NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Being Jewish, let alone Israeli, has not been easy in the months following Hamas' Oct. 7 terror attacks -- during which anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli sentiments and acts of hate have run rampant worldwide, including in the U.S. -- but for Israeli-born "Wonder Woman" star Gal Gadot, that's only empowered her to be more steadfast in her identity.
"My name is Gal," she began her remarks at the Anti-Defamation League's Never Is Now Summit at the Javits Center Tuesday. "I'm a mother, I'm a sister, sister, a daughter, an actress. I'm Israeli and I'm Jewish. I'm going to say it again: My name is Gal and I'm Jewish."
Then, in a nod to the ground swell of antisemitism that has occurred since the Oct. 7 attacks, she said, "Isn't it crazy that just saying that, just expressing such a simple fact about who I am feels like a controversial statement? But sadly, this is where we're at today."
Gadot, the descendent of Holocaust survivors, was presented with the ADL's 2025 International Leadership Award by the organization's CEO Jonathan Greenblatt.
"I am proud to be an Israeli and I am proud to be Jewish," she said, adding that Israel is "the historic homeland of the Jewish people where our roots run deep and where we are an indigenous people."
Gadot, 39, conceded, "This this is a time when many of us in the Jewish community have had to find our voice and confront the hatred against us, even if it's extremely uncomfortable. That's been the case for all of us in every walk of life and every profession, including my own."
Gadot said the Oct. 7 attacks -- during which Hamas and their accomplices murdered more than 1,200 people and kidnapped to Gaza more than 250 people -- changed everything she believed in.
"I'm Israeli. Of course I knew that antisemitism and anti-Israel hate existed and like all of us, sometimes I caught a whiff of it," she said. "But I never thought of myself as being where I came from. It was an aspect of who I am, but it didn't define me," she said.
She continued, "Then October 7th happened ... Never did I imagine that we would witness such a day of such death and destruction of Jews in our lifetime."
But outside Israel, she said, "never did I imagine that on the streets of the United States and different cities around the world that we would see people not condemning Hamas, but celebrating. justifying, and cheering on a massacre of Jews.
Addressing the thousands of attendees, she said, "This was a wake up call ... None of us can ignore the explosion of Jew hatred around the world anymore. And that's what I'm doing. It really is me standing in front of you today saying simply that my name is Gal and I'm Jewish and we have had enough of Jew hatred."
She concluded her remarks saying, "So even if we don't hear others speaking up for us, we have to keep speaking up for ourselves and reaching out our hands to everyone to join in. That is what I tell my daughters: first learn to love yourselves who you are and where you're from, and then the rest will follow."
After all, she said, "We, the Jewish people are an ancient people with an ancient story in an ancient homeland. We are the people that celebrate life. We work to see a better and more peaceful future. We challenge hate when we face it, but we do it with love while always striving to make the world a better place."