DUBAI: Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence addressed the situation in Gaza during a press conference at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain this week, describing it as “no less than a genocide.”

Lawrence, in town to present her new film “Die My Love” and to receive the Donostia Award, faced repeated questions about the conflict.

“I’m terrified and it’s mortifying,” she said. “What’s happening is no less than a genocide and it’s unacceptable. I’m terrified for my children, for all of our children.

“I mean, the kids who are voting right now at 18, it’s going to be totally normal to them that politics has no integrity. Politicians lie, there is no empathy,” she added. “And everybody needs to remember that when you ignore what’s happening on one side of the world, it won’t be long until it’s on your side as well.”

Lawrence also told journalists that it should not fall on artists to solve the world’s political problems.

“I wish that there was something I could say, something that I could do to fix this extremely complex and disgraceful situation. It breaks my heart,” she said. “But the reality is, our fear in speaking too much or answering too many of these questions is that my words will just be used to add more fire and rhetoric to something that is in the hands of our elected officials.

“I just want people to stay focused on who is responsible and the things that they can do and when they need to show up and vote, and not let the actors and the artists who are trying to express freedom of art, freedom of speech take the heat for the individuals that are actually responsible,” she added.