Lebanese fans of the Wonder Woman comics will miss out on seeing Gal Gadot take on Diana, princess of the Amazons in theaters. About two hours before the movie was set to premiere in Lebanon, the government officially banned it, according to Variety. The ban, which was rumored in the days leading up to the film’s release, was enacted under pressure from a group called the Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel-Lebanon; the group encouraged the government to block the movie because its lead actress Gal Gadot is Israeli, and Lebanon is officially at war with Israel. On Wednesday, Lebanese theater chain Grand Cinemas tweeted confirmation of the ban:
Though the ban falls in line with Lebanon’s anti-Israel policies — the country has a law encouraging boycotts of Israeli products — the ban is surprising given that the Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel-Lebanon failed to gain approval from Lebanon’s Ministry of Economy to ban Batman v Superman, in which Gadot’s Wonder Woman is also featured, from theaters. Variety also notes that other films that star Gadot, including Fast and Furious 6 and Fast and Furious 7, played in Lebanon and were box-office hits there.
