Gal Gadot talks about antisemitism at Reebok event

But Thursday’s event was mainly focused on fashion and fun, as Gadot posted on her Instagram account, “Had the best morning launching Reebok’s new collection in Tel Aviv!

Gal Gadot at the Met Gala, May 6, 2019 (photo credit: MARIO ANZUONI/REUTERS)
Gal Gadot at the Met Gala, May 6, 2019
(photo credit: MARIO ANZUONI/REUTERS)
At a promotional event for Reebok’s new collection at the Tel Aviv port on Thursday, Gal Gadot said that her decision to consistently spotlight her Israeli identity is in part a response to antisemitism.
When asked by the website Walla! if pride in her “Israeliness” is “some kind of strategy,” Gadot said, “No! If it’s anything, it’s just that I receive so many antisemitic messages and reactions. It’s just that that is who I am. I believe we have no place to hide or lie. Those who love will get it and that’s it.”

In response to a question about why she has chosen to speak out about events in Israel, she said “Israel is important to me, very. In general, I wish for our country to really be in a good place, and that there will be quiet, stability, peace, and tranquility. Because I believe in the end that all the people want it. There are no people who want war, God forbid, and their children to go to the army. So I try to strengthen these messages, the good, and the desire for peace and quiet.”
In March, actress and model Rotem Sela was chastised by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Culture and Sport Miri Regev for her Instagram post critical of the treatment of Israeli Arabs. In response, Gadot posted on her own Instagram in Hebrew reading “Love thy neighbor as thyself. It’s not an issue of Right or Left, Jew or Arab, secular or religious. It’s an issue of dialogue,” above a screenshot of Sela’s post, calling Sela her “sister.”
Thursday’s event was mainly focused on fashion and fun, as Gadot posted on her Instagram, “Had the best morning launching Reebok’s new collection in Tel Aviv! Thank you @reebok for the opportunity To sit down with my friend Mali Levy and talk about the brand’s philosophy of fitness as a transformative and empowering tool and to share our ideas about well-being, innovation, women empowering, and so much more.”
Asked whether she had developed an American accent, she said “I wish!” and that she still prefers to be interviewed in Hebrew rather than in English. She said that she “more or less” feels at home in Hollywood after living mainly there for three years, but she still feels “longings for Israel, for Tel Aviv, for our family, for our friends.”
Talking about whether she had grown accustomed to being spoiled by her star treatment in Hollywood, she laughingly said, “yes, very easily.” The paparazzi are more aggressive in Israel than in America, according to Gadot, but said she is more interested in the gossip at home.
Although she is world-famous as Wonder Woman on the big screen, she admitted that due to the heat wave she didn’t run to the event but rather took a taxi.