Warner Bros. Discovery denounced a pledge signed by more than 4,000 film industry members not to work with Israeli film institutions that are “committed to genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people,” saying such a pledge would likely violate company policies.
In a statement to Variety, a spokesperson said the company is “committed to fostering an inclusive and respectful environment for our employees, collaborators, and other stakeholders.”
It added: “Our policies prohibit discrimination of any kind, including discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, or ancestry. We believe the boycott of Israeli film institutions violates our policies. While we respect the right of individuals and organizations to express their opinions and advocate for their causes, we will continue to align our business practices with our policies and the requirements of the law.”
Industry luminaries including Javier Bardem, Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo signed the pledge, which was organized by the Palestinian Film Workers Organization and issued last month. The pledge commits signatories not to screen films, perform in, or otherwise collaborate with festivals, movie theaters, broadcasters, production companies, or other entities that are considered collusive entities. According to the pledge, complicity includes “covering up or justifying genocide or apartheid, or collaborating with the governments that perpetrate them.”
The FAQ section states that the pledge, inspired by the boycott of cultural institutions that helped end apartheid in South Africa, does not prohibit signatories from working with Israelis, but instead targets state institutions.
The statement announcing the pledge reads: “We call on film professionals to refuse to cooperate with Israeli institutions that are complicit in Israel’s human rights violations against the Palestinian people.” “This refusal is aimed at institutional complicity, not identity. There are also two million Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, and Palestinian civil society has developed context-specific guidelines for that community.”
“We respond to the call of Palestinian filmmakers who have called on the international film industry to reject silence, racism and dehumanization, and to ‘do everything humanly possible’ to end complicity in oppression,” it added.
Days after publication, Paramount became the first studio to boycott the film. Chief communications officer Melissa Zukerman said the company “does not agree with recent efforts to boycott Israeli filmmakers.”
“The global entertainment industry should encourage artists to tell their stories and share their ideas with audiences around the world,” the company, which was recently acquired by billionaire Larry Ellison’s family and private equity firm Redbird Capital Partners, said in a statement. “Silencing individual creative artists because of their nationality does not promote understanding or advance the cause of peace.”
In its own statement, the Palestinian film workers’ organization noted Ellison’s close ties to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said the pledge does not target individuals based on their status, but rather boycotts “complicit Israeli film institutions and companies.”
“We sincerely hope that Paramount did not deliberately misrepresent its pledge in today’s statement in order to silence our colleagues in the film industry,” the group added. “At a time when global outrage has grown exponentially and many are taking meaningful steps toward accountability, such a move only shields a genocidal regime from criticism.”
Warner Bros. Discovery’s refusal to boycott comes after Variety reported that the British Lawyers for Israel sent legal letters to the British offices of Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery and others, warning that such pledges breached the country’s 2010 Equality Act and were “highly likely to pose a litigation risk.”
Separately, 1,200 entertainment figures, including Liev Schreiber, Debra Messing and Mayim Bialik, signed an open letter rejecting the boycott, calling it a “document of misinformation” from artists who were “misleading to amplify anti-Semitic propaganda.”
Last week, Israel and Hamas agreed to the initial stages of a ceasefire, pausing two years of violence in which Israel destroyed more than 90% of homes in the Gaza Strip and killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, killing 1,139 people and taking another 240 hostages in response to the Hamas-led offensive in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. On Monday, Hamas released 20 remaining living hostages in Gaza as part of an exchange deal in which Israel released about 2,000 Palestinian detainees, while world leaders met in hopes of preserving a fragile peace.
