Gal Gadot is shutting down claims that she ‘refused’ to present the Best Documentary Oscar to Pro-Palestinian film No Other Land at Sunday’s ceremony.
The Israeli actress was swept up in the rumor mill after a viral post on social media claimed that she’d pulled out of presenting the award to the documentary.
The post falsely implied that the actress – who is one of Hollywood’s most vocal supporters of Israel – had pulled out of presenting the award because No Other Land highlights the plight of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
However, her representatives told DailyMail.com that the rumors were completely untrue, and that Gadot was never scheduled to present Best Documentary.
Instead, the Wonder Woman actress presented the Best Visual Effects award alongside her Snow White co-star Rachel Zegler, which was always planned.
Gal Gadot has shut down claims that she refused to present the Best Documentary Oscar to Pro-Palestinian film No Other Land at Sunday’s ceremony
The Wonder Woman actress presented the Best Visual Effects award alongside her Snow White co-star Rachel Zegler, which was always scheduled
Selena Gomez and Samuel L Jackson handed out the Best Documentary Oscar to No Other Land.
No Other Land’s director Basel Adra was heckled as he delivered an impassioned critique of Donald Trump’s foreign policy relating to the Israel-Palestine crisis during his acceptance speech for the documentary.
Adra gripped the Oscar for the harrowing documentary, which captured the plight of Palestinians throughout the ongoing war with Israel – dating long before October 7.
But as he slammed ‘this administration’s foreign policy’ for blocking the path to peace, a member of the crowd shouted ‘get rid of Hamas’, according to a Vulture reporter who heard the interaction.
Adra is a Palestinian activist who created the film documenting how he made sense of the destruction of his homeland in the West Bank alongside Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham.
Speaking to the crowd of Hollywood bigwigs, Abraham said: ‘When I look at Basel, I see my brother. But we are unequal. We live in a regime where I am free under civilian law, and Basel is under military law that destroys his life and he cannot control.
‘There is a different path. A political solution without ethnic supremacy with national rights for both of our people… the foreign policy in this country is helping to block this path.’
‘Why?’ he asked as the crowd cheered. ‘Can’t you see that we are intertwined, that my people can be truly safe if Basel’s people are truly free… There is another way. It is not too late.’
No Other Land highlights the plight of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank
Selena Gomez and Samuel L Jackson handed out the Best Documentary Oscar to No Other Land
Adra was equally impassioned about the plight of Gazans during his speech, expressing his desire for his two month old daughter to grow up in a safer world than he did.
‘Two months ago I became a father, and my hope to my daughter is that she will not have to live the same life I’m living now,’ he said.
‘The harsh reality we have been enduring for decades and still resist,’ he continued.
‘We call on the world to take serious actions to stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people.’
Despite No Other Land now being an Oscar winning film and enjoying buzz for several months leading up to the big night, it has failed to secure an American distribution contract.
The filmmakers have said that the film is being blocked from US distribution for ‘political’ reasons.
‘We’re obviously talking about the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank, and it’s very ugly… The conversation in the United States appears to be far less nuanced — there is much less space for this kind of criticism, even when it comes in the form of a film,’ Abraham told Variety.
Trump shocked the world when he revealed he had ambitions to turn Gaza into the Riviera of the Middle East.
No Other Land’s director Basel Adra was heckled after calling for an end to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians during his acceptance speech
More than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched strikes in the wake of the October 7 Hamas terror attack
‘I’m committed to buying and owning Gaza,’ he said in February.
In his vision, US reconstruction would create thousands of jobs and spare Palestinians the pain and expense of rebuilding once again.
He claimed his plans were based on humanitarian ideals, but has sparked outcry from his critics and foreign leaders who say it amounts to ‘ethnic cleansing’ of the two million Palestinians who call Gaza home.
Control of the territory has been one of the key flashpoints in the Arab-Israeli conflict, triggering waves of violence and spreading instability through the region for decades.
More than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched strikes in the wake of the October 7 Hamas terror attack.
The figures are from last year, and are made up primarily of women and children.
In a peer-reviewed study published in The Lancet journal last year, authors believe the real death toll to be 41% higher than what has been reported, according to NBC.
Various estimates have put the death toll at between 55,000 and 78,000 for the first nine months of the war.