Jon Voight condemns daughter Angelina Jolie’s stance on Israel-Palestine: ‘These people are not refugees’
The ‘Midnight Cowboy’ star claimed Jolie has been ‘influenced by antisemitic people’
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Jon Voight has criticized his daughter Angelina Jolie’s stance on the Israel-Palestine war, claiming that her views have been “influenced by antisemitic people.”
The Midnight Cowboy star and Jolie, whom he shared with his late ex-wife Marcheline Bertrand, have famously had a fractious relationship.
In November, actor Jolie, who is also a prominent humanitarian activist and former special envoy of the UN High Commission for Refugees, shared a post accusing Israel of “deliberately bombing children, women, families, deprived of food, medicine, and humanitarian aid” in violation of international law.
At the time, Voight, a staunch Israel supporter, slammed Jolie’s views in a fiery statement, saying that he was “disappointed that my daughter... has no understanding of God’s honor, God’s truth.”
In a new interview with Variety, Voight further condemned Jolie’s position, arguing that “she has been exposed to propaganda.”
“She’s been influenced by antisemitic people,” he said. “Angie has a connection to the UN, and she’s enjoyed speaking out for refugees. But these people are not refugees.”
Voight continued: “I love my daughter. I don’t want to fight with my daughter. But the fact is, I think she has been influenced by the UN From the beginning, it’s been awful with human rights. They call it human rights, but it’s just anti-Israel bashing.
“She’s ignorant of what the real stakes are and what the real story is because she’s in the loop of the United Nations.”
Again, arguing Jolie’s views come “from ignorance, like everything else,” he said: “It’s like, why are these kids in the universities siding with Hamas, right? It’s because of ignorance. They don’t know the story.”
When asked why he doesn’t try and speak to her about their political differences rather than attack them on social media, Voight explained: “It’s hard for me to talk to her about this. She doesn’t really want to share this kind of stuff, because she’s of another mind about it.”
A source close to Jolie told Variety that the Maleficent actor “wishes [Voight] well but does not speak about him publicly.”
The Independent has contacted Jolie’s representatives for comment.
Despite Voight’s criticisms, Jolie has maintained her support for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Some 1,400 Israelis, many of whom were civilians, were killed on October 7 when Hamas launched a surprise attack over the border. Since then, the Health Ministry in Gaza says over 39,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the nine-month war.
“What happened in Israel is an act of terror. But that cannot justify the innocent lives lost in bombing a civilian population in Gaza that has nowhere to go, no access to food or water, no possibility of evacuation, and not even the basic human right to cross a border to seek refuge,” Jolie wrote on Instagram in November.
“Because of my work with refugees for 20 years, my focus is on the people displaced by violence in any context,” she continued. “Gaza has a population of over 2 million people (half of them children), who have lived under a severe blockade for nearly two decades, on top of decades of displacement and statelessness. The few aid trucks that are entering are a fraction of what is needed (and was delivered daily before the present conflict), and the bombings are causing desperate new humanitarian need daily.
Jolie added: “The denial of aid, fuel and water is collectively punishing a people. Humanity demands an immediate ceasefire. Palestinian and Israeli lives – and the lives of all people globally – matter equally.”
Up until her mother’s death from ovarian cancer in 2007, Jolie had been estranged from her father. They reconciled after her death, and in 2017, Jolie told The Hollywood Reporter that she and her father now have a good relationship, stating that they “have gotten to know each other – through grandchildren now.”
She also told Vanity Fair that same year that Voight supported her amid her bitter split with Brad Pitt, from whom she filed for divorce in 2016. Jolie said Vought was “very good at understanding” that her children needed a grandfather.