Sara Nathan
Do you know who Hirsch, Abraham, Schmuel, and Jacob Wonsal were? Shmuel Gelbfisz or Wilhelm Fried Fuchs? And what about Herschel and Bryna Danielovitch, for that matter?
When these Jews fled Eastern Europe, they found refuge from pogroms in America, changed their names — and created Hollywood.
The Wonsols became the Warner Brothers; Gelbfisz became Sam Goldwyn and started MGM; Fuchs founded the Fox Film Corporation; and the Danielovitchs’ son, Issur, became Kirk Douglas.
Between them, a group of Jews whose families had lived in constant fear of persecution gave America, and the world, the golden age of cinema.
Classics from “The Wizard of Oz” and “Singin’ in the Rain” to “Ben Hur” and “Gone with the Wind” exist because of them.
So why, after the most heinous mass murders of Jews since the Holocaust, is Hollywood incapable of recognizing its own history – and why does it have such a Jew problem?
In the days since the Hamas attacks in Israel, the powerful and the rich have truly exposed themselves.
Follow along with The Post’s coverage of Israel’s war with Hamas
Maha Dakhil, co-head of motion pictures at CAA and agent to Tom Cruise, Madonna, Reese Witherspoon, Olivia Wilde, and American Israeli Natalie Portman, this week accused Israel of “genocide.”
She re-posted, “You’re currently learning who supports genocide,” before adding her own caption: “That’s the line for me.”
John Cusack, that one-time 80s heartthrob, wrote on X: “I was out at the Palestinian march in Chicago. What I DID hear is – we must free Palestine from a brutal occupation – people concerned for their loved ones, in a hell zone, stuck without food, water, and power.”
Marvel superstar Mark Ruffalo word-saladed on Instagram: “Concerning the tragic events unfolding in Israel and Gaza, I am grief-stricken for the unspeakable suffering and loss of life and loved ones. This horrific violence must end.
How celebrities, schools, and businesses have reacted to Hamas’ terror attack against Israel
“I have no answers obviously, but I feel it is absolutely necessary to focus on our shared human existence and reality. The sanctity of our common humanity will hopefully serve to heal the unimaginable wounds of division.”
There was the bizarre letter signed by more than 2,000 actors, artists, and musicians — including Tilda Swinton, Steve Coogan, and Charles Dance — which condemned Israel without any mention of the slaughter by Hamas terrorists that started the war.
Can you see what we’re missing here? No mention of the babies burned alive by Hamas terrorists, the women raped, the Holocaust survivors ripped from their homes and senselessly killed.
As Dakhil – who later apologized after deleting the posts – and her fellow travelers wore out their fingers posting online, Jewish actress Julianna Margulies told a raw truth about Hollywood’s silence on antisemitism.
Speaking at the Variety Hollywood & Antisemitism Summit, Margulies said that she’s “trying to understand and work around why every single person in our industry isn’t standing up. I don’t understand. It is shocking.”
“Maybe they are afraid?” Margulies, star of of “ER” and “The Good Wife” mused, “I don’t know what they are afraid of. Losing followers?”
And she told how she regrets letting the costume designer place a cross necklace on her for her role as news anchor Laura Peterson in AppleTV+ drama, “The Morning Show.”
“On TV, characters are not ever wearing the Star of David. I regret that. I am sorry about that. It’s so easy to put on a cross. Why isn’t it just as easy to put on a Star of David?”
As one very high-profile – and yes, Jewish – Hollywood producer told me Friday: “This business has always had a fraught opinion, or trope-y opinion of Jewish people.
“At first, there was a total outpouring of support for Jews, now there is a ton of misinformation. There is a really strong side of this business that is supporting Hamas by proxy, while people would of course never say they are condoning terrorism or violence.
“Everyone is hurting.”
Even before the horror unleashed by Hamas, Hollywood had been doing its best to forget its Jewish founding fathers.
Follow along with The Post’s live blog for the latest on Hamas’ attack on Israel
Producer John Goldwyn – Samuel Goldwyn’s grandson – turned down his invite to the September 2021 opening gala of the $500m Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, furious that the immigrant pioneers weren’t addressed.
Haim Saban, who donated $50 million to the institution (its single largest gift), told Rolling Stone: “As I walked through, I literally turned to the person I was there with and said to him, ‘Where are the Jews?’”
The museum went on to announce a permanent exhibit called Hollywoodland, which would focus on its early founders.
Maybe Dakhil, Ruffalo, Cusack and so many more should visit — and learn the reality of the genocidal hatred the Wonsals, the Gelbfisks and the Danielovitchs knew all too well.
We Jews say “Never Again” to remind the world not to forget the 6 million Jews who lost their lives in the Holocaust, along with millions of others.
Israel and anti-semitism are not the fashionable cause nowadays – hello, Gigi Hadid – but we must never forget what humankind is capable of.
And Hollywood should never forget why it exists — and what its founders stood for.
This post was originally posted by NYPost
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