Film Workers for Palestine hit back at UK Lawyers for Israel 'legal threat' over BDS action against Israeli film industry

Film Workers for Palestine have responded to a letter sent to major film and TV studios, including Netflix, Disney and the BBC, by UK Lawyers for Israel that had warned a boycott of the Israeli film industry could breach the UK's Equality Act.

A spokesperson for Film Workers for Palestine said, "We are unimpressed by pro-Israel lobby group UK Lawyers for Israel's desperate attempt to curtail our signatories' freedom of expression through its pitiful letter...We will never be deterred from our work to end complicity in Israel's genocide and apartheid."

The UKLFI letter was sent in response to a boycott of the Israeli film industry. Over 5,000 actors and film industry workers agreed not to screen films, appear at, or work with Israeli film institutions that are implicated in genocide and apartheid against Palestinians, in an open letter published in September.

Signatories of the letter include British actors Aimee Lou Wood, Josh O'Connor and Tilda Swinton, American actors Ayo Edebiri and Cynthia Nixon, and filmmakers Ken Loach and Yorgos Lanthimos.

UK Lawyers for Israel have recently been the subject of an investigation by the Charity Commission, after a complaint that it threatened to take legal action against individuals for showing support for Palestine.

Complainants to the Charity Commission accused UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) of sending eight letters to individuals and organisations between January 2022 and May 2025.

These letters "demonstrate a seeming pattern of vexatious and legally baseless correspondence aimed at silencing and intimidating Palestine solidarity efforts", according to the complainants, lodged with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) by the Public Interest Law Centre (PILC) and the European Legal Support Center.

They claimed the UKLFI uses "strategic lawsuits against public participation (Slapps), which are lawsuits intended to limit freedom of expression on matters of public interest".

The UK Charity Commission confirmed at the time it was probing the UKLFI Charitable Trust’s relationship with UK Lawyers for Israel, its parent organisation.

Full statement from Film Workers for Palestine: 

"We are heartened that over 5,000 film workers have joined our pledge to refuse to work with Israeli film institutions that are implicated in whitewashing and justifying Israel's genocide and apartheid against Palestinians.

"We are unimpressed by pro-Israel lobby group UK Lawyers for Israel's desperate attempt to curtail our signatories' freedom of expression through its pitiful letter. This kind of intimidation tactic is used so commonly and unethically by UKLFI that a formal complaint was filed with the Solicitors Regulation Authority in Britain over 'a seeming pattern of vexatious and legally baseless correspondence aimed at silencing and intimidating Palestine solidarity efforts.'

"We will never be deterred from our work to end complicity in Israel's genocide and apartheid and will continue contributing to a global movement aimed at Palestinians achieving their UN-stipulated rights. It is a legal and moral imperative all should uphold, and we thank our community of artists who stand resolutely for humanity."