As a queer Jew, son of refugees from Iraq and Tunisia (Berber) who has dedicated my life to fighting antisemitism, I read Hannah Einbinder’s Emmys-night comments with sadness and fear. When the Hacks actor signed a pledge to boycott Israeli film institutions and used her platform to declare “Free Palestine,” she no doubt believed she was doing something bold, even righteous. But what she did wasn’t brave, it was populist. And it was dangerous.
There is nothing risky about parroting the most popular slogan in Hollywood. Wearing a pin or signing an open letter won’t cost you jobs or red-carpet invites — if anything, it buys you applause. But for millions of Jews, it comes with a cost: our safety.
The claim that anti-Israel rhetoric is separate from antisemitism collapses under the weight of reality. Jews are attacked on the streets of New York, stabbed in Europe, shot in synagogues in Pittsburgh and Poway — by people who believe the same conspiracy theories anti-Israel activists spread.
A Jew being punched in Los Angeles doesn’t care that his attacker says it’s “about Israel.” He cares that there is a fist in his face.
Just this past May, a gunman opened fire outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., during a reception hosted by the American Jewish Committee, killing a Jewish woman and her partner. Witnesses say the shooter shouted “Free Palestine.” Hannah Einbinder did not condemn it. Instead she repeated it on stage.
Hannah should know there is no such thing as a “good Jew” who can launder antisemitism. The “good Jews” trope — the ones who sign boycott pledges or reassure progressives that this isn’t about hatred — are always used as cover. They are never enough. And at the end of the day, the people demanding “good Jews” don’t actually believe there is anything good about being Jewish.
That is why Einbinder’s words sting so deeply. She is not just a comedian with a platform — she is a Jewish comedian. When she singles out Israel, the one Jewish state in the world, home to half of global Jewry, she is telling millions of us that the single most unifying part of our identity is illegitimate.
But the truth is that according to a Pew Research survey in 2021 more than 80 percent of American Jews say they are pro-Israel. Add to that the half of the world’s Jews who live in Israel, and it becomes clear: Zionism is not a fringe ideology. It is the consensus of the Jewish people — the belief that we have a right to live freely and safely in our ancestral homeland after centuries of exile and persecution.
To oppose Zionism is not merely to challenge a government policy. It is to challenge Jewish existence as a free people. You can criticize Netanyahu and his government’s actions and policies — I know I have, and still hold this truth.
Words have consequences. When celebrities make it trendy to vilify Israel, it fuels the climate that leads to Jewish schools under police guard, synagogues set on fire and children beaten on their way to class.
True bravery would have been using that Emmy stage to call for the release of the 48 hostages still held in Gaza and end of the war. True courage would have meant calling for peace, for coexistence, for the humanity of both Israelis and Palestinians, even if it risked boos instead of applause.
Hannah Einbinder had a rare moment when the world was listening. She could have built a bridge. Instead, she burned one.
Hen Mazzig is an Israeli-born writer, speaker, and digital influencer who advocates for Jewish identity and against antisemitism. He is the co-founder of the Tel Aviv Institute, the author of The Wrong Kind of Jew and creator of the series And They’re Jewish, which celebrates Jewish diversity and seeks to build bridges rooted in tolerance and peace.
