JTA — Gwyneth Paltrow has drawn backlash after appearing in a new advertising campaign for 51 Park, a luxury residential development in the affluent Israeli coastal town of Herzliya.

The commercial shows the 53-year-old Oscar-winning actress and lifestyle entrepreneur waking up in a New York luxury high-rise apartment and going for a run through the city. At the end of the commercial, she says, “There’s a reason the most iconic buildings are built by a park.” She then asks her driver to take her to “51 Park.”

When he responds, “New York?” she smiles and responds, “Herzliya, Israel.”

It was a bold statement of connection with Israel at a time of widespread anxiety among many pro-Israel Jews about whether Hollywood remains hospitable to them, and as some A-list celebrities with track records of engaging with Israel distance themselves.

Criticism against Paltrow quickly erupted on social media, with pro-Palestinian activists decrying what they saw as tone-deafness in promoting luxury Israeli properties at a time when many of them believe Israel has perpetrated a genocide in Gaza — an allegation Israel says is baseless.

“Gwyneth ‘I don’t feel anything’ Paltrow is promoting million-dollar condos in Israel, during an active genocide,” the account Saint Hoax told its 3.4 million followers on Instagram, in a widely shared post. (The comment quoted Paltrow’s remarks this week describing her political outlook.)

Saint Hoax called the actress “Gwynicide Paltrow” and said the ad represented the “goopification of settler colonialism,” a reference to Paltrow’s lifestyle brand Goop.

Raven Schwam-Curtis, an anti-Zionist Jewish influencer, made a similar point on TikTok — adding that she believed Paltrow’s appearance was antithetical to Jewish values.

“In a moment where Israel has displaced millions of Lebanese and Palestinian people, unalived countless folks, and literally committed a genocide, doing an advertisement for luxury real estate near miles [sic] from a flattened Gaza is a very bizarre decision,” Schwam-Curtis said in her........

© The Times of Israel