The Screen Writers Guild of Israel joined Jewish television and film writers in calling out Writers Guild of America (WGA).
Deadline reported on Saturday evening that the WGA didn’t release a statement because they couldn’t find consensus. I’m sorry but how does guild leadership not find consensus in condemning a barbaric act of terror by Hamas. Is this really how they feel about Jewish lives at a time when antisemitism is skyrocketing across the globe?!? Do Jewish lives not matter?!?
The 600-member guild–chaired by Nadav Ben Simon–released a statement over the weekend on Twitter:
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 October 7.
Your silence is loud and clear and is 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.
I marched in solidarity with the WGA this past summer. I joined fellow writers in speaking out against the AMPTP. The WGA’s response is a damn shame indeed.
EDIT: Since publishing, the WGA East has joined the WGA West counterparts in not releasing a public statement. The news comes by way of Deadline. While acknowledging that their own response will be seen as “inadequate” by WGA members, they finished their letter with: “Representing a diversity of workers means our union is strong enough to hold many different views. However, we want to be clear: there is no place in this Guild — none at all — for antisemitism or Islamophobia.” How they could not publicly condemn a terrorist attack is beyond me. It’s the cowardly way out.
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