Debra Messing Confronts Hollywood Silence, Embraces Israel Ties

Messing: “The most meaningful honor of my career — to stand in Israel, alive, proud, and unafraid.”

By Shula Rosen

Debra Messing is preparing to return to Israel this week, barely more than two years after the Oct. 7 attacks left a lasting mark on her faith, her friendships, and her place in Hollywood.

Messing will accept her award in Tel Aviv later this month, calling it “the most meaningful honor of my career — to stand in Israel, alive, proud, and unafraid.”

At 57, the Emmy-winning actress known to millions as Grace Adler still carries herself with the warmth and humor that made Will & Grace a cultural touchstone.

Yet beneath her familiar smile lies exhaustion — the product of heartbreak, activism, and an industry that, she says, “looked away when Jews were under attack.”

Speaking ahead of her visit to receive a lifetime achievement award at TLVFest, Tel Aviv’s LGBTQ+ film festival, Messing reflected on what she describes as the most difficult years of her life.

She told Ynet “I was at home, turned on the television, and couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing,” she recalled of Oct. 7. “For the first 24 hours everyone seemed united — then it all changed. I was devastated by Hollywood’s response.”

Messing, who grew up in a proud Zionist household, said she expected solidarity from an industry founded largely by Jewish refugees. “Hollywood was built by Jews who escaped the Holocaust,” she said. “I thought it would stand firmly against the massacre, but instead, there was silence — and that silence broke my heart.”

Out of that silence, she helped organize a WhatsApp group for Jewish professionals in entertainment, now thousands strong.

“We wrote to President Biden asking him to bring the hostages home,” she said. “The letter didn’t mention politics, just humanity — and still, people refused to sign. That was my awakening.”

In 2024, Messing traveled to Israel for the first time, visiting kibbutzim destroyed in the attacks and meeting wounded survivors.

“I filmed everything,” she told Ynet. “I went into Gaza with the IDF, saw the tunnels, spoke with hostage families. Posting it unleashed a wave of hate online — but I felt stronger than ever.”

The experience deepened her resolve to create new kinds of stories. “People only seem interested in Jewish life when it’s about dead Jews,” she said. “I want to tell stories about living ones — about love, humor, family, and hope.”

Messing will accept her award in Tel Aviv later this month, calling it “the most meaningful honor of my career — to stand in Israel, alive, proud, and unafraid.”