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British actors union slammed for anti-Israel statement on Gaza war

UK entertainment union Equity accuses Israel of genocide, apartheid, and occupation, while many members denounced the statements calling them ‘antisemitic dog-whistles.’

By Shiryn Ghermezian, The Algemeiner’

Members of the entertainment industry have accused the British union for performing artists called Equity of releasing a biased and “offensive” statement that included “antisemitic dog-whistles” while condemning Israel’s military campaign against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.

In a statement published on Nov. 15, the union, which represents 47,000 performers and creative workers in the United Kingdom, accused Israel of “bombing, occupation, and apartheid,” and demanded the British government “stand up against genocide.” The union additionally called for an “immediate” ceasefire in Gaza and for the return of the roughly 240 hostages kidnapped by Hamas terrorists during the terror group’s onslaught across southern Israel on Oct. 7.

The union said artists are “frightened of censorship for expressing opinions on the conflict which are rooted in peace, justice, and dignity.” The statement added: “The actions of the Israeli state or Hamas cannot be used to stoke fires of hate, silence peaceful dissent, or divide communities anywhere in our country.”

More than a dozen people in the UK entertainment industry, including current and former members of Equity, told Variety that they are disappointed in the union’s comments. One Israeli member of Equity, who preferred to stay anonymous, told the magazine that the union’s “clear, one-sided statement and total dismissal of ‘my side’s’ pain and rights” has made them fear for their well-being. “I wouldn’t be surprised if people took liberty to act on [their] prejudices, thinking they have the organization’s blessing to discriminate,” the union member added.

There has been a global spike in antisemitism since Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre, including in Europe, where several countries have experienced a record number of antisemitic incidents.

“This body [Equity] who purports to passionately espouse tenets of inclusivity and diversity, claiming to heal the world through artistic endeavor, made the very conscious decision to include unequivocal antisemitic dog-whistles in their statement,” said Leo Pearlman, co-founder of transatlantic production company Fulwell 73.

A Jewish actor who left Equity years ago told Variety that the union has become “utterly redundant and useless and something to battle against as a Jewish actor.” She added that Equity “has this huge responsibility and power and it’s so misused and so upsetting as a minority within this industry.” Another former Equity member who is related to Holocaust survivors said: “I personally found [the statement] offensive because words like ‘genocide’ are so misappropriated. It’s really triggering.”

“Maybe they should try and live up to their name and do their job before straying into areas [in which] they’re even less qualified to cause damage,” said another unnamed former Equity member who is also a Hollywood actor.

The declaration was Equity’s second statement about the Israel-Hamas war. In the union’s first, published on Oct. 17, it also accused Israel of apartheid, as well as an “occupation [that] deprives Palestinians of their human rights, driving continued violence” and the “collective punishment of the Palestinian people for the crimes of Hamas.”

“We condemn those politicians in the UK who seek to characterize Palestinian solidarity as extremist, and recognize that there can be no apologist for antisemitism or Islamophobia,” the union added.

Jewish actress Maureen Lipman said that she left Equity years ago “because of their slanted bias during the [former UK Labour Party leader Jeremy] Corbyn era on the BDS [anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement] and on their obsessive focus on the Middle East to the exclusion of every other conflict in the world.” She said regarding the union’s latest statement about the Israel-Hamas war: “An actors union with no empathy. The irony.”

In both statements, Equity argued it needed to comment on the Israel-Hamas war, saying that since 1930, it has “undertaken international solidarity work to advance the cause of the trade union movement, and in the interests of artists facing oppression.”

“Our longstanding involvement in the Middle East dates back almost 40 years, and the events of this month have demanded that we engage in as practical a way as possible to the threats faced by artists and working people in Israel and Palestine,” the union said.

In 2021, the union supported a rally where a number of attendees held antisemitic signs, including one that showed a picture of Jesus carrying a cross and the text: “Do not let them do the same thing today again.”