Israel war: Tilda Swinton among 2000 artists calling for Gaza ceasefire
Renowned actors – including GoT star Charles Dance, Tilda Swinton and Miriam Margolyes – are among 2000 artists to sign a letter calling for a ceasefire.
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A letter has been signed by more than 2000 actors, artists and musicians including Tilda Swinton, Steve Coogan and Outlander star Sam Heughan.
The open letter from Artists for Palestine UK claimed Israeli air strikes and the government’s decision to cut off food, water and fuel to the region amounted to “war crimes.”
“Our governments are not only tolerating war crimes but aiding and abetting them,” said the letter, also signed by Game of Thrones star Charles Dance and actress Miriam Margolyes, who was Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter franchise.
“There will come a time when they are held to account for their complicity,” the letter continued.
“But for now, while condemning every act of violence against civilians and every infringement of international law whoever perpetrates them, our obligation is to do all we can to bring an end to the unprecedented cruelty being inflicted on Gaza.
“We support the global movement against the destruction of Gaza and the mass displacement of the Palestinian people,” it continues.
“We demand that our governments end their military and political support for Israel’s actions.
“We call for an immediate ceasefire and the opening of Gaza’s crossings to allow humanitarian aid to enter unhindered.”
According to a report in the New York Post, the letter makes no mention of how Hamas militants killed at least 1400 people and took some 200 others hostage .
Several UK officials have condemned the letter — with David Mencer, the former director of Labour Friends of Israel, calling it “drivel”.
“I invite this group of misfits and weirdos to rescue their ailing careers and try their chances as artists in Gaza under the Hamas regime,” he told the Telegraph.
“I promise to sign a letter when they are locked up and beg for their release.”
Minister Giles Watling, who sits on the culture, media and sport committee, acknowledged that it is “a very complicated situation politically and historically.”
But “in this case, it is very important to present both sides of the issue,” he told the UK paper.
“We must absolutely condemn the attacks of Hamas on Israel, yes, but of course, I have great sympathy for the Palestinian people and the suffering they have endured,” he noted.
“But you can’t just present one side and not the other.”
PROTESTERS MOB US CAPITOL
Global protests after the devastating Gaza hospital blast continue to erupt with anti-Israel demonstrators mobbing the Capitol building in Washington DC.
Protesters from If Not Now When and Jewish Voices for Peace were arrested after staging an anti-Israel demonstration at the US Capitol.
“Demonstrations are not allowed inside Congressional Buildings,” the US Capitol Police tweeted on social media platform X.
“We warned the protesters to stop demonstrating and when they did not comply we began arresting them.”
The protest began on the National Mall and eventually made its way to the Capitol building where people moved inside the Cannon Rotunda.
The group claimed on social media that at least 10,000 people were outside the Capitol while 500 made their way inside the rotunda, calling for a ceasefire.
“The root of violence is oppression, and we’re here to say no in our names,” Jewish Voice for Peace posted on X.
“We have the power to stop the ongoing atrocities against Palestinians. We refuse to stand by as the Israeli government commits genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.”
In New York City, the NYPD issued a statement about the “heightened threat environment”.
“We are currently in a heightened threat environment and tensions have been rising since the assault against Israel on October 7,” the statement said.
“The NYPD is doing everything we can do to forestall future violence in our city. However, we know the ongoing events overseas may resonate with individuals domestically and that is hard to anticipate.
“The NYPD asks all New Yorkers to remain vigilant and reminds everyone if they see something to say something.”
Angry protests erupted across the Middle East on Wednesday as thousands of people in different countries demonstrated.
The US consulate in Lebanon was targeted with fire attack as angry demonstrations spread to Iran, Egypt, Turkey, the West Bank and Tunisia.
In Europe, thousands demonstrated in Greece, including the country’s first pro-Israel public gathering since the start of the conflict.
