Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot on Wednesday visited a southern Israeli town on the border with Gaza, two weeks after the area was subject to hundreds of rocket attacks from terrorists in the Strip.
The Israeli actress delighted local kids when she made a surprise visit to a school in Netiv HaAsara..
Gadot was also forced to take shelter during the three-day conflict when a rocket was launched at Tel Aviv. She was photographed in a public bomb shelter in the city’s trendy Rothschild Boulevard.
The actress has come under intense criticism in the past for expressing support for Israelis subjected to rocket fire.
In May 2021, Gadot prompted an outcry after a relatively neutral post on social media amid a round of attacks and counter-attacks between Israel and the terrorist-run Gaza Strip.
“My heart breaks,” she wrote in a post shared on Twitter and Instagram. “My country is at war. I worry for my family, my friends. I worry for my people. This is a vicious cycle that has been going on for far too long. Israel deserves to live as a free and safe nation, our neighbors deserve the same. I pray for the victims and their families, I pray for this unimaginable hostility to end, I pray for our leaders to find the solution so we can live side by side in peace. I pray for better days.”
Despite blocking comments on both social media platforms, the post garnered close to 130,000 quote tweets which in turn sparked a firestorm.
“Gal Gadot is wrong. Israel is not at ‘war’ with Palestine. Israel is butchering Palestine. Again,” tweeted musician James Kennedy. He continued:
Israeli soldier turned Hollywood’s Wonder Woman multimillionaire Gal Gadot sends meaningless thoughts and prayers as the Israeli apartheid regime she supports ethnically cleanses Palestinians and bombs Gazans in an open-air prison camp.
“Reminder Gal Gadot served in the IDF for two years where she not only witnessed the ethnic cleansing of Palestine firsthand but also actively supported it,” wrote another user. “How can you advocate to stop the vicious cycle of terror when you are standing on the frontlines enabling it #FreePalestine.”
Gadot’s army service, as that of all Israelis, was mandatory.
File/Miss Israel Gal Gadot waves to photographers 13 May 2004 in Quito during the Miss Universe contest. (MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP via Getty Images)
In the 50-day summer conflict between Israel and the Hamas terror group in 2014, Gadot posted a picture of her lighting Shabbat candles accompanied by a caption expressing support and prayers for Israeli soldiers:
“I am sending my love and prayers to my fellow Israeli citizens. Especially to all the boys and girls who are risking their lives protecting my country against the horrific acts conducted by Hamas, who are hiding like cowards behind women and children…We shall overcome!!! Shabbat Shalom! #weareright #freegazafromhamas #stopterror #coexistance #loveidf”
According to the Hamas-run health ministry, 49 Palestinians were killed in the conflict, which lasted from August 5 – August 8, seventeen of them children. Israel said that at least twelve of the children, and many more of the adults, were killed by errant PIJ rockets.
The PIJ fired more than 1,100 rockets into Israel, of which 200 fell short of their target and fell within the Gaza Strip.
Israel launched the offensive, dubbed Operation Breaking Dawn, to thwart an imminent terror attack by PIJ involving anti-tank missiles.