As you probably already know, actress Gal Gadot is Israeli. She served in the Israeli Defense Forces as all young people in the country are required to do. Today, as Palestinians are shooting rockets at Israel and Israel is responding with air strikes, Gadot tried to offer some hope for peace.
— Gal Gadot (@GalGadot) May 12, 2021
You can’t read the comments to that tweet because she locked them. However, there are still about 74k quote tweets responding to this and I’d estimate about 85-90% of those are negative. Actually, calling them negative undersells the kind of responses she is getting. It would be more accurate to call them filled with rage. A few samples…
Since when the fuck yall neighbors. Dont u dare call them neighbours when you served in the IDF you dumbass colonizer https://t.co/ZlvQpnyaP7
— jesssss (@j3zleen) May 12, 2021
Some people were particularly upset that she said “our neighbors” instead of “the Palestinians.”
This bitch served in the IDF and has the audacity to say “our neighbours” https://t.co/UyCKBKl9jV
— نـــادية (@angelspit9) May 12, 2021
have you considered not being a spokesperson for a genocidal entity https://t.co/ATZQOSJE06
— Ethnic Cleansing is happening in Sheikh Jarrah (@linaposting) May 12, 2021
I’m not even sure what this means but it doesn’t sound nice.
suck ur mum https://t.co/MrmcIgNMjE
— natasha (@tashteshtish) May 12, 2021
On and on it goes.
rot in hell https://t.co/E65IJgoRbR
— miwa (@starkidmayra) May 12, 2021
don’t you dare say we’re neighbors when you served in the IDF you colonizer https://t.co/KC3VTtNjHE
— halal leen ᡕᠵ᠊ᡃ່࡚ࠢ࠘ ⸝່ࠡࠣ᠊߯᠆ࠣ࠘ᡁࠣ࠘᠊᠊ࠢ࠘𐡏~♡ (@add1ctedtoleen) May 12, 2021
All that comes through in some cases is the rage.
Your pray is not accepted.. u doomed and hell as u shall u be! There is no country to begin with! Such delusional! Even German won’t accept u! https://t.co/zFvm2uuvfI
— POÈN SuifuZaR (@adi_zarul) May 12, 2021
I’m actually pulling out the semi-coherent ones, believe it or not. I’ve skipped over dozens of tweets from people with <50 followers who are just stringing together four-letter words. Cenk Uygur has a solution for the conflict: Stop being racist.
The solution is actually very easy. Let the Palestinians go! Israel has occupied them in open-air prisons for over five decades. And the reason they've stated is that Palestinians cannot be trusted to govern themselves. That is explicitly racist. Stop being racist & free them. https://t.co/pgfUDAF5W5
— Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) May 12, 2021
I’m sure Hamas terrorists would enjoy the freedom to go wherever they liked. Of course not everyone is attacking Gadot. There are a few people confused over what was so objectionable about her statement and others who agree with it. But stuff like this is a tiny minority of the responses.
God bless @GalGadot https://t.co/7bQ79MbQt1
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 12, 2021
My own take is that this prayer for peace is reminiscent of that cringe-worthy Imagine video Gadot created last year. In this case, I don’t think the sentiment itself is nearly as obnoxious though I guess you could argue it’s still a bit self-absorbed.
But mostly it’s a kind of a generic wish for better days. It’s not interesting enough to be really offensive. And yet, there are tens of thousands of angry people lashing out at this actress because she’s the enemy. And let’s face it, she’s the enemy mostly because she’s Israeli. Any Israeli who said this would be hated just as much and by the same people. Gadot is just more famous and attracts a lot more haters.
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