Lebanon bans ‘Justice League’ due to Gal Gadot’s nationality

The Office of the Boycott of Israel has Israeli actress Gal Gadot’s name on a blacklist but has been historically inconsistent when limiting films featuring the Israeli actress.

By JACOB GOFF KLEIN
Updated: DECEMBER 3, 2017 13:29
Justice League (photo credit: COURTESY OF GLOBUS MAX)
Justice League
(photo credit: COURTESY OF GLOBUS MAX)
Grand Cinemas Lebanon took to Twitter on Wednesday to state the Lebanese censorship banned the film Justice League because it features Israeli actress Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman.

"Justice League" Wonder Woman clip. (YouTube/JoBlo Movie Trailers)
This is not the first time Gadot's Israeli background limited a film starring her from showing in an Arab nation.The film Wonder Woman was banned by Qatar, Tunisia, Algeria, Lebanon and other Arab nations specifically because Gadot is Israeli.
According to Lebanese English news website The961.com, The Office of the Boycott of Israel has Gadot’s name on a blacklist but has been historically inconsistent when limiting films featuring the Israeli actress. Considering that Gadot performed in Fast & Furious, Fast Five and Fast & Furious 6 but the Fast & Furious franchise was not boycotted in Lebanese cinema.
Wonder Woman and Justice League belong to a franchise called the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). Other films in the franchise include Man of Steel, Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad but no other film in the franchise besides Wonder Woman and Justice League were targeted for boycott in Lebanon. 
Wonder Woman succeeded in the domestic box and was the highest grossing film of the summer and the second highest grossing film of 2017 despite the boycotts. The film is also a critical success winning numerous awards and launching Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins and Gadot into the pantheons of Hollywood history.
Justice League is currently struggling in the domestic box office losing out to Coco in the five-day Thanksgiving holiday box office so it was relying more on the international box office to recoup the cost.
Lebanon has declared a state of war on Israel and has made interactions with Israelis illegal for all Lebanese citizens but the border remained mostly quiet since 2006.

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Gal Kalev and Reuters contributed to this article.


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