It was just a few days ago, while driving down the Ayalon, Tel Aviv’s main highway, that I began to notice one billboard after another, showing a new high-rise complex called 51 Park. Alongside the buildings was a very attractive blonde model who bore an amazing resemblance to actress Gwyneth Paltrow.
Doing a double-take, after seeing her signature next to her image, I couldn’t imagine what her connection was to new Israeli construction. Turns out her father, Bruce Paltrow, was Jewish.
Having grown up in a mixed Christian/Jewish household, Gwyneth, married to Jewish television producer Brad Falchuk, has previously spoken about her roots, but more publicly so since October 7, expressing support for the hostages taken by Hamas terrorists. And now, Paltrow lent her face to a Herzliya real estate project.
Predictably, Paltrow was met with the rage elicited by anyone who dares to connect themselves to Israel. Merciless X/Twitter posts appeared, accusing the actress of supporting genocide. One read, “Gwyneth Paltrow promotes $10 million penthouses in Herzliya while Gaza burns and Lebanon bleeds.”
Those fake accusations of Gaza burning and Lebanon bleeding jarred my memory to another recent story in the wake of the televised guilty verdict of Karmelo Anthony, a 19-year-old black Texas teen who fatally stabbed a 17-year-old at a track meet in 2025.
A podcast featuring controversial Texas congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, along with other guests, discussed what they believed to be an unfair 35-year sentence for the death of the boy. What became apparent were the lack of details surrounding the tragic incident and the weapon used to kill the youth.
Crockett, despite being an attorney, appeared unprepared for the broadcast, not knowing any of the facts. After hearing a few of the women describe the weapon as a small pocket knife, with tiny scissors, the congresswoman made up her mind that this should not have even been considered a deadly weapon.
Proceeding to make the case of self-defense, Crockett reasoned that if a man twice her weight were to throw her to the ground and attack her, every means available would be permissible in trying to defend herself.
The problem with the story was that none of what she said bore any resemblance to the facts of what happened to 17-year-old Austin Metcalf, who died instantly from the stab wound inflicted upon him just for questioning why Anthony was standing under the tent of a high school he did not attend.
Crockett’s pathetic attempt sought to advance an agenda, based on an imaginary set of circumstances, which never occurred but which she, nonetheless, tried to apply to the story of a black teenager who, in her mind, was the victim of injustice for having been found guilty.
Two stories that share the same principle
Gwyneth Paltrow, accused of being a supporter of genocide by accusers who would not be able to furnish anyone with the actual facts surrounding October 7, how the people of Gaza supported a terrorist organization as their governing leaders, or what those same terrorists did to their own people by purposely withholding food and humanitarian aid earmarked for Gazans.
With no frame of reference or historical background, as it relates to the modern-day state of Israel, Paltrow’s accusers, similar to Crockett, are running with an imaginary, fake story that has absolutely no basis in truth. But none of that matters when the version put before the public advances a political or social agenda intended to shift outcomes.
Suddenly, the hunted become the hunters. The perpetrators turn into the victims, and the evildoers are seen as freedom fighters and the long-suffering underclass whose years of oppression serve as justification for a brutal, savage attack.
What is, perhaps, the most astounding thing in this Paltrow story is that, after nearly three years of the spread of vicious and virulent antisemitism, the actress probably didn’t consider what the price might be to advertise a project in Israel. For the crime of appearing on a Tel Aviv billboard, her career may be irreparably damaged.
After all, who will want to hire the woman who is not ashamed to be linked to construction in the Jewish homeland? It’s good that she was paid a whopping $10 million to lend her image and name to the project, because she may now have to rely upon these types of appearances to earn a living.
But putting aside the financial aspects of the transaction, and assuming Paltrow doesn’t have to worry about money as a result of her extremely successful film career, how will she be able to show her face to her Hollywood peers?
Residing in Montecito, California, home to many A-listers, billionaires, and even royalty, including Oprah Winfrey, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Ellen DeGeneres, Ariana Grande, Rob Lowe, Katy Perry, and many others, who would want to be seen with a half-Jewish woman who has been accused of supporting a genocidal nation?
Wouldn’t such an association hurt their brand? Will Paltrow suddenly find herself labeled a liability, disenfranchised from the lavish parties of the top echelons of society? How many of these rich and famous will have the courage needed to be seen in her company? And how long before being a friend of a genocide supporter comes back to bite them?
Paltrow could very well find herself as a pariah, an outcast of Hollywood, shunned and rejected by her own, all for the ignorant and deceptive accusations that were meant to paint Israel as the evil terrorists who have systematically plotted to eradicate Gazans.
It is this fabricated lie that haters of Israel and the Jewish people are counting on, knowing that those who run with the invented narrative will never stop to check if any of those fictional facts are based in truth.
Fortunate to have a ready-made audience of low-information individuals who have been brainwashed to believe that Hamas killers are the good guys, fabricated stories can now provide the edge to further their hatred and smear anyone – even a famous actress.
What Gwyneth Paltrow probably never expected was that this billboard campaign could result in her becoming the next casualty in this war of fake accusations that are no less lethal than the real weapons of war.
The writer is a former Jerusalem elementary and middle school principal. She is the author of Mistake-Proof Parenting, available on Amazon, based on the time-tested wisdom found in the Book of Proverbs.
