Ryan and Hoffman Will Not Appear at Jerusalem Film Festival, Organizers Say

Meg Ryan
Dustin Hoffman

11:12 a.m. | Updated

Organizers of the Jerusalem Film Festival said Meg Ryan had canceled a scheduled appearance at the event and Dustin Hoffman had withdrawn from discussions to participate in it, joining a growing number of artists and performers who have dropped their trips to Israel in recent weeks.

Yigal Molad Hayo, the associate director of the Jerusalem Cinematheque, the primary theater where the film festival is held, told the The Jerusalem Post that Ms. Ryan’s representatives said a scheduling conflict was to blame for the actress’s cancellation.

But Mr. Molad Hayo said he believed the recent raid by Israeli commandos on a Gaza-bound flotilla played a role in the decision.

“A day after the flotilla incident we got an e-mail saying she was not going to attend, and although they claimed it was because she was too busy, it was clear to me that it probably had something to do with what had happened,” Mr. Molad Hayo said.

Regarding Mr. Hoffman, Mr. Molad Hayo said, “We were very close to reaching an agreement with him, then the flotilla happened and correspondence was ended.”

A representative for Mr. Hoffman said in an e-mail message that there was “no truth” to the Jerusalem Post report. A representative for Ms. Ryan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In June, the rock bands the Pixies, Gorillaz and the Klaxons withdrew from a Tel Aviv music festival that took place days after the raid. In May, Elvis Costello canceled two concerts he was to have performed in Israel this summer, citing the complexities of the continuing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.