Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon is on hunger strike in Washington, DC, standing with pro-Palestinian activists calling on President Joe Biden to order an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Her “personal plea” to the president to intervene was among several others delivered by community leaders and state legislators on Monday who announced the strike outside the White House before she took to the podium to deliver a few words in favor of world peace and harmony.
Nixon says the protest is against the high death toll in Gaza from Israeli strikes — which she says exceeds the civilian toll during the U.S. war in Afghanistan — and claims Gaza is on the verge of starvation.
As part of her comments, Nixon said her children are Jewish and her grandparents are Holocaust survivors, the Evening Standard reports.
The 57-year-old shares two sons with her ex-husband, Danny Mozes, who is Jewish.
She will take part in the five-day hunger strike for 48-hours before returning to New York for undisclosed work commitments.
Actress Cynthia Nixon attends a protest announcing she is on a hunger strike while calling for a ceasefire in Gaza outside the White House on November 27, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“I have been asked by my son to use any voice I have, to affirm as loudly as possible, that never again means never again for everyone,” she said in a video shared by Sky News.
The failed New York Democratic gubernatorial candidate continued:
In seven weeks, Israel has killed more civilians on a tiny strip of land than was killed in 20 years of war in the entire country of Afghanistan.
I am sick and tired of people explaining this away by saying that civilian casualties are a routine toll of war.
Sending a message to Biden, she said, “I would like to make a personal plea to a president who has himself experienced such devastating personal loss, to connect with that empathy for which he is so well known, to look at the children of Gaza, and imagine that they were his children.”
“None of this is normal, none of this is routine, and none of this can be allowed to continue,” she added. “As we have seen over the past few days, a ceasefire is critical to stopping the killing of thousands of innocent souls, and for the safe return of thousands of hostages.”
The actor ended her public plea for peace in the Middle East by acknowledging the conflict is “horrifying” which makes it “impossible to look away anymore.”
A group of U.S. State legislators, activists and actors on Monday launched a 5-day hunger strike outside the White House calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, on November 27, 2023 in Washington DC, United States. Activist and actress Cynthia Nixon (R) and Delaware State Representative Madinah Wilson-Anton (C) joined them. (Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Nixon is an activist who has been vocal on many issues and is one of the many celebrities who signed the Artists 4 Ceasefire open letter to Biden.
Others include Susan Sarandon who was dropped by her agency over comments she made at an anti-Israel rally and more recently, Melissa Barrera, who lost her role in Scream 7 after accusing Israel of “committing genocide.”
The hunger strike was timed in part to coincide with the initial four-day cease-fire deal between Hamas and Israel — which saw the terrorist group release at least 51 of the hostages it has been holding in Gaza since it attacked Israel on Oct. 7 when some 3,000 terrorists crossed the border and killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, while raping and kidnapping others.