Gal Gadot says post-Oct. 7 surge in hate inspired her to speak against antisemitism
Israeli actress also emphasizes her strong Jewish identity while accepting International Leadership Award at ADL conference
Israeli actress Gal Gadot proudly discussed her Jewish identity and her renewed efforts to speak out against antisemitism while accepting an award at the Anti-Defamation League’s annual summit this week.
“I’m Israeli. And I’m Jewish,” Gadot said, to thunderous applause from the crowd gathered at the ADL’s “Never is Now” conference in New York. “I’m going to say it again. My name is Gal, and I’m Jewish. Isn’t it crazy that just saying that — just expressing such a simple fact about who I am — feels like a controversial statement? But, sadly, this is where we’re at today.”
The “Wonder Woman” star delivered her speech Tuesday to the conference’s more than 4,000 attendees at the Javits Center in New York City after being presented with the ADL’s International Leadership Award.
Ever since Hamas’s shock attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Gadot said, she has felt compelled to speak out on issues such as the global silence surrounding sexual violence against women on that day and about the terror group’s ongoing atrocities.
In the past, she said, she generally avoided speaking about political issues. After October 7, however, things changed.
“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,” she said. “That’s been the case for all of us in every walk of life, in every profession, including my own.”
Gadot spoke about her family background, noting that she comes from a Holocaust survivor grandfather on her mother’s side and an eighth-generation Israeli family on her father’s side.
She talked about attending a synagogue in Los Angeles soon after October 7, and how that experience helped her feel the embrace of the Jewish community, even if she is “not a religiously observant person,” as she put it.
“I felt at home, among family,” she said.
She also forcefully advocated for the hostages who remain in Gaza, saying “we have to bring them home.”
The ADL said it recognized Gadot for using her platform to amplify the voices of survivors, call for the release of hostages, and hold global institutions accountable for addressing violence against Israeli women.
Jewish actor David Schwimmer, of “Friends” fame, also spoke at the summit.
Schwimmer called out others in entertainment – including Jewish actors whose careers have benefited from them leaning into their own Jewish identities – who have chosen to “sit this one out.”
“I wish you would stand up. I wish you would speak out, because your voice would be so meaningful to your fans who love you,” he said, before calling up the ADL’s annual “Heroes Against Hate” award recipients. “To your community members who need you, to folks who need just a little solidarity right now from people they respect and look up to.”
Such people do not have to take a political stand, he said, but can simply say they stand with their Jewish friends and neighbors against hatred and discrimination.
