Wonder Woman is a new superhero movie based off the DC Comics of the same name; with its recent release, it has received a lot of both praise and backlash from the public. The praise coming from the fact that it’s one of the few women superhero movies that is all about female empowerment. And the backlash coming from the fact ‘Wonder Woman’ is played by Gal Gadot, a Zionist.
Zionism is defined in the dictionary as “a worldwide Jewish movement that resulted in the establishment and development of the state of Israel.”, yet that “development” of Israel includes the invasion and Israeli occupation of Palestine and entails the killings of thousands of innocent citizens of Palestine. Therefore a “Zionist’ is someone who supports said invasion of Palestine and mass murders of innocent Palestinians by the Israeli Military, which Gal Gadot has shown her support for in a Facebook post.
Gal Gadot has not only been open in her support of the Israeli Military but she also was a former soldier for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for two years and, although many may try and justify her Zionism by stating that she’s “just a person” and she’s “not responsible for what Israel does”, her support and advocation of the oppression and murdering of innocent Palestinians on her huge platform says otherwise. Gal Gadot essentially stands for everything the morals of the character she plays is against.
This is why Wonder Woman’s success is so damaging, I mean it’s already damaging enough that Hollywood has basically given her a free pass on her Zionism and genocide apologist views and allowed her to play one of the biggest female characters of the decade, but it makes it even worse when she and the movie are both thriving in immense success and profit. Hollywood is profiting off a Zionist actress and that shouldn’t sit right with anyone, yet somehow Wonder Woman reached $500 million worldwide in Box Office.
And this isn’t new, Hollywood — for years — has profited off domestic abusers, people with years of sexual harassment allegations and people who are open about their racist, sexist and homophobic views. They continue to ignore their actions and make profits off them no matter how damaging because the public is still paying to see these movies and white feminists are still admiring Gal Gadot because they are not directly affected by her actions or views. Therefore, Hollywood will continue casting these types of people because the general public doesn’t care about their bigoted views and will continue to pay to see them.
To conclude, Lebanon, Algeria, Jordan and Tunisia banned Wonder Woman from showing in their cinemas and not because they’re against female empowerment but because they’re against the murder of innocent civilians. And, while white feminists continue to only fixate on Gal Gadot’s armpits and the fact she shot the movie while being pregnant instead of her pro-IDF views, innocent Palestinians will continue to die and Palestine will remain occupied by the Israeli Military. It’s okay to differentiate the actor from the character, but not when the actor is racist, homophobic, sexist, a domestic abuser, an alleged rapist or a Zionist.
