By Lieba Nesis

“There comes a time when silence is betrayal.  In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends,” said Martin Luther King in April 1967.  After 1,300 Israeli civilians were murdered, 3,000 Israelis injured, 260 killed at a peace music festival, 5,000 Hamas fired rockets, 29 Americans dead, 150 civilians held hostage the failure to speak out speaks for itself.  Hedge fund billionaire and Pershing Square CEO Bill Ackman has been relentless in his support requesting a list from Harvard of those placing 100 percent responsibility on Israel to be blacklisted from Wall Street. Ackman further remarked that in terms of proportion the 1,300 Israelis killed and 150 hostages would be the equivalent of 42,600 Americans killed and 5,325 kidnapped being that America has 35.5 times the population-this guy is a math genius.

Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer has similarly quit Harvard Kennedy School’s executive board due to what he and his wife Batía called the “shocking response of the president of the university who did not condemn the letter blaming Israel.” The domino effect on Harvard’s pocketbook will be catastrophic as many billionaire Jews will ultimately follow suit and President Claudine Gay will be swiftly removed.

There are others who have been called into action including luminaries such as Gal Gadot who spearheaded a letter condemning Hamas that was signed by 700 celebrities including, Amy Schumer, Jerry Seinfeld, Michael Douglas, Chris Pine, Andy Garcia, Jamie Lee Curtis, Liev Schreiber and  Debra Messing; all unequivocally stating their disapprobation of Hamas atrocities.  King Charles of the UK was rightfully apoplectic placing a call to Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday October 11th to express his shock at the “barbaric acts” of Hamas and on Thursday afternoon meeting with Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis in Buckingham Palace to express his support of the Jewish community.

Kate Middleton and Prince William similarly relayed a statement saying they were “appalled” and “condemned” the “horrors inflicted by Hamas’s terror attack.”  On Thursday October 12th Harry and Meghan Markle said they “stand against all acts of terrorism” and were “supporting their partners and organizations on the frontlines in Israel.”  Floyd Mayweather continues his unapologetic support of Israel sending a private jet full of supplies to the embattled nation and posting about a Solidarity March for Israel in California on Sunday.  Unfortunately he was criticized by Muslim boxing champion Billy Dib who claimed this was done “in order to remain relevant.”

The rest of Hollywood’s A-listers have been mostly silent or responded anemically.  Not a word from Steven Spielberg, Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Lionel Messi, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Howard Stern, Sarah Jessica Parker, Salma Hayek, Amal Clooney, Gisele Bundchen, Oprah Winfrey, Elon Musk, Timothee Chalamet, and the list goes on.  After posting that she stood with Israel influencer Kylie Jenner deleted the message 45 minutes later and subsequently asked people not to “judge who is or isn’t speaking out.”  Brad Pitt who matched Jennifer Aniston’s $1 million Black Lives Matter donation in 2020 has been completely absent from the Israel situation while Aniston posted some vague aphorism.

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds have donated $1 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross to help Israeli and Gazan children-the first celebrities to publicly provide financial aid.  Remember during the George Floyd protests when Chrissy Teigen gave $200,000, Beyonce $1 million, the NFL $250 million, Natalie Portman $100,000, John Cena $1 million, Angelina Jolie $200,000, Jack Dorsey $3 million, The Weeknd $500,000 and Drake $100,000. In fact despite Drake’s Jewish heritage he has been voiceless on this issue.  I wish some others would be quiet including actor Mark Ruffalo who continues his anti-Semitic rants retweeting his friend Nathan Thrall’s post that places the blame for the attacks on Israel’s “state violence and ethnic subjugation.”  Mark Ruffalo who called Israel genocidal and an apartheid state that deserves to be sanctioned by the US in 2021 has made “calling out Israel due to their asymmetric warfare and apartheid and oppression” his mission as he claimed in a 2020 interview on the Mehdi Hasan Show.  Similarly Keith McNally continues his anti-Semitic tirades as he compared the backlash he received from saying Hamas should be listened to because of their repugnant acts akin to the ways the Jews of Germany were treated in 1938.  And so the true colors of Hollywood continue to be revealed in greater shades than ever as Jews brace for a long war ahead that will be fought on both the battlefields and in the media without the help of a plethora of pivotal voices.