After declaring “f–k ICE” and “free Palestine” in her Emmys acceptance speech, Hannah Einbinder expanded on her sentiments backstage to press, saying she feels an obligation to distinguish Jewish people from the State of Israel.
“I feel like it is my obligation as a Jewish person to distinguish Jews from the State of Israel, because our religion and our culture is such an important and long standing … institution that is really separate to this sort of ethno-nationalist state,” Einbinder told press after accepting her Emmy for her performance in “Hacks.”
Einbinder added that she felt it was “important to talk about Palestine, because it’s an issue that’s very dear to my heart.” “I have friends in Gaza who are working as frontline workers, as doctors right now in the north of Gaza to provide care for pregnant women and for school children, to create schools in the refugee camps,” she said.
Einbinder also clarified that her pledge to boycott Israeli film festivals, cinemas, broadcasters and production does not boycott individuals and “only boycotts institutions that are directly complicit in the genocide.”
“Like many movements, boycotting is an effective tool to create pressure on the powers that be to meet the moment,” Einbinder said.
Einbinder has been outspoken about the ongoing conflict, previously saying in March at an event for the Human Rights Campaign that she was “horrified by the Israeli government’s massacre of well over 65,000 Palestinians in Gaza.” “I am ashamed and infuriated that this mass murder is funded by our American tax dollars,” she said. “It should not be controversial to say that we should all be against murdering civilians.”
Einbinder won her Emmy for her portrayal of Ava Daniels on “Hacks,” which she also announced on the Emmys red carpet would be coming to an end with its upcoming fifth season. She said in the press room that “Hacks” creators Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky are the “arbiters of truth” regarding if the show is officially ending. “I think the original plan is that they saw a five season arc in their initial pitch for the show,” she said, but still noting there have been “tons of shows” that have reversed course from the original plan.
