After Hamas’ brutal attack on innocent Israelis on October 7th, dozens of celebrities signed an open letter in support of the return of the hostages. Many, such as Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Jamie Lee Curtis, Amy Schumer, Debra Messing, Ryan Murphy, Mayim Bialik, and myself, shared words of support on social media.

Actors, directors, producers and writers, united in a call to fight against bigotry, understand that their stardom can garner support in a time of need. Because of my Jewish activism, I personally have been called “too political.”

At the same time, an anti-Jewish (masked as anti-Israel and anti-Zionist) campaign in Hollywood began to take place. We saw this come to fruition less than two weeks after the attack and Israel's campaign against Hamas began, dozens of celebrities signed a letter to have President Joe Biden push for a ceasefire. While their letter did mention the “safe release of hostages,” it was clear that these celebrities were quite uninformed and used their voice in a naive way.

In early September, just days after the bodies of six hostages were found in Gaza, including American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, several Hollywood stars called for a ceasefire. They placed much of the blame on the Israeli victims, saying weapons transfers used to defend Israel against Hamas should be halted immediately. They call for a ceasefire, ignoring that Hamas refuses to negotiate and refuses a ceasefire, all while calling for more slaughter of Jews and destruction of Israel.

They wore pins of blood red hands, dyed their hands red, in solidarity with the Palestine protestors who did not display any pro, but only anti – anti-Israel, anti-Zionist, anti-America, anti-democracy. And, I had to explain the trauma of seeing the bloody hands of Palestinian terrorists waiving out a window in 2000 after they murdered two Jewish IDF soldiers, who accidently drove into Ramallah. This was an obvious terrorist incident, but unfortunately, numerous celebrities wore pins representing the bloody hands of that terrorist incident and the call for bloody action that symbol represents – Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Mark Ruffalo, Susan Sarandon, Rosie O’Donell, Cynthia Nixon and others who wore those pins might not know that.

The bloody hands imagery represents actually having blood on your hands. It requires mind twisting to understand how these celebrity activists ignore the symbolism of their pins and red-stained hands.

The virtue signaling and performative activism by these performers happens all while American Jews are literally terrified, with many communities hiring private security, these celebrities are doing nothing to help Jews feel safe.

While some of these celebrities may have good intentions and want the bloodshed to end – just like I do and many others – their naivete and misinformed virtue signaling have a massive platform. The blood-hand-pin-wearing celebrities do not inspire anyone, other than the terror supporters who saw celebrities justify brutality. The imagery calls for the murder of Jews.

More often than not, these antisemites fail to mention the hostages are Israeli or Jewish. The war is between Israel and Hamas, yet they never even utter the name of the terrorist organization, let alone hold them accountable for starting a war when there was a ceasefire on Oct. 6.

So how did we get here? Must celebrities share their viewpoints on world matters, politics, and world issues with their viewers? When those in entertainment and media use their platforms for activism, they absolutely should be informed about the causes they care about. If all they do is performative activism and share disinformation propaganda from terror-supporting sources, then they not only risk their own credibility, they spread hate.

Many celebrities – no matter what side of the aisle they are on – believe they should share their viewpoints with their fans. When in the public eye with a great following, it seems only natural to inspire the audience. These days, it seems almost expected for celebrities to make public statements about world issues. But when they use their platforms to share ideas and stories they don’t know anything about, it does more harm than good.

People want to be entertained. Entertainers, artists, and creatives have the ability to represent, affect, and change society. That is the power of art and the power of celebrity status.

I absolutely utilize the fanbase I am fortunate to have to express myself, my communities, and the causes important to me. It is important to me to be a voice to the voiceless, those who have opinions but feel they are alone. Now is the time for me to be loud about who I am and my values, and especially the challenges and desires of my people and communities.

There is a campaign to silence Jewish and Israeli activists in the Hollywood, entertainment and art industries.

The public figures who are speaking about other issues are safe in their positions. How can it be that those who support the Jewish people and Israel are threatened and shunned?

Celebrities and influencers who think Jews who believe in Israel’s right to exist and defend itself are being called “wrong” by social media’s useful idiots. Hypocritical double standards are used to justify anti-Jewish and anti-Israel bigotry and racism.

While I advocate for freedom of speech, there also must be consequences for antisemitic behavior. If a celebrity and any public figure says something against any other race or religion, they are immediately subjected to ridicule and criticism. Why is that not the case when it comes to comments and actions against Jews and Israel?

Speaking from the Jewish perspective, we have a responsibility to silence antisemites and call them out. I wish I did not have to fight this fight, because I wish this fight did not exist.

I will not be silent. I will be an upstander and not a bystander.

Will you join me?

Yuval David is an Emmy Award-winning actor, filmmaker and journalist who has won over 100 international film festival awards, and has played roles in shows and productions with ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, Hulu, FX, HBO, Comedy Central, Disney, and Sony. He appears on broadcast news programs in the US, Israel, and internationally as a news commentator and writes articles for international publications.Follow him onInstagram,X,Youtube andFacebook.