Jewish Journal
Aaron Bandler
May 25, 2021
Actor Mark Ruffalo issued an apology in a May 24 tweet for his past tweets accusing Israel of genocide against the Palestinians in the recent escalation between Israel and Hamas.
The full tweet read: “I have reflected & wanted to apologize for posts during the recent Israel/Hamas fighting that suggested Israel is committing ‘genocide’. It’s not accurate, it’s inflammatory, disrespectful & is being used to justify antisemitism here & abroad. Now is the time to avoid hyperbole.”
Some pro-Israel users appreciated Ruffalo’s apology.
Correct. There is conflict, sure. And people of goodwill work for peace. But there is no genocide. The “genocide” lie is used to incite violent – sometimes deadly – antisemitism. It matters that you set the record straight and used your voice to reconcile and not divide.
— Michael Dickson (@michaeldickson) May 25, 2021
“There is conflict, sure. And people of goodwill work for peace. But there is no genocide,” StandWithUs Israel Executive Director Michael Dickson tweeted. “The ‘genocide’ lie is used to incite violent – sometimes deadly – antisemitism. It matters that you set the record straight and used your voice to reconcile and not divide.”
Former New York Democratic Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who currently heads the Americans Against Antisemitism watchdog, tweeted that while Ruffalo’s apology is “a positive first step,” “the real test is in what comes next, to see if he’s truly sincere and really understood what was so wrong about such a misnomer.”
Others weren’t quite as receptive to the apology. Stop Antisemitism suggested in a tweet that Ruffalo’s tweet was at the behest of his employers at Disney, as Ruffalo currently plays The Hulk in the Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Israellycool blogger David Lange asked Ruffalo if he would “also apologize for these falsehoods,” posting screenshots of Ruffalo tweeting in 2014 stating that Hamas didn’t kidnap the three Israeli soldiers that precipitated Operation Protective Edge that year; he also replied in a response to a tweet stating that Hamas uses its people as human shields, “Do you honestly think these people, these fellow human beings, would use their own children as shields? Use your heart.”
Canadian Conservative Party Senator Linda Frum tweeted, “Ruffalo has 7.5M [million] followers. While his retraction is welcome and brave the original lie — of Jews committing genocide— caused great harm that’s difficult to undo. Better to be judicious in the first place. It’s not hard to know the facts if you want to.”
Read the article here.
