antony’s College

Ayelet Waldman, Author

Barry Trachtenberg, Professor, Wake Forest University

Bella Freud, Designer

Ben Korman, Producer

Ben Lorber, Researcher

Ben Moser, Author

Ben Natan, Actor/Producer

Brian A. Kates, Editor

Bruce Cohen, Producer

Camille Lévy Sarfati, Author/Curator

Cat Davis, Rabbi

Chani Nicholas, Astrologer

Charlie Goldensohn, Strategist/Commentator

Charlotte Sheedy, Literary Agent

Collier Meyerson, Writer

Craig Aaron, Journalist

Dana Kornberg, Assoc. Professor, UC Santa Barabra

Daniel Levy, Political Analyst

David Borenstein, Filmmaker

David Mivasair, Rabbi

David Vine, Author

David Wilson, Filmmaker

Deborah Eisenberg, Writer

Deborah Kaufman. Filmmaker

Deborah Shaffer, Filmmaker

Debra Winger, Actor

Deidre Fishel, Filmmaker

Dr. Mark Perlmutter, Physician

Einat Weizman, Filmmaker

Emily Kunstler, Filmmaker

Emma Seligman, Filmmaker

Erin Axelman, Filmmaker

Estee Chandler, Radio Host/Producer

Estelle Tarica, Professor, UC Berkeley

Ethan Sacks, Writer

Frances Fisher, Actor

Gabor Maté, Physician/Author

Gili Getz, Photographer

Gina Gershon, Actor

Ginny Suss, Producer

Hana Morgenstern, Assoc. Professor, Newnham College

Hannah Einbinder, Actor

Henry Bean, Screenwriter

Howard Rodman, Screenwriter

Hunter Abrams, Photographer

Idith Korman, Musician/Composer

Ilana Glazer, Actor/Writer/Director

Ilise Cohen, Scholar

Itamar Ziegler, Composer/Musician

James Renton, Professor, Edge Hill University

James Schamus, Filmmaker

James Wilson, Producer

Jamie Zelermeyer, Producer

Jane Schoenbrun, Filmmaker

Jason Kliot, Filmmaker

Jason Rosenberg, Public Health Advocate

Jeffrey Kusama-Hinte, Producer

Jenna Weiss-Berman, Producer

Jennifer L. Pozner, Author

Jeremiah Zagar, Director

Jeremy Yaches, Producer

Jesse Mechanic, Writer

Jill Goldman, Artist

Jillian Neal, Manager

Jo Firestone, Comedian/Actor

Joel Beinin, Professor (Em.), Stanford University

Joel Coen, Filmmaker

Jon Reiss, Filmmaker

Jonathan Feingold, Professor, Boston University School of Law

Jonathan Lethem, Writer

Josette Maskin, Musician

Karin Loevy, Professor, NYU School of Law

Kate Berlant, Actor

Kathy Wazana, Filmmaker

Lance Kramer, Producer

Larry Charles, Screenwriter/Director

Laura Kraftowitz, Writer

Leora Barish, Screenwriter

Libby Lenkinski, Producer

Linda Holtzman, Rabbi

Lindsay Beyerstein, Journalist

Lior Sternfeld, Assoc. Professor, Penn State University

Lisa Cholodenko, Filmmaker

Lonnie Kleinman, Rabbi

Liz Flahive, Screenwriter

Mara Hoffman, Artist

Marc Weiss, Filmmaker

Marianne Hirsch, Professor, Columbia University

Maris Kreizman, Writer

Mark LeVine, Professor, UC Irvine

Mati Shemoelof, Author/Poet

Matt Bernstein, Content Creator

Max Zev Reynolds, Rabbi

Meryl Crean, Rabbi

Michael Greif, Director

Michael J. Drexler, Assoc. Professor, Bucknell University

Michael Skolnik, Organizer

Michael Rothberg, Professor, UCLA

Miranda July, Filmmaker/Writer

Mneesha Gellman, Professor, Emerson College

Molly Crabapple, Author/Artist

Mordechai Liebling, Rabbi

Morgan Bassichis, Writer/Performer

Morgan Spector, Actor

Naomi Klein, Author/Professor

Nathan Thrall, Author

Nicole Morse, Educator

Nina Menkes, Filmmaker

Noa Avishag Schnall, Journalist

Orian Zakai, Assoc. Professor, George Washington University

Orli Matlow, Comedian

Peter Beinart, Journalist

Phyllis Bennis, Writer

Rachel Leah Jones, Filmmaker

Raphael Greenberg, Professor (Em.), Tel Aviv University

Raz Segal, Assoc. Professor, Stockton University

Rebecca Vilkomerson, Author/Analyst

Rick Pearlstein, Author

Rinat Abastado, Rabbinic Student

Roee Rosen, Artist

Romy Soleimani, Make-up Artist

Rosanna Arquette, Actor/Director

Sai Koros, Student Rabbi

Sandi DuBowski, Filmmaker

Sarah Kunstler, Filmmaker

Sarah Schulman, Writer

Sarah Sherman, Comedian/Actor

Sarah Sophie Flicker, Artist

Shira Klein, Assoc. Professor, Chapman University

Sigal Primor, Artist

Simone Zimmerman, Podcast Host

Spencer Ackerman, Author

Steve Quester, Anti-Racism Coach

Steven Katz, Screenwriter

Susan Margolin, Filmmaker

Susan S. Lanser, Professor (Em.), Brandeis University

Tamir Sorek, Professor, Penn State University

Tavi Gevinson, Actor/Writer

Ted Hope, Filmmaker

Terri Ginsberg, Asst. Teaching Professor, Rutgers University

Tia Lessen, Filmmaker

Todd Haynes, Filmmaker

Tony Gerber, Filmmaker

Tony Kushner, Screenwriter/Playwright

Udi Aloni, Filmmaker

Udi Raz, Writer

V (formerly Eve Ensler), Playwright/Author

Vanessa Hope, Filmmaker

Vanessa Nunes, Physician

Wallace Shawn, Actor/Playwright

Wendy Ettinger, Filmmaker

Yael Bridge, Filmmaker

Yael Ronen, Director

Yoni Golijov, Filmmaker

Zach Woods, Filmmaker

Zachary Foster, Historian

Zachary Lochman, Professor, NYU