TL;DR – Goes to show how animosity between countries can affect pop culture too.
PHOTO: WARNER BROS
Wonder Woman opens soon in cinemas around the world – except maybe Lebanon.
The country is seeking to ban the new movie based on the DC Comics character because its lead actress, Gal Gadot, is an Israeli. The two countries are officially at war and Lebanon has a decades-old law that boycotts Israeli products and bars Lebanese citizens from travelling or having contact with Israelis.
Gal Gadot is a former model and Miss Israel who served her mandatory two-year military service in Israel before launching her acting career. She had also praised Israel’s military in 2014 during the Gaza-Israel war, sending her love and prayers to fellow Israeli citizens.
She has appeared in the Fast and Furious movies, none of which were banned in Lebanon.
The same campaigners, however, sought to ban Batman vs. Superman in which she appeared as Wonder Woman. It was eventually still shown in Lebanese cinemas.
This is absolutely stupid…if the Lebanese ban the Wonder Woman movie, then they are standing up in the world community and saying “We are the problem” rather than “We are the solution”.