Coalition for Jewish Values says Ruffalo's post was not policy criticism and faults his Jewish defenders

The Coalition for Jewish Values said in a statement that Ruffalo did not merely criticize a business deal and that his Instagram post was not policy criticism. It said the Jewish entertainment figures who signed a letter dismissing the antisemitism charge were whitewashing antisemitism.

“Actor Mark Ruffalo did not merely criticize a business deal. In an August 22 Instagram post tying the Paramount-Skydance/Warner Bros. merger to Oracle’s work with Israel, Ruffalo claimed that the Ellison family — who are Jewish — were “powering some of the most destructive and inhuman forces in the world,” and framed a corporate transaction as built on “genocide” and “apartheid.” That is not policy criticism, but mischaracterization of civil rights for Jews and Arabs as racism, and the rescue of Jewish hostages as murder. Nonetheless, more than 170 Jewish entertainment figures rushed to sign a letter dismissing the antisemitism charge as an “outrageous smear campaign.” To be certain, they are entitled to their ignorant and misguided views. They are not, however, entitled to be taken seriously when they engage in whitewashing antisemitism, or suggest that those with sufficient discernment to recognize the oldest of anti-Jewish tropes should deny the obvious.”