Gadot backs Israeli actress in political row
JERUSALEM: Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot has leapt to defend a fellow actress who was chided by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for challenging his party's treatment of Arab citizens.
Mr Netanyahu and his Likud party have been accused of using scare tactics and demonising Israel's Arab population ahead of the April 9 elections in a bid to motivate their right-wing base.
"Love your neighbour as yourself," Israeli-born Gadot wrote on Instagram on late Sunday after popular Israeli model and actress Rotem Sela received online abuse from the public and a personal reprimand from Mr Netanyahu.
"This isn't a matter of right or left. Jew or Arab. Secular or religious," Gadot added.
"It's a matter of dialogue... for peace and security and of our tolerance of one towards the other."
Sela fired off an angry Instagram post on Saturday after watching right-wing firebrand Culture Minister Miri Regev on TV. Mrs Regev stated Likud's line, warning voters in the April elections not to choose its main opponents because if elected it would form an alliance with Israeli Arab parties in Parliament - a highly unlikely scenario.
"When the hell will someone in this government convey to the public that Israel is a state of all its citizens and that all people were created equal?" Sela wrote. "Even the Arabs - believe it or not - are human beings."
Israeli Arabs make up 17.5 per cent of the population. - AFP
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