Was she expected to attend or not? In recent days, controversy has surrounded Gal Gadot’s presence at the Venice Film Festival, where the film "In the Hand of Dante"—in which she stars alongside Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, John Malkovic, and others—will be screened out of competition.
Earlier this week, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported that Gadot would not attend, citing protests by Italian filmmakers and cultural figures against Israel. However, the international actress has now clarified that she never planned to attend the festival in the first place.
Unusually, Gadot shared an Instagram story reposting Jewish businessman and influencer Ari Ackerman, who reinforced the claim that her invitation had not been canceled since she was never scheduled to appear. The film’s publicity office also confirmed to Ynet that Gadot was not expected to attend.
The issue surfaced after more than 1,500 Italian filmmakers and cultural figures—including prominent directors Marco Bellocchio, Matteo Garrone, and Alba Rohrwacher—signed a petition demanding that the festival leadership “acknowledge the genocide and ethnic cleansing taking place in Gaza.”
The petition declared: “Stop the clocks, turn off the stars. The burden is too much to carry on living as before. For almost two years now, images of unmistakable clarity have been reaching us from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Incredulous and helpless, we keep witnessing the torment of a genocide carried out live by the State of Israel in Palestine. No one will ever be able to say: ‘I couldn’t know, I couldn’t imagine, I couldn’t believe.’”