Kuwait Bans New Film, ‘Death On the Nile,’ Over Israeli Actor Gal Gadot’s Starring Role

Kuwait will ban the showing of Death on the Nile, a new film starring Israeli actor Gal Gadot. The film is scheduled to be released on Friday in the United States. Calls on social media led to the decision to ban the film, Kuwait’s Al-Qabas newspaper reported. The social media users called for the film to be boycotted because Gadot had served, as a fitness instructor, in what the newspaper termed the “Zionist occupation army” and publicly praised her country’s military during the 2014 conflict with Gaza. In a Facebook post, Gadot said she was sending her prayers to the Israeli soldiers “who are risking their lives protecting my country against the horrific acts conducted by Hamas.” Advertising for Death on the Nile sparked particular controversy in Egypt because the film, based on the Agatha Christie novel by the same name, is set in Cairo. Gadot’s iconic film Wonder Woman was banned in Tunisia, Lebanon, and Algeria when it came out in 2017.