Julianna Margulies attends Golden Heart Awards 2023 benefiting God’s Love We Deliver at The Glasshouse, New York, NY, October 16, 2023. Photo: Anthony Behar/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

Actress Julianna Margulies expressed disappointment in Hollywood for not speaking out against antisemitism targeting the Jewish community amid Israel’s war with Hamas, after the Palestinian terror group killed over 1,400 people in Israel earlier this month.

At the Variety Hollywood & Antisemitism Summit in Los Angeles on Wednesday, the former star of ER and The Good Wife, who is also Jewish, was asked on stage about why she thinks there is a “deafening silence” from her peers in the Hollywood industry about antisemitism.

“I’ve been asking myself that question and I’ve been trying to get past feeling so disheartened by it,” the Emmy-winning actress replied. “To try to understand and work around why every single person in our industry isn’t standing up. I don’t understand. It is shocking.” Her response garnered applause from the audience.

“Maybe they’re afraid, [but] I honestly don’t know what they’re afraid of,” the actress added. “Losing followers? I mean it’s just insane to me. That’s not how I roll … But I’m proud to be here and I hope I inspire other people to come out and talk and use their voice and their platform to draw attention to this.”

In posts on social media uploaded two days after Hamas began its deadly rampage in Israel on Oct. 7, Margulies condemned the terrorist organization and those trying to justify the terrorist attacks.

Margulies also spoke at Wednesday’s event about Jewish tropes in the entertainment industry and said she regrets agreeing to have her current character on the Apple TV+ series The Morning Show, news anchor Laura Peterson, wear a cross instead of a Star of David. She said during her first fitting for the series, the show’s costume designer put a cross necklace around her neck.

“I did not think twice,” Margulies noted. “I put the cross on. And then the character became popular. I went in the next season and there in my dressing room was the cross. Because I have started this Holocaust education program for public schools since that happened, I have thought … what if Laura Peterson was wearing a Star of David? We don’t have to talk about [her religion]. But what if that character was just wearing a Star of David or a Chai? Why did I not just say, ‘Hold on, why am I wearing a cross?'”

“On television, characters are not ever wearing a Star of David,” she added. “And I regret that and I am sorry about that. And I am going to be a lot more careful in the future … It’s so easy to put on a cross. Why isn’t it just as easy to put on a Star of David?”