Married Oscar-winning Spanish actors Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz led an effort among Spanish artists to write an open letter denouncing Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza strip as “genocide.”
The Hollywood Reporter relayed they demanded a ceasefire by the "Israeli Occupation Forces" and called on the European Union to "condemn the bombing by land, sea and air against the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip." They insisted Israel "lift the blockade, which the Gaza Strip has suffered for more than a decade."
The letter also said: "Gaza is living through horror these days, besieged and attacked by land, sea and air. Palestinians' homes are being destroyed, they are being denied water, electricity [and] free movement to their hospitals, schools and fields while the international community does nothing."
Israel "humiliates, detains, and tramples on the rights of the Palestinian population in all of the West Bank ever day, also causing many deaths."
Bardem won the Oscar for supporting actor in 2008 for his role in No Country for Old Men, Cruz won an Oscar for supporting actress the next year in Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Renowned Spanish director Pedro Almodovar also signed the letter.
