A victory for Palestine, courtesy of Hollywood

A year ago Israel offered Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jennifer Lawrence and other Hollywood stars all-expenses paid luxury trips, but it seems they have chosen to miss their cues.
Campaigners are claiming victory as it appears none of the 26 Oscars stars offered a free personalized tour valued at up to $55,000 has visited.
The offer, part of gift bags given out by a marketing firm around the time of the 2016 Oscars each worth an estimated $200,000 and including other items such as ultra-expensive toilet paper, sparked a backlash.
Campaign groups accused Israel of trying to use the celebrities to gain positive coverage and downplay alleged abuses in the occupied Palestinian territories.
A few days ahead of the 2017 ceremony on Sunday, it appears none of the nominees has visited themselves.
Hunger Games star Lawrence did take up the offer but gave it to her parents, said the agency that came up with the idea.
“This is a success,” said Yousef Munayyer of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, which ran the campaign against the visits along with American organization Jewish Voice for Peace.
“I am very glad there’s no evidence that people went. I think it is clear the objective of using the actors to whitewash Israel has failed.”
US-based campaigners placed adverts in the Los Angeles Times and urged the actors to #skipthetrip on social media.
Campaigners then monitored traditional and social media to see if any of the celebrities made public trips.
“So far we have not seen any,” Munayyer said.
Mark Rylance, winner of the Best Supporting Actor and a long-time critic of Israeli policies, confirmed to AFP he would not visit.
Dan Rothem, a researcher on US-Israel relations, said Israel wanted to use celebrities “as a way to break the impression there is some sort of isolation or boycott.”

Source: Arab News