In Berlin, attackers hurled two molotov cocktails at a Jewish synagogue in the city’s Mitte district. There were no reports of injuries or damage.
It came after Hamas claimed that an Israeli air strike killed more than 500 people, including civilians seeking treatment, at the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital.
But Israeli officials refuted the claim and demonstrated that the blast at the hospital was caused by a misfired rocket launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
ALICIA KEYS SLAMMED FOR ‘ODE TO HAMAS’ MASSACRE
Alicia Keys denied being a supporter of Hamas after deleting an Instagram post that appeared to celebrate the terrorist massacre of an Israeli music festival.
Just days after Hamas descended on paragliders into the Supernova music festival, slaughtering 260 Israelis, The Girl on Fire singer posted the unprompted selfie in Palestinian colours to reveal “her truth”.
“What would you do if u weren’t afraid of anything???” she asked in the caption.
“Tell me your truth … I’ve had my eyes on paragliding …,” she added with two pairs of “side-eye” emojis. Hashtag “mondayenergy”.
The post comes after Palestine supporters began wearing images of paragliders as a symbol of support for the attack, with London police opening an investigation into the glorification of terrorism at rallies over the weekend.
Her green, black, white and red jacket, the colours of the Palestinian flag, along with the fact her husband Kasseem Dean is Muslim, left observers convinced it was a coded dog whistle to her 27.1 million followers.
“Is this some sick ode to the Hamas terrorists that infiltrated Israel, killed over 1300 people, beheaded babies, raped women, and kidnapped Holocaust survivors?” said advocacy group StopAntisemitism.
Author Rabbi Shmuley Boteach slammed Keys for using what has become a rallying cry for the supporters of Hamas and the terrorist group’s surprise attack on Israel.
“You’re thinking of paragliding into what? Into Israel and shooting and killing people?” he told Sky News. “I’m struggling to find the words because we are all in a state of shock that the world has no morality.”
After being called out on her use of the iconography, Keys deleted the post and said it was “COMPLETELY unrelated in any way to the recent devastating loss of innocent lives.
“My heart has been breaking … I pray for and stand for peace,” Keys said in an Instagram Stories, with former manager, Israeli-American Guy Oseary, coming to her defence that she is not antisemitic.
The cryptic post follows a string of support for Hamas terrorists after they shocked the world by bypassing Israeli defences with the novel use of paragliders.
Dr Abeer N. AbouYabis, physician at Emory Winship Cancer Institute, in the US state of Georgia, said the outpouring of support for Palestine helped her keep her faith, adding in a statement: “They got walls we got gliders glory to all resistance fighters.”
Dr. Abeer N. AbouYabis is an physician at Emory Winship Cancer Institute.
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) October 17, 2023
A sampling of her atrocious endorsement of the Hamas terrorists that murdered 1300 Israelis: "They got walls we got gliders glory to all resistance fighters"
Would you want YOUR Jewish family member to… pic.twitter.com/eu6ixuWcAV
A history professor at Cornell University, Russell Rickford, called the Hamas terror attacks “exhilarating” and “energising”.
Speaking at a rally to support Hamas, the associate professor of history who describes himself as a “historian of the Black radical tradition” said he was exhilarated by the “shifting of balance of power”.
“Hamas has punctured the illusion of invincibility,” he said. “That’s what they’ve done. You don’t have to be a Hamas supporter to recognise that.
For full context, here is the entire video of Cornell University Professor Russell Rickford speaking about Hamas terrorist attacks. Thanks to @nnn_Netanel_nnn for sharing. pic.twitter.com/6ApgIq38BR
— Sam Aberman (@samaberman) October 17, 2023
“Nothing will be the same again,” he continued, saying he doesn’t support violence against civilians. “They were able to breathe for the first time in years. It was exhilarating. It was energising.”
The rallying cry led to chants of “from the river to the sea … Palestine will be free”, a slogan that calls for the eradication of the Jewish state from the Middle East.
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