A London-based pro-Israeli legal non-profit organization has sent a letter to Britain’s outposts in Netflix, Disney, BBC, Amazon and other major film and television studios, warned of the film workers of Palestine boycotts, supported by more than 5,000 Hollywood stars.
Britain’s lawyers for Israel says the boycott, whose signers include Ava Duvernay, Adam McKay, Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo, could lead to a chain reaction through financing and insurance of productions as it violates the Equality Act. By approving in 2010, the sweeping anti-discrimination law protects individuals and organizations from unfair treatment on the basis of race, religion, gender, disability and nationality.
The boycott, which was initiated at the end of last month, includes Oscar, Bafta, Emmy and Palme D’Or winners who sign a promise that says they will refuse to work with Israeli institutions and companies “involved in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.”
“We promise not to screen films, pop up or otherwise work with Israeli film institutions – including festivals, cinemas, broadcasters and production companies – involved in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people,” shared the group through through Film workers for Palestine.
The original list contained 1,200 signers and quickly balloned to more than 5,000 including Joaquin Phoenix, Olivia Colman, Peter Sarsgaard, Gael García Bernal, Riz Ahmed, Cynthia Nixon, Tilda Swinton, Andrew Garfield and Javier Bardem.
“If the British television and film industry cooperates with documents that contravene (Equality Act), organizations themselves are probably in violation,” says the letter, according to a Monday Report from Variety. “It also creates a dangerous precedent: one that condone the exclusion of individuals and organizations based solely on their nationality, ethnicity or religion.”
Both American and British companies were among the recipients, including Netflix, Disney, Amazon Studios, Apple, Warner Bros. Discovery, BBC, Film4 and British Film Institute.
With reference to the Gender Equality Act’s protection for institutions, the letter proposes that the boycott could submit studios that owed litigation, invalid insurance and illegal access to funding, as financial groups must be in accordance.
