Pedro Almodóvar calls on Sánchez to sever relations with Israel in protest of the "genocide" in Gaza "in the eyes of the entire world."

Filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar has called on the government to sever "diplomatic, commercial, and all other" relations with Israel in protest of the "genocide" in Gaza and calls on Sánchez to convince European allies to join this cause. The director made this statement in a video published this Wednesday on the Instagram account of his production company, El Deseo , accompanied by the hashtags #AccionesYa and #StopGenocide .

"I ask our government to sever diplomatic, commercial, and other relations with the State of Israel in protest at the genocide it is carrying out against the Gazan people in full view of the entire world," said Almodóvar, who asked Sánchez to convince European allies "to do the same and join this resolution."

The filmmaker has encouraged the public to join the initiative and record a video to ask a question or make a petition using the hashtag #AccionesYa . Last June, Almodóvar was one of the 1,800 cultural figures who signed a petition for peace in Gaza. Almodóvar's petition joins the numerous signatures from the film world who this Monday requested a "clear and unequivocal" stance condemning the genocide in Gaza from the Venice Film Festival, which opens this Wednesday.

"The burden is too heavy to continue living as before. For almost two years, unmistakable images have reached us from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We witness, incredulous and powerless, the torment of a genocide perpetrated live by the State of Israel in Palestine," says the letter, which also extends to the Venice Biennale . The letter is signed, among others, by the Italian film director and screenwriter Marco Bellocchio , the actress Laura Morante , the American film director Abel Ferrara , the Italian film director Alice Rohrwacher , and the brothers and actors Toni and Peppe Servillo .

"In Venice, all attention will be focused on the world of cinema; we all have a duty to make known the stories and voices of those who are being massacred, even with the complicit indifference of the West," the professionals add.