Chelsea Handler and Connie Britton among celebrities urging Biden and Harris to bring hostages home to Israel
By Elizabeth Wagmeister, CNN
(CNN) — More than 50 celebrities have issued an open letter to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, urging the administration to do everything in its power to bring Israeli hostages home.
Comedian Chelsea Handler, actress Connie Britton and Bravo’s Andy Cohen are among those who have signed the letter, which asks Biden and Harris to “protect and support” Israel amid the ongoing war between the country and Hamas.
“We are artists who want sustainable peace in the Middle East and recognize that the first essential step towards that peace is Hamas returning the 101 remaining hostages,” the letter, reported first by CNN, states.
It comes weeks after six Israeli hostages, including Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, were killed by Hamas. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the hostages’ bodies were found in a Hamas-run tunnel under the city of Rafah, and that they were “brutally” murdered “a short while” before troops were able to reach them.
The remaining hostages have been held for nearly a year, since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
Among the other signatories are actors Mayim Bialik, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rebecca Gayheart and Patricia Heaton; reality TV personalities Jill Zarin, Margaret Joseph and “The Bachelor” alum Colton Underwood; and social media influencers such as Ariel Martin, better known as Baby Ariel on TikTok, where she has over 36 million followers, and dancer Montana Tucker, who has nearly 10 million followers on TikTok.
The letter, which is signed by both Jewish and non-Jewish performers and artists, was organized by four Jewish advocacy groups: StopAntisemitism, End Jew Hatred, 2024 New Voices and StandWithUs.
“We are approaching one year since 251 hostages were brutally stolen from their lives and 1200 were murdered. It is so important to keep the spotlight on this,” 2024 New Voices founder Samantha Ettus told CNN. “Our celebrities have come together to draw attention to the 101 hostages remaining in Gaza, including five Americans. After the brutal execution of six hostages, the urgency of getting the world to talk about this is now. We need to put as much pressure as possible on Hamas to return the hostages.”
Earlier this month, US officials told CNN that doubts have been raised within the White House about whether the Israel-Hamas war can come to an end before Biden leaves office.
According to a Human Rights Watch report released this summer, Hamas-led armed groups committed “numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity” that were “directed against a civilian population” in which “killing civilians and taking hostages were central aims of the planned attack, not an afterthought, a plan gone awry, or isolated acts.”
The US response to the Israel-Hamas war has divided some in the entertainment industry.
Two weeks ago, a group of Hollywood stars, including Ariana Grande, Ben Affleck, Mahershala Ali, Cate Blanchett, Drake, Dua Lipa, Jennifer Lopez, Richard Gere and Mark Ruffalo, signed their names on a new Artists4Ceasefire letter, which called on the US to halt arms sales to Israel.
“Beyond our pain and mourning for all of the people there and their loved ones around the world we are motivated by an unbending will to stand for our common humanity,” the Artists4Ceasefire letter states. “We stand for freedom, justice, dignity and peace for all people – and a deep desire to stop more bloodshed.”
The full 2024 New Voices letter can be found here.
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