‘Zone of Interest’ producer says he ‘fundamentally disagrees’ with Jonathan Glazer’s Oscars speech on Israel-Hamas war

A “Zone of Interest” producer is pushing back on director Jonathan Glazer’s comments at the Oscars in which he condemned the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

“The war and the continuation of the war is the responsibility of Hamas,” Danny Cohen, the executive producer of “Zone of Interest,” said in an interview on the episode of the “Unholy” podcast released Thursday.

Calling Hamas a “genocidal terrorist organization,” Cohen said, “I think the war is tragic and awful, and the loss of civilian life is awful, but I blame Hamas for that.”

While accepting the Academy Award for best international feature film on Sunday, Glazer spoke out about the conflict in Gaza.

“Zone of Interest” follows the family life of a Nazi commander living outside the Auschwitz concentration camp, where more than 1 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust.

“Our film shows where dehumanization leads, at its worst. It shaped all of our past and present,” Glazer said.

“Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people,” he said, reading from a statement.

“Whether the victims of October the 7th in Israel, or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all are victims of this dehumanization. How do we resist?” Glazer said to applause.

The Palestinian Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its death toll, said last month that more than 30,000 people have died in the war in Gaza. The fighting began in retaliation for Hamas’s surprise Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people. About 240 people were kidnapped during the October attack.

“I just fundamentally disagree with Jonathan on this,” Cohen said, while discussing Glazer’s remarks.

“My support for Israel is unwavering,” he added.

“Listen, it’s his film. He can stand up there and choose his own words,” Cohen told “Unholy” co-hosts Yonit Levi and Jonathan Freedland.

“He’s a strong person, and I’m sure he’ll stand by those,” he said. “But for me, it wasn’t the right time and didn’t have enough context.”

Cohen described Glazer’s Oscars speech as a “distraction,” saying, “Jon spent 10 years making the film and has made something remarkable, but people are talking more this week about what he said for 30 seconds. And I think that’s regrettable, because I’d love to just the conversation to be focused on the film itself.”

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