“Fauda” co-creator Avi Issacharoff sharply criticized Mark Ruffalo’s interpretation of the Israel-Hamas war, including the Hollywood actor’s repeated claims that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza.
According to Variety, Issacharoff made the remarks during a panel in London. “Mark Ruffalo saying ‘Genocide, genocide.’ Then you know that there’s a kind of people that are ignorant, there are some people that are stupid. He’s a rare combination of those two,” Issacharoff said.
“I’m sorry to say that,” the Middle East analyst and producer continued. “Do you understand what it means ‘genocide’? Do you, as a lead actor in Hollywood, understand that when Israel allows every day 600 trucks of food and supply to go into Gaza, they are not intending or planning to kill the people of Palestine?”
He continued: “Do you understand if more people were born during the war in Gaza than died, so no one was trying to eliminate those people and the only ones that were trying to commit genocide were Hamas people? And that guy and many other people don’t get it.”
Issacharoff, a journalist and security affairs commentator for ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth, co-created the hit Israeli series “Fauda” with actor Lior Raz. The show’s fourth season is set to return to Netflix next week.
In recent weeks, Ruffalo has emerged as one of the most prominent opponents of the roughly $111 billion deal under which David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance is set to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery.
The controversy intensified after Ruffalo moved beyond criticism of potential layoffs and media consolidation and directly connected the proposed acquisition to his views on Israel and the war in Gaza. In a social media post, Ruffalo accused a Jewish member of Paramount’s board of “reveling” in “genocide.”
Mark Ruffalo
(Photo: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
Paramount responded forcefully, accusing Ruffalo of invoking antisemitic imagery in the context of a corporate dispute and saying that using terms such as “genocide” and “apartheid” in connection with the business deal crossed a line.
Ruffalo responded that the accusation was “appalling and fundamentally dishonest.” “Criticism of the actions of Israel’s Prime Minister, a military tech contract or the executives supplying it is not the same as criticism of Jewish people,” he said.
Earlier this week, more than 170 Jewish figures from the entertainment industry signed a letter supporting Ruffalo and denouncing what they described as a smear campaign against him.
The letter followed a post Ruffalo shared with his 20.5 million Instagram followers featuring a video of Safra Catz, the Holon-born former Oracle CEO who now serves as the company’s executive vice chair and sits on Paramount’s board.
Ruffalo claimed that the company operates an “apartheid system of oppression” and is involved in “genocide.” He also described Larry Ellison, whose wealth is financing his son’s acquisition, as a “classic oligarch.”