Creative Community for Peace (CCFP) is a pro-Israel organization which works to counter anti-Israel sentiment in the entertainment industry.[1] It was founded in 2011 by David Renzer, Steve Schnur, and Ran Geffen-Lifshitz. CCFP is strongly opposed to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
CCFP contacts celebrities who are scheduled to perform in Israel, attempting to counter BDS lobbying for them to cancel their appearances. CCFP describes its role as supporting and informing artists.[2][3]
Founding
Creative Community for Peace was founded in 2011 by David Renzer, the former CEO of Universal Music Publishing, Steve Schnur, and Ran Geffen-Lifshitz, founder of MMG Music. The founders decided to start the organization during a 2011 breakfast meeting at the Dan Hotel in Tel Aviv while discussing the BDS movement. They asked friends and coworkers in Hollywood to contact celebrities scheduled to perform in Tel Aviv to counter BDS efforts lobbying for cancellations of their appearances in Israel.[4]
Views
Creative Community for Peace is a pro-Israel organization that works to counter anti-Israel sentiment in the entertainment industry.[4][5][1][6] The organization's website focuses on Israel's cultural diversity and technology, with less focus on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.[5] CCFP co-founder Ran Geffen-Lifshitz stated in 2014 that the sole purpose of CCFP is to assist artists and performers with navigating appearances in Israel.[4]
Co-founder Steve Schnur said in 2019 that CCFP is apolitical and non-religious.[7] Renzer said that their vision is that through "dialogue and conversation and education" there would eventually be a peaceful resolution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.[2] CCFP Director, Ari praised apolitical statements supporting peace from Rihanna and DJ Khaled who respectively said "stand[s] with humanity" and "love and light and prayers."[8] Their website describes CCFP as a group composed of members with diverse political views about how Israel can attain peace.[4]
Ari Ingel, director of CCFP, claims that misinformation about Israel is being spread online and amplified by social media influencers who lack a full understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.[8] Ingel criticized Clubhouse for not monitoring hate speech, noting a prevalence of anti-Jewish conspiracy theories and antisemitic tropes in the app.[9]
Renzer says CCFP seeks to create multicultural experiences and events.[7][2] Renzer has also expressed support for the Black community, while insisting that Louis Farrakhan distance himself from his "previous anti-Semitic comments".[11] Ingel expressed support for the Black community's fight for justice in the United States, but added that "fighting racism with antisemitism is unacceptable."[1] In 2020, Renzer spoke of how Jews and African Americans have a long history of standing together for civil rights. He spoke of a desire to work with the Black entertainment community to "amplify voices of reason".[12] Ingel works with the Black-Jewish Entertainment Alliance in addition to CCFP.[9]
Activity
When it was founded, Creative Community for Peace began reaching out to celebrities who were scheduled to play in Tel Aviv in an attempt to counter BDS lobbying for celebrities to cancel their appearances in Israel.[4] In 2013, Lana Melman, then-director of CCFP, said its members use their personal connections to reach out to other artists and give them "balanced information" about Israel, additionally educating them about "the artistic freedom there, and work[ing] to arrest potential cancellations". David Siegel, consul general for Israel in Los Angeles, said in 2013 that "[CCFP are] effective because they work from inside the industry."[5] CCFP reaches out to every major artist or performer who is going to play in Israel, and helps prepare them for the coordinated BDS campaign they're going to face.[4]
In 2013, BDS activists organized a petition to try to convince Alicia Keys not to play in "apartheid Israel" which got 16,000 signatures. In response, CCFP board members disputed the apartheid comparison, and organized their own petition which received 18,000 signatures; Keys ended up playing in Israel.[5]
Six weeks after the beginning of the 2014 Gaza War, CCFP published a petition signed by almost 200 Hollywood figures in Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, and Variety. The petition expressed support for Israel and criticized Hamas. The language of the petition called for peace and expressed sadness over the loss of life on both sides, and described Hamas as a terrorist organization determined to try to destroy Israel.[4]
In 2018, CCFP hosted their inaugural "Ambassadors of Peace" event with more than 400 attendees. Scooter Braun, who was one of the award winners, said at the event "the best way we can change the world is coming together and having a dialogue with the intention that all people are good people, and I think this organization pushes for that" [13][14]
In 2019, 11,200 signed a CCFP petition expressing support for the planned Eurovision Song Contest which was scheduled to happen in Israel.[15]
In 2019, CCFP hosted their second "Ambassadors of Peace" event with more than 400 entertainment industry executives in attendance. Ziggy Marley was honored at the event as one of their Ambassadors. Jacqueline Saturn was also celebrated as an "Ambassador". Another winner Aaron Bay-Schuck described CCFP as an organization which "understands that music is a force for change. Bay-Schuck also added that "the BDS movement is cowardly, hypocritical and bullying in its purest form."[3][7]
During the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis, more than 125 entertainment industry figures, including Gene Simmons and Michael Bublé, signed a CCFP open letter urging peace in the Middle East and an end to inflammatory one-sided accounts. The letter also acknowledged the pain and loss on both sides of the conflict.[8]
In 2024, CCFP petitioned National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences with 150 signatures from the entertainment industry to rescind the Emmy Awards nomination of Bisan Owda's documentary, "It's Bisan from Gaza and I'm still alive," which features her and her family's displacement from Beit Hanoun. CCFP alleged that Owda is connected to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. NATAS responded with details of their editorial process, including finding no evidence of Owda having active involvement with PFLP.[18]
The BDS movement was active in trying to get Alicia Keys not to visit Israel. CCFP worked with her management team to help facilitate her trip. They also connected her with Idan Raichel, whom they say is focused on using music as a means of peace and co-existence. Keys performed in Israel with a multi-cultural group of musicians.[2]
Bhad Bhabie made an appearance at CCFP's 2019 Ambassadors of Peace event. She posted a picture of herself at the event, tagging CCFP and captioning it "BHABIE SUPPORTS PEACE BICH".
Despite BDS protests, she went ahead with a concert in Tel Aviv-Yafo.[21][22]
CCFP worked closely with Cyndi Lauper and her team on a trip to Israel, organizing an event at Tel Aviv's LGBT Center. Lauper praised Israel's "warmth, democracy and diversity." Times of Israel describes the event as a "huge success for Israel advocacy".[2][4]
Diane Warren is active with CCFP. Brian Fishbach says "the arts are a vital mechanism in creating lasting change" and "Diane Warren knows what it takes to bridge divides." And Warren says "nothing can change the world like music."[6]
In 2013, Eric Burdon cancelled a show in Tel Aviv after pressure from BDS activists. According to CCFP, the BDS activism was "violent" and Burdon feared for his safety. CCFP reached out to him, convinced him he would be safe in Israel, and went ahead with the originally planned show.[23][4]
The Forward reported in 2013, that CCFP didn't have tax-exempt status yet, the partnership was ongoing, and that CCFP was additionally sharing office space with SWU. In a press release shared in full on Billboard, CCFP explains that as a young organization CCFP cut costs sharing accounting and HR services with SWU; both groups paid their share.[2]Adalah-NY has claimed that Creative Community for Peace is a branch of StandWithUs.[4]
The group's founders have maintained that there is no formal partnership between CCFP and SWU.[4] David Renzer told The Forward that CCFP had always been independent from SWU and had "no day-to-day relationship" with the organization.[5]
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