Actor Sydney Sweeney met with freed Israeli hostages Noa Argamani and Avinatan Or, posing for a photo with the pair that began circulating on social media on Tuesday. 

The photo of the three was shared by the Jewish advocacy group StandWithUs on its X and Instagram accounts. It is unclear when or where the meeting took place.

While the social media posts did not divulge how the get-together was organized, Sweeney, one of Hollywood’s biggest young actors, has been dating Jewish investor and music executive Scooter Braun, who has become friends with Argamani since her rescue from Hamas captivity in Gaza in June 2024. 

Braun has become more involved in pro-Israel activism since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, helping finance and organize the exhibition, “06:29 am: The Moment Music Stood Still,” a traveling exhibit honoring the victims of Hamas’ massacre at the Nova music festival. His friendship with Argamani first made headlines in September 2024, when Braun brought her to the Global Citizen Festival in New York to help her advocate for the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza, including Or, her boyfriend. (Or was eventually released in October 2025.)

Sweeney has largely avoided discussing political matters publicly. Most recently, she initially refrained from weighing in as the controversy swirled last summer surrounding her American Eagle’s “great jeans” ad campaign, which used a double entendre that drew accusations of promoting eugenics.

The actor made headlines in November after she declined to apologize to those offended by the ad. “When I have something to say, you will hear from me,” Sweeney told GQ at the time.

“I knew at the end of the day what that ad was for, and it was great jeans,” she continued, explaining that the situation “didn’t affect me one way or the other.”

Sweeney ultimately decided to speak out last month amid continued backlash to the ad and her decision to stand by it. She told People Magazine that she views herself as a person who “leads with kindness” and wanted to clarify her opposition to hatred. 

“Anyone who knows me knows that I’m always trying to bring people together. I’m against hate and divisiveness,” Sweeney said. “In the past my stance has been to never respond to negative or positive press but recently I have come to realize that my silence regarding this issue has only widened the divide, not closed it.”

The current boycott by Hollywood actors, directors and other industry workers against Israeli counterparts “violates federal and state civil rights laws,” according to a letter distributed on Wednesday by a Jewish civil rights group to major U.S. film industry leaders, Jewish Insider has learned. 

The letter was sent by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law to top studios, distributors, platforms, talent agencies and film festivals — including Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures, Lionsgate, Netflix, Amazon, MGM Studios and Apple Studios. It warns that participation in the “Hollywood Blacklist,” a boycott circulated last month by Film Workers for Palestine that calls for industry professionals to blacklist Israeli artists, companies and institutions, could result in legal consequences. 

The letter was signed by more than 5,000 Hollywood actors, directors, and other industry employees, including industry heavyweights such as Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo. 

Boycotting Israeli institutions would also jeopardize studios’ eligibility for film tax credit status, the letter said, noting that “a production that participates in the Hollywood Boycott may also violate its contractual obligations in connection with receiving state tax breaks.”

The letter cites the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which “prohibits both organizations and individuals from refusing to contract for goods and services with Jews and Jewish businesses operating in the United States,” which it says is “an evident component of the Hollywood Blacklist targeting the Israeli film industry while carving out Palestinian Israelis for different treatment from Jews.” The letter also refers to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on national origin.

While the blacklist claims to only target Israeli institutions deemed “complicit” in denying Palestinian rights, and not individuals, it refers to all but “a few” Israeli film institutions as complicit. Additionally, the letter states that the effort would affect Jewish individuals who work for boycotted films. Discrimination on the basis of national origin is “self-evident,” the Brandeis Center wrote, “since the Hollywood Blacklist exclusively targets ‘Israeli film institutions,’ while non-Israeli film institutions who may be similarly ‘complicit’ in the alleged whitewashing or support for Israel are not subjected to the same scrutiny and shunning.”  

“Boycotting Jews isn’t an original idea, or, thankfully, a legal one in the United States of America,” Rory Lancman, director of corporate initiatives and senior counsel at the Brandeis Center, said in a statement. “We caution Hollywood decision makers against submitting to pressure to effectuate this blatantly illegal blacklist of Jewish Israeli artists and institutions. As we say in our letter, we much prefer to see their work on the screen, and not them in court.”

Since the blacklist petition’s release, approximately 1,200 prominent members of the film industry signed a counterletter, spearheaded by Creative Community For Peace, calling for signers of the original boycott to rethink their stance. Signatories of the counter petition include Mayim Bialik and Debra Messing.

Millions of viewers will be tuning in Sunday evening for the 92nd Academy Awards, the most prestigious prize in Hollywood. Here’s what you should be looking out for at this year’s ceremony:

Laughing at Hitler: “Jojo Rabbit” is up for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for Scarlett Johansson. The film — written, directed and produced by the Jewish phenom Taika Waititi — is about a Nazi youth who discovers his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their attic. The black comedy gets an extra punch from the appearance of the boy’s imaginary friend, Hitler, played by Waititi himself.   

Hebrew watch: Israeli actress Gal Gadot will be presenting an award at the ceremony Sunday night — though she’s unlikely to break out her native tongue. But Quentin Tarantino is up for best director for “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood” — which is also nominated for Best Picture. The director could very well repeat parts of his Golden Globes speech, which included a Hebrew shoutout to his Israeli wife, Daniella Pick, who is due to give birth any day now in Tel Aviv.  

Getting political: After a week capped by the acquittal of President Donald Trump on two articles of impeachment, it would be no surprise to hear acceptance speeches turn political Sunday night. While the Academy Awards tends to be a more staid affair than other recent awards shows, presenters and red carpet walkers may also make known their views on the current state of politics.

Remembering: The Academy rushed to edit its “in memoriam” package to include Kirk Douglas, the Hollywood legend who died on Wednesday at age 103. Douglas never won a competitive Oscar — despite three nominations — but he was awarded an honorary Academy Award in 1996 for his 50 years in the business.