Star Turns Off Comments After Tweet Backlash

Gal Gadot, movie star and Israeli military veteran, turned off comments after tweeting a plea Wednesday about the Israel-Hamas conflict that struck some as one-sided. "Israel deserves to live as a free and safe nation," she posted. "Our neighbors deserve the same. I pray for the victims and their families. I pray for this unimaginable hostility to end, I pray for our leaders to find the solution so we can live side by side in peace." A few Twitter users of the thousands who responded accused Gadot of supporting ethnic cleansing and genocide, Deadline reports. Others criticized her generic label of "neighbors," per Variety.

Gadot, who served the required two years in the Israeli Defense Forces, also was accused of promoting Israeli propaganda. Other responses said a call for peace shouldn't be criticized. "My heart breaks," Gadot wrote. "My country is at war." Her social media comments have led to disputes in the past, including an exchange with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2019. Lebanon wouldn't allow Wonder Woman to be released there because of Gadot's nationality. Last year, her celebrity-filled effort to instill hope during the pandemic—an "Imagine" singalong—was less than a hit. (More Gal Gadot stories.)