Paramount condemned a pledge signed this week by more than 4,000 actors, entertainers, and producers, including some Hollywood stars, to not work with Israeli film institutions they claim “are implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.”

The statement made Paramount the first major studio to respond to the pledge released on Monday.

“At Paramount, we believe in the power of storytelling to connect and inspire people, promote mutual understanding, and preserve the moments, ideas, and events that shape the world we share. This is our creative mission,” said the statement.

“We do not agree with recent efforts to boycott Israeli filmmakers. Silencing individual creative artists based on their nationality does not promote better understanding or advance the cause of peace,” the statement continued. ”

The global entertainment industry should be encouraging artists to tell their stories and share their ideas with audiences throughout the world. We need more engagement and communication — not less.”

Among the pledges’ signatories are actors Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Tilda Swinton, Riz Ahmed, Javier Bardem, Joaquin Phoenix, Emma D’Arcy, Eric Andre, Elliot Page and Cynthia Nixon.

The pledge is distinct from other previous arts and culture Israel boycotts in naming specific Israeli cultural institutions that the letter’s signatories are boycotting. Those include major Israeli film festivals like the Jerusalem Film Festival, Haifa International Film Festival, Docaviv and TLVfest.

The pledge does not specifically target Israeli individuals. Instead, the document says the “refusal takes aim at institutional complicity, not identity,” and that “a few Israeli film entities are not complicit.”

Several open letters signed by prominent figures from the worlds of cinema, music and literature have been published as pressure mounts on the Israeli government to end the nearly two-year war against Hamas in Gaza sparked by the terror group’s invasion and massacre in Israel on October 7, 2023, and urgently address the humanitarian crisis there.

Israel denies carrying out genocide in the Gaza Strip, saying it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities during the war and stresses that Hamas uses civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.