An ad in The New York Times Saturday decrying Hamas' actions featured the signatures of 300 Hollywood celebrities and crew backing the message.
This is the second ad in the past few weeks organized by the Creative Community for Peace, who "represent[s] a cross-section of the creative world--those who create and help create music, films and television programs--and their fans.
"We may not all share the same politics or the same opinion on the best path to peace in the Middle East," the CCFP's mission statement reads. "But we do agree that singling out Israel, the only democracy in the region, as a target of cultural boycotts while ignoring the now-recognized human rights issues of her neighbors will not further peace."
Massive A7 ad from @CCFPeace . Hollywood's rallying behind Israel pic.twitter.com/WhX3Ue69Ix
— Zach Noble (@thezachnoble) September 13, 2014
The ad text is as follows:
We, the undersigned, are saddened by the devastating loss of life endured by Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza. We are pained by the suffering on both sides of the conflict and hope for a solution that brings peace to the region.
While we stand firm in our commitment to peace and justice, we must also stand firm against ideologies of hatred and genocide which are reflected in Hamas’ charter, Article 7 of which reads, "There is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!" The son of a Hamas founder has also commented about the true nature of Hamas.
Hamas cannot be allowed to rain rockets on Israeli cities, nor can it be allowed to hold its own people hostage. Hospitals are for healing, not for hiding weapons. Schools are for learning, not for launching missiles. Children are our hope, not our human shields.
We join together in support of the democratic values we all cherish and in the hope that the healing and transformative power of the arts can be used to build bridges of peace.
The ad's signatories include producers Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, and Lawrence Bender and actors Kelsey Grammer, Seth Rogen, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sarah Silverman, and Sylvester Stallone.
"This is an unprecedented show of support by Hollywood for Israel," CCFP director Lana Melman said. "Not only does the list of signatories to our statement keep growing, their voice is being picked up by national, as well as international, press."