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Rabbi Steve Leder Criticizes Adam Brody Over Gaza 'Genocide' Remarks
Rabbi Steve Leder, a technical advisor on Netflix's 'Nobody Wants This,' publicly rebuked series star Adam Brody for calling Israel's actions in Gaza 'genocide,' calling his comments ignorant and flippant. Other Jewish groups also condemned Brody's remarks.
Rabbi Steve Leder, who served as a technical advisor for the first season of Netflix's «Nobody Wants This,» publicly criticized series star Adam Brody on Tuesday for saying he believes Israel is committing «genocide» in Gaza. In an Instagram video addressed directly to the actor, Leder called Brody's comments «ignorant» and accused him of mischaracterizing the situation and treating the term flippantly.
«Hi Adam, you might not remember me. My name is Rabbi Steve Leder, and I was the technical advisor for Season 1 of 'Nobody Wants This,'» Leder began. «My job was to make sure that your character was authentic and that everything in Season 1 about Judaism was authentic.» He then turned to Brody's recent remarks, saying: «Your pronouncement the other day about a 'genocide in Gaza' was truly shocking. Not only because of your misuse and mischaracterization of your use of the word genocide — there is no genocide in Gaza, there are genocides in other countries happening, but you failed to mention any of them.»
Leder, who advised on the series in which Brody plays a rabbi, also took issue with the actor's self-described level of knowledge. «You, by your own admission, are a relatively ignorant Jew, and your ignorance really showed the other day,» Leder said. «If you're going to use a word like 'genocide,' you ought to know what it means.» He added that being «so flippant about a word like 'genocide' — 'Hey, put me down for genocide,' like you're asking for a table for two at Craig's — is disgusting.» Leder concluded with a pointed piece of advice: «If you know nothing about something, you should say nothing about it.»
Brody, who plays a rabbi in the series, recently told GQ magazine that he believes Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. «Put me down as thinking it's a genocide,» Brody said. «Put me down as wanting a free Palestine. It's awful that it's taken so much death and misery, but it does feel like it's reaching a breaking point that it should have a while ago. I'm hopeful that another administration can really do some good and correct some of these policies that are helping that situation be as awful as it is.»
Fox News Digital reached out to Brody's representatives for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Rabbi Yaakov Menken, executive vice president of the Coalition for Jewish Values, also condemned Brody's remarks in a statement to Fox News Digital, calling him «ignorant» for labeling Israel's actions in Gaza as «genocide.» «One of the hallmarks of antisemitism is to irrationally regard Jews as a threat. While Hamas was holding, torturing, raping and murdering hostages, only a bigot would call the effort to free those hostages 'genocide,'» Menken said. «An ignorant Jew is no less likely than anyone else to fall prey to hateful indoctrination.» He added that «as even photographer Motaz Azaiza now admits, Hamas could have ended the conflict in Gaza at any moment, simply by releasing the hostages. In no genocide in history have the victims controlled the off switch.» Menken also criticized what he described as a pattern of prominent Jewish leftists using their identity to express antisemitic views on social media.
The Israeli-American Council also issued a statement expressing «revulsion at the ignorant and harmful statement» made by Brody. «Lies like this are not just fake news, they incite violence that can lead to the murder of innocent Jews,» the organization said. «Just today, Israeli passengers narrowly escaped death from what is being called an attempted terrorist attack on a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv. That's the reality Israelis and Jews live with every day.»
The controversy comes amid heightened tensions over celebrity commentary on the Israel-Hamas war. Leder's video and the statements from Jewish organizations reflect a broader pushback against public figures who use the term «genocide» to describe Israel's military campaign in Gaza, a charge Israel and its supporters strongly reject. Brody has not publicly responded to the criticism.
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