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. (Israel denies the allegation.)
“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 from a flattened Gaza is a very bizarre decision,” Schwam-Curtis said in her post on Wednesday. She added, “Do y’all really not see how all this behavior is morally and intellectually inconsistent with the fundamental values we are supposed to share as a Jewish people?”
Schwam-Curtis joined a number of social media users in pointing out that Herzliya is named for Theodor Herzl, the father of modern Zionism, and in noting Paltrow’s history of affiliation with Hadassah, the Zionist woman’s organization. Paltrow’s mother-in-law was the group’s national president from 2007 to 2011, and Paltrow has spoken at Hadassah events.
“That whole family is as Zionist as it gets,” one representative commenter wrote. “Paltrow is not tone deaf, she is just proudly advertising her Jewish supremacism.”
Paltrow’s management did not respond to a request for comment. But the head of the Israeli ad agency that created the campaign for real estate developer Aviv Melisron said the actor was a perfect match for the Park 51 project.
“To bring this architectural masterpiece to the Israeli audience, we needed a figure who effortlessly embodies international elegance, a premium lifestyle, and uncompromising quality,” Gabi Attal of the agency Why Worry posted on LinkedIn. “Enter Academy Award, Emmy, and Golden Globe winner Gwyneth Paltrow.”
Attal did not disclose how much Paltrow was compensated for her appearance. He and Melisron did not respond to requests for comment.
Bertha Merikanskas, a senior publicist at Newsroom PR in Los Angeles who has lived in Israel, said she was unsurprised that Paltrow embraced an Israeli project.
“Gwyneth is one of the few A-list celebrities who has been outspoken about her support for Israel since Oct. 7 and has embraced her Jewish roots publicly,” Merikanskas told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. She added, “It’s refreshing to see A-listers who refuse to bow to pressure.”
Paltrow is the daughter of the late director and producer Bruce Paltrow, who was Jewish and descended from a rabbinical dynasty, and her husband is Jewish. Her brother Jake directed the 2022 film “June Zero” about the capture and trial of Adolf Eichmann. The movie was shot in Israel and filmed in Hebrew.
After Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Paltrow spoke out repeatedly on behalf of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza and, in 2024, publicly participated in a Hanukkah video campaign alongside the Israeli actress and activist Noa Tishby, who for a period was an official spokesperson for Israel in the United States.
“It should come as no surprise,” Merkianskas said, “that she’s not afraid of her name being associated with Israel.”
Paltrow also has a record of weathering barrages of negative public opinion. She has drawn criticism for many of the products promoted by Goop; for saying she “consciously uncoupled” from her ex-husband, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin; and lamenting that she “lost half a day of skiing” in court while responding to a lawsuit from a fellow skier who said she had hurt him when she crashed into him on the slopes in Park City, Utah.
Immediately before the Park 51 ad dropped, Paltrow had ignited criticism from progressives after describing her current political outlook in a June 2 episode of her “Goop Podcast.” The actress who once hosted fundraisers for the Democratic Party offered a summary that could feel familiar to those who have described themselves as “politically homeless” amid surging anti-Israel sentiment among Democrats.
“I’m pretty centrist and my husband thinks I’m a Republican. But I think it’s — which I’m not a Republican,” Paltrow said. “I don’t feel anything right now, to be totally honest with you. I feel like I’m completely an independent.”
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