More than US 1,200 entertainment industry leaders signed an open letter  on Thursday supporting Israel and chastising fellow entertainers for their call two weeks ago to boycott the Israeli film industry which, they claimed, was “implicated in genocide and apartheid” in Gaza.

The initial boycott letter published on September 8 had some 1,800 signatories, which grew to a total of more than 4,000. It named specific Israeli cultural institutions, including major Israeli film festivals such as the Jerusalem Film Festival, Haifa International Film Festival, Docaviv and Cinema South.

The institutions to be boycotted would include any involved in “whitewashing or justifying genocide and apartheid,” or that partnered with the Israeli government. The letter, organized by the group Film Workers for Palestine, said it was inspired by filmmakers who had refused to screen their work in apartheid South Africa.

Several days later, Paramount condemned the pledge, making it the first major studio to respond to the boycott letter.

Now, more than two weeks later, nonprofit entertainment industry organization Creative Community For Peace (CCFP) in partnership with grassroots organization the Brigade, a Hollywood network of Jewish advocacy, published a letter rejecting the boycott.

The signatories included Liev Schreiber, Mayim Bialik, Gene Simmons, Debra Messing, Sharon Osbourne, Greg Berlanti, Jerry O’Connell, Howie Mandel, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Lisa Edelstein, Erin Foster, Anthony Edwards, Rebecca De Mornay, Sherry Lansing and Haim Saban.

“When artists boycott fellow artists based solely on........

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