Israeli-born actress Gal Gadot is speaking out about the criticism she received after publicly voicing her support for Israel following the October 7 attacks in 2023. Speaking to Variety in anticipation of receiving her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Gadot, who is also Jewish, addressed the controversy her remarks in support of hostages taken during the attack caused. “There is a challenge for people to speak on social media because there is so much hate going on and so many bots and so many angry people that are looking for a cause,” she said.

She also acknowledged how speaking out on October 7 was a rare circumstance for her. “After October 7^th [2023], I don’t talk politics — because who cares about the celebrity talking about politics?” she asked, adding that her goal is “to bring hope and be a beacon of light whenever I say anything about the world.” “But on October 7th, when people were abducted from their homes, from their beds, men, women, children, elderly, Holocaust survivors, were going through the horrors of what happened that day, I could not be silent,” she said. “I was shocked by the amount of hate, by the amount of how much people think they know when they actually have no idea, and also by how the media is not fair many times. So I had to speak up.”

However, after Gadot spoke out against the attacks, she was met with criticism from pro-Palestinian supporters. Yet for Gadot, the support is personal. “I’m not a hater. I’m a grandchild of a Holocaust survivor who came to Israel and established his family from scratch after his entire family was erased in Auschwitz. And on the other side of my family, I’m eighth generation Israeli. I’m an indigenous person of Israel,” she said. The pushback has only encouraged her to speak out more against antisemitism. This has lead to her accepting the International Leadership Award during a recent summit by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). “This is a time when many of us in the Jewish community have had to find our voice and confront the hatred against us, even if it’s extremely uncomfortable. That’s been the case for all of us in every walk of life, in every profession, including my own,” she said.

Her support led to disruptions before her Hall of Fame star ceremony when pro-Israel and pro-Palestine supporters clashed. Palestine supporters could be heard shouting, “Up up with liberation, down down with occupation” and “Not another nickel, not another dime, no more money for Israel’s crime.” One supporter, Roma Ealaicos, cited the deaths of Gazan residents since October 7. “There’s no reason we should be celebrating an Israeli,” he said. Dana Nikri, spoke in support of Israel. “They come [to] our home and take us from our home and give us dead children,” she said, adding, “We don’t start war, we don’t want war at all.”