Gaza email chain irks Natalie Portman

Do you hate being on long Israel-related email threads that someone’s added you to without your permission?

Apparently, so does Natalie Portman.

As a result of the November 24 breach of Sony Picture Entertainment’s servers, a huge amount of data, including private emails from Sony executives, was released to the public. Among the emails was a reply-all chain debating the summer’s conflict between Hamas and Israel in Gaza, Gossip website Gawker reported.

The exchange was found in Sony CEO Michael Lynton’s inbox.

Copied on the chain were several Hollywood heavyweights, including Def Jam founder Russell Simons, TV host Ryan Seacreast, producer Ryan Kavanaugh, GOP pollster (and former boss of Israeli Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer) Frank Luntz, and A-list Jewish actresses Scarlett Johansson and Portman.

Responding to an email by producer Ron Rotholz, Relativity Media CEO Kavanaugh wrote:

On Aug 29, 2014, at 1:29 PM, “Ryan Kavanaugh” wrote:

The problem is that Moore ‘ law is kicking in. Before the summer 50 percent of college students supported israel, today less the 25 percent do. There are hate crimes against heed happening in almost every major metropolitan city, now including the US.

We have let this happen. And it’s our job to keep another Hollacast from happening. Many of you may think that can’t happen, that is extreme. My Grandmother told me over and over again remember no one believed it could happen and everyone thought the government would not allow it to. It took 5 years before the us stepped in, and 12 million dead.

If you pull newspapers from pre Hollacast it seems eerily close to our world today.

Kavanaugh and Rotholz regularly forward emails about Israel and anti-Semitism, and Kavanaugh was the first major Hollywood executive to denounce the letter by actors Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz decrying Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza.

Simmons responded to Kavanaugh’s chain email on the same day, writing, “U have ken sunshine on the chain. We have resources and the desire to win rather then loose the hearts of young Muslims and Jews. Our love for innocent suffering Palestinians must be a strong part of our messaging.”

It seems all this unwanted back-and-forth irked Portman, who had earlier asked Kavanaugh to remove her from the list: “you should not be copying me publicly so that 20 people i don’t know have my personal info. i will have to change my email address now.”

“Sorry,” answered Kavanaugh. “You are right jews being slaughtered for their beliefs and cannes members calling for the boycott of anything Israel or Jewish is much much less important then your email address being shared with 20 of our peers who are trying to make a difference. my deepest apologies.”

After the long exchange over Gaza, an exasperated Portman turned to Lynton and his wife for help. “How did I get on this list,” she asked. “Also Ryan Seacrest?”

“This is nuts,” Lynton replied.