Superman star David Corenswet removed from pledge to boycott Israeli film bodies ‘complicit in genocide'

Arab and Hollywood celebrities from Bassem Youssef to Javier Bardem have co-signed the Film Workers for Palestine initiative

David Corenswet has a cameo in upcoming film Supergirl. AFP

More than 5,000 actors, directors and producers have joined the pledge not to work with Israeli film institutions they say are “complicit in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people” since it launched in September.

Signatories have expanded from the original 1,200 signatories when it was first announced. Superman star David Corenswet’s name was added on Monday by Film Workers for Palestine before the advocacy group removed it on Tuesday.

The National has contacted Corenswet and the group for comment. An unconfirmed statement from the group released by the Instagram account Celebrities4Palestine said it had fallen victim to a “troll [who] went to great lengths to pretend to be David Corenswet in correspondence”.

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The American actor, 32, who will also appear in 2026's Supergirl, is a rising star in Hollywood. Many interpreted the recent Superman film, which grossed more than $600 million at the global box office, to be critical of Israel.

Other confirmed signatories include Academy Award winners Olivia Colman, Mark Ruffalo and Javier Bardem, as well as actors Josh O’Connor, Ayo Edebiri, Riz Ahmed and Tilda Swinton. Acclaimed directors Ava DuVernay, Yorgos Lanthimos, Adam McKay and Joshua Oppenheimer are also among those supporting the pledge, published by advocacy group.

Arab film and television figures including actors Bassem Youssef, Dhafer L'Abidine, Dina Shihabi and Khalid Abdalla as well as directors Farah Nabulsi, Annemarie Jacir and Hany Abu-Assad have also added their names to the list.

“In this urgent moment of crisis, where many of our governments are enabling the carnage in Gaza, we must do everything we can to address complicity in that unrelenting horror,” the group said in a joint statement.

Call from Palestinian filmmakers

The signatories say they are responding to appeals from Palestinian filmmakers urging the global industry to “refuse silence, racism and dehumanisation” and to “do everything humanly possible” to end complicity in their oppression.

The pledge cites the International Court of Justice’s ruling that there is a “plausible risk of genocide in Gaza” and that Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies are unlawful. It defines complicity as including “whitewashing or justifying genocide and apartheid, and/or partnering with the government committing them”.

Olivia Colman has signed the pledge that 'addresses complicity in that unrelenting horror'. EPA

Film Workers for Palestine said: “Despite operating in Israel’s system of apartheid, and therefore benefiting from it, the vast majority of Israeli film production and distribution companies, sales agents, cinemas and other film institutions have never endorsed the full, internationally recognised rights of the Palestinian people.”

Historic parallels

Organisers said the declaration takes inspiration from the 1987 campaign Filmmakers United Against Apartheid, founded by Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme and others to oppose US distribution of films in apartheid South Africa.

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Mike Lerner described the new pledge as “an essential non-violent tool to undermine the deadly impunity that Israel and its allies currently enjoy”.

Wider industry response

The move comes amid a growing wave of protest in the entertainment industry. In recent months, members of the US actors’ union Sag-Aftra have published an open letter, while Equity UK passed a motion affirming performers’ rights to speak out. The Norwegian Actors Equity Association has also recommended members reject work with Israeli cultural institutions.

Dhafer L'Abidine, who has signed the pledge, on the red carpet for Palestine 36 at the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday. AP

“Standing in solidarity with Palestinian filmmakers shouldn’t only be on us as individual artists,” said actor Amin El Gamal, chair of Sag-Aftra's National Mena Committee. “Our unions – which were built on solidarity – have an ethical and legal obligation to take meaningful action until Israel ends its genocide and apartheid.”

Screenwriter and director David Farr, the grandson of Holocaust survivors, said his decision to sign was shaped by personal history. “I am distressed and enraged by the actions of the Israeli state, which has for decades enforced an apartheid system on the Palestinian people … In this context I cannot support my work being published or performed in Israel,” he said.

Film Workers for Palestine's pledge

The full published pledge is as follows.

As filmmakers, actors, film industry workers and institutions, we recognise the power of cinema to shape perceptions. In this urgent moment of crisis, where many of our governments are enabling the carnage in Gaza, we must do everything we can to address complicity in that unrelenting horror.

The world’s highest court, the International Court of Justice, has ruled that there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza, and that Israel’s occupation and apartheid against Palestinians are unlawful. Standing for equality, justice and freedom for all people is a profound moral duty that none of us can ignore. So too, we must speak out now against the harm done to the Palestinian people.

We answer the call of Palestinian filmmakers, who have urged the international film industry to refuse silence, racism and dehumanisation, as well as to 'do everything humanly possible' to end complicity in their oppression.

Inspired by Filmmakers United Against Apartheid who refused to screen their films in apartheid South Africa, we pledge not to screen films, appear at or otherwise work with Israeli film institutions – including festivals, cinemas, broadcasters and production companies – that are implicated* in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.

*Examples of complicity include whitewashing or justifying genocide and apartheid, and/or partnering with the government committing them.