A coalition 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 long-standing advocate for Palestinian rights who has spoken out against Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank, was accused by the media conglomerate Paramount Skydance of employing “antisemitic tropes” in his critique of its $111 billion merger with Warner Bros Discovery (WBD).
In a statement posted to his social media accounts last month, the actor drew attention to the ties between Paramount Skydance, led 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 Friends of the Israel Defense Forces.
Beyond denouncing the “false and dangerous weaponization of charges of antisemitism against those who are brave enough to point out the obvious,” the open letter lays out the depth of connections between the Ellisons and the Gaza crisis, and cites a Washington Post poll showing that 61% of American Jews now believe Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza.
Below is the letter, and the list of signatories, in full.
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“Enough!”
We are a cohort of Jewish artists, writers, creative professionals, faith leaders and thinkers who, in response to the outrageous smear campaign targeting our esteemed colleague Mark Ruffalo, offer a straightforward message to the world: Enough. Enough of weaponizing charges of antisemitism against those who simply point out the obvious: that the oppression of the Palestinian people and the erosion of our civil liberties at home are deeply connected, and acknowledging that link is not antisemitic.
The planned merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery is not merely a corporate merger of two vast multinational entities. It will, indeed, jeopardize thousands of livelihoods. It will further concentrate media power in the hands of a few, as evidenced by the hollowing out of CBS News. It will also restrain competition and dampen creativity across film and television production and distribution.
Yet it will accomplish all this as part of a broader project of technology-driven dominance, a project that Larry Ellison and his associates have openly celebrated—and one they have explicitly tied to their support for the ongoing harms suffered by the people of Palestine and the suppression of critics of those harms. We witnessed this after their Trump-facilitated takeover of TikTok—a move they claimed was largely aimed at boosting pro-Israel propaganda. Larry Ellison personally, with his remarkable $350 million in funding and pledges to the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, has been Blair’s principal backer as Blair takes on a significant role in the Trump-coordinated “Board of Peace” takeover of Gaza, a region that has become an open-air testing ground for AI-powered killing and control technologies praised by Safra Catz, the former Oracle CEO (and current Oracle and Paramount board member).
The path of AI influence toward WarnerMount runs through Gaza, and Ellison has frequently signaled the Orwellian future he envisions as he expands his grip over what we watch and how we watch it, with the understanding that as we observe, he and his compromised circle will be watching us in return: “Citizens will be on their best behavior because we’re constantly recording and reporting.”
Pointing out the essential links between what happens in Gaza and what unfolds in Hollywood is not antisemitic. For us, it is the core obligation of Jewish ethics. A recent Washington Post poll shows 61% of American Jews believe Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza, and four in ten even classify these crimes as genocide. Do those attacking Mark Ruffalo as an antisemite truly believe that all these American Jews are anti-Semites as well? Or that we don’t recognize the connection between, on one side, the impunity that has driven the US and Israel into perpetual crisis, and on the other, the oligarchic maneuvers of Musk, Ellison, Thiel and others who are eroding our democracy?
But the ferocity and falsity of the smears directed at Ruffalo’s critics reveal the growing fragility of their position, grounded in insinuations. Today, more people of conscience are uniting to declare, loudly and unequivocally: it is past time to deploy baseless antisemitism charges as a shield for war, oligarchy, and now AI domination. That tired playbook has run its course.
We stand in solidarity with Mark Ruffalo, and with all decent individuals who are stepping forward to challenge power and speak truth to authority.
Notes:
To see Safra Catz at an Israeli-American Council summit discussing Oracle’s “scary” secret weapons in Gaza: “I don’t want to brag, but…” Oracle executives are unmistakably clear about their stance on Israel: “Supporting Israel is in our DNA — even if it costs us clients. That’s our agenda.” Catz has been firm about not tolerating employees at the firms she helps guide who do not share her views: “For employees, it’s simple: 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 aim of “constantly recording and reporting.”
On Ellison and Blair’s collaboration, see Blair and the Billionaire. Watch Blair and Ellison discuss AI global domination: “An amazing opportunity to reimagine the state…” On Blair’s role in Gaza, see Blair Takes on Larger Role.
On TikTok and Israel, see Benjamin Netanyahu declaring 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 erode free speech and other rights, and how Jews are resisting this weaponization, visit the Diaspora Alliance.
For recent polling on American Jews’ growing skepticism toward 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
