Gal Gadot receives wave of online abuse over Israel-Palestine post

Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot has received vicious online abuse over her tweet about the escalation of violence in Israel and Gaza.

The Israeli actress and former Miss Israel posted: “Israel deserves to live as a free and safe nation,” adding: “Our neighbours deserve the same.”

But she was forced to switch off replies to the Instagram post after receiving thousands of messages – some openly antisemitic accusing her of supporting “mass genocide” and “ethnic cleansing”.

The comments attracted thousands of replies – now switched off – leading to her name trending on Twitter.

In her youth, Gadot completed two years of mandatory military service with the IDF.

“My heart breaks,” said write online.

“My country is at war. I worry for my family, my friends. I worry for my people. This is a vicious cycle that has been going on for far too long.

“I pray for the victims and their families. I pray for this unimaginable hostility to end, I pray for our leaders to find the solution so we could live side by side in peace. I pray for better days.”

US politician Ted Cruz was amongst those to praise Gadot for her remarks.