The Screenwriters of Guild of Israel has sharply criticized the Writers Guild of America for failing to weigh in on the Oct. 7 attacks by the Hamas terrorist organization in southern Israel, which led to the deaths of around 1,400 people, mostly civilians.
“Your silence is loud and clear and completely contrasted by the loud support demanded from the SGI and their members just a few weeks ago,” the sister guild said in a statement.
The WGA board has faced criticism from within its own U.S. membership for failing to join other guilds, including SAG-AFTRA and the Directors Guild of America, in condemning the Hamas attack. “It is a damn shame that a professional writers’ guild decides to withhold words. To keep utterly silent. To not take a stand. Well, your silence is considered a stand, picking a side. A shame,” the Israeli screenwriters guild stated.
The WGA’s board appears divided on how to respond to the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, which have sparked a war between Israel and Hamas, over fears some activist members would oppose any agreed-upon language and a statement that supported Israel.
On Oct. 15, Hollywood screenwriters, including Eli Roth, Jenji Kohan, Jerry Seinfeld and Amy Sherman-Palladino, in an open letter called out the WGA board for not speaking up to support Israel.
That followed on Oct. 12 when over 700 celebrities, including Gal Gadot, Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Pine, Mayim Bialik, Liev Schreiber, Amy Schumer and Michael Douglas signed an open letter from the nonprofit organization Creative Community for Peace that supported Israel and condemned the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas‘ attack on Israel.
And the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles issued its own condemnation of the WGA’s silence: “… the Writers Guild of America has always led by example. When employers sought to exploit our work, the Guild bravely spoke up. When the BLM movement took flight, the Guild rightfully spoke up. When the #MeToo reckoning came and Hollywood needed to change, again the Guild spoke up. But when terrorists invaded Israel to murder, rape, and kidnap Jews … the Guild stayed silent.’”
The statement from the Screenwriters Guild of Israel follows:
The Screen Writers Guild of Israel is shocked and appalled by the lack of courage from its fellow American guilds to take a clear stand on the events of Oct. 7. Your silence is loud and clear and completely contrasted by the loud support demanded from the SGI and their members just a few weeks ago.
It is a shame that a professional writers’ guild cannot reach a consensus and find the words to condemn an act of terrorism, an unprovoked crime against humanity, against innocent civilians, women, children, the disabled and the elderly.
It is a shame that a professional writers’ guild cannot find in their hearts enough courage to speak out against a terrorist organization that is currently holding 200 hostages, some of them toddlers and babies, snatched from their cribs as their mothers were raped in the same room, in front of their eyes.
It is a damn shame that a professional writers’ guild decides to withhold words. To keep utterly silent. To not take a stand. Well, your silence is considered a stand, picking a side. A shame.
Screenwriters Guild of Israel
