Yesterday reports that three of the world’s most well known talents to come out of Spain, mainly three Academy Award winners Penelope Cruz (Vicky, Cristina Barcelona), Javier Bardem (No Country For All Men), and two time Academy Award winning director Pedro Almodovar (All About My Mother, Women on the Verge) had signed a letter denouncing the “Genocide” taking place in Gaza and called for an end to the violence had social media a buzz.
The open letter sent to the European Union and signed by a long list of the Spanish film industry including writers, actors, directors, musicians and entertainment professionals asked that the EU to “condemn the bombing by land, sea, and air against the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip.”
The letter demanded a “lift the blockade, which the Gaza Strip has suffered for more than a decade.” The signers put the blame on Israel for the Palestinian death toll of over 1,200 (53 Israelis deaths) due to the assertion that Israel “continues to advance into and invade the Palestinian territories instead of returning to the 1967 borders.”
“Palestinians’ homes are being destroyed, they are being denied water, electricity, free movement to their hospitals, schools and fields while the international community does nothing,” the letter goes on to say.
On a personal level, Bardem who often speaks out on social issues, said in a article for Spanish newspaper El Diario on Saturday, “…being Jewish does not automatically mean you support this massacre, just like being Hebrew does not mean you are a Zionist, just like being Palestinian does not automatically make you a Hamas terrorist. That’s just as absurd as saying that being German makes you Nazi.” He added he did not want tax dollars he pays in Spain to be used to support Israeli ‘barbarism’.
In a town where celebrities may speak out about animal rights, HIV, Cancer and child hunger among other causes, when it comes to voicing their opinions about the Israeli/Hamas conflict on the Gaza strip, these voices are but a whisper. So far no other high profile celebrities have spoken out as loud and clear as Cruz, Bardem and Almodovar.
Comments