(NewsNation) — A prominent Israeli actress is calling out actress Angelina Jolie for her stance on the war in Israel, saying the American actress has “made me feel scared” with comments she’s made.
Jolie said in an Instagram post a few weeks after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on southern Israel that the assaults “cannot justify the innocent lives lost in bombing a civilian population in Gaza that has nowhere to go.”
Moran Atias, an Israeli actress, has been openly critical of Jolie on social media and told “Dan Abrams Live” on Friday that she’s disappointed by Jolie’s statements.
“Angelina Jolie is a celebrity and she chose to tell one side of the story, which makes me feel scared, to be honest, because when you make that kind of narrative and you ignore the other side, you only make us more separated,” Atias said. “I’m looking for a world that is more united.”
There have been protests worldwide about Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Many of the area’s buildings have been destroyed by airstrikes and a ground invasion forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people further south.
Critics of Israel say the country isn’t doing enough to mitigate civilian casualties, and humanitarian organizations have warned that aid isn’t getting into Gaza fast enough. The Biden administration has approved weapons sales to Israel and is seeking $14 billion from Congress for security assistance.
The war has led to a rise in both antisemitism and Islamophobia in America, particularly on college campuses.
Atias has made an appeal to Jolie to visit Israel to witness first-hand the atrocities committed there, particularly sexual assaults carried out by Hamas militants.
Jolie has spoken out about rape being used as a weapon of war in past conflicts, but Atias says she’s stayed silent about it in this instance.
“I don’t want to call her out, I want to call Angelina Jolie in,” Atias said. “I invite her to come to meet with the experts that have medicated and treated girls that came back from captivity, that they’ve been tested for pregnancy. I want her to meet the experts that are now building the biggest sexual assault case in history.”
Atias also takes issue with how long it took UN Women, the United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and women’s empowerment, to condemn the attack. The group did so Dec. 1, nearly two months after the Oct. 7 assault.
Jolie served in roles with the separate UN Refugee Agency for more than 20 years, advocating for the support of refugees.
“She has been making great efforts and great change … I know she does care, and I know she’s probably looking for the right words and she’s probably making an investigation of her own, and if not, then we don’t need her,” Atias said. “We will do the work.”
NewsNation Tanya Noury contributed to this report.