Joaquin Phoenix: No Justification for Children Starving in Gaza
According to cinemadrame news agency, Joaquin Phoenix appeared on Theo Von’s podcast this week, stating that the American comedian’s emotional remarks about Gaza prompted him to accept the invitation. The Oscar-winning Joker actor, whose film “Eddington” directed by Ari Aster is currently in theaters, recalled Von becoming emotional in May and calling Israel’s actions in Gaza “genocidal.”
Phoenix described Von’s statements as “brave,” saying: “What you said about the war in Gaza was profound to me. It’s brave to talk about. You had an honesty that I thought was really beautiful. And it’s unbelievable because these things are horrific. There is no justification for children starving to death in a war. It’s that simple. You don’t need to understand geopolitics or other issues to grasp it. I know there’s conflict all over the world, but this one, to me, is astonishing, that we’re afraid to talk about it. And often you feel stupid because you don’t understand the geopolitics. You say, I don’t understand geopolitics. But human rights must be respected, basic human rights.”
Von compared the siege of Gaza and the killing of people to events in the film “Eddington,” which is set during a pandemic: “People are watching things happen on their phones, and when you see it live, it bothers you.”
Phoenix added: “Sometimes it’s wrong not to comment. Obviously, I don’t know the solution, but war is always nonsense. But what’s happening is unbelievable to me.” Prior to Phoenix, artists such as Hans Zimmer, Lana Del Rey, Billie Eilish, Bob Dylan, NF, Green Day, and Bono, Andrew Garfield, Liam Cunningham, Susan Sarandon, Melissa Barrera, Guy Pearce, Maisie Williams, Javier Bardem, Jenna Ortega, Nicola Coughlan, Aimee Lou Wood, Rachel Zegler, Mark Ruffalo, and John Cusack, as well as filmmakers Jonathan Glazer and Pedro Almodóvar, had expressed support for Palestine.
In the past two years, nearly 60,000 Palestinians have died in Israeli attacks.
