“My name is Gal, and I’m Jewish,” Israeli actress Gal Gadot told audiences at the Never Is Now 2025 summit, where she was presented with the Anti-Defamation League’s International Leadership Award.
“Isn’t it crazy that just saying that [I’m Jewish], just expressing such a simple fact about who I am, feels like a controversial statement?” she said.
“As we all know, hatred, intolerance, and bigotry are on the rise. Most of us will never have experienced a worst time for antisemitism in our lifetimes, but we should feel safer knowing that the ADL has our backs.”
Her speech discussed the need for Jewish pride, and she called for the release of the hostages and encouraged Jews to speak up for themselves when the rest of the world does not.
“I’m Israeli, of course, and I knew that antisemitism and anti-Israel hate existed,” Gadot said. “And like all of us, sometimes I’d caught a whiff of it. 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.
Gadot said she never could have imagined a day of such death and destruction of Jews, but also the response that came with it.
“Never did I imagine that on the streets of the United States and different cities around the world, we would see people not condemning Hamas, but celebrating, justifying, and cheering on a massacre of Jews.”
This changed her perspective on speaking up. Gadot said that, before this point, she was reluctant to talk about politics, saying that “no one wants to hear celebrities talking about political issues.” Nevertheless, she said she also regarded herself as a “citizen of the world, an equal among equals.”
As such, “however much you try to avoid it before, even if speaking up wasn’t really your thing, none of us can ignore the explosion of Jew hatred around the world anymore.”
“We will confront antisemitism, we will call it out, but we will never let it not only defeat us, but define us, because our love is stronger than their hate,” she said.
Gadot added that she is not religiously observant, yet following the massacre that day, she found herself in synagogue and felt comforted.
“I felt the embrace of the Jewish people, and the power in the warmth of our community. And for those few precious moments, the chaos and violence of the outside world felt just a little bit easier to deal with.”
October 7 showed that what happens to Jews anywhere affects Jews everywhere, she said.
“Not only what happens there affects us here, but what happens here affects them there. So here we are in this room together, calling for the release of every single one of our hostages.”
Directing her words to the hostages and their families, she said, “We have your back, we are here for you. We need you to know that wherever you go in the world where there’s a Jewish community, they will always find people who campaigned for you, who love you, and who will never let you walk alone.”
On being Israeli and Jewish
She spoke of her mother’s father, Avraham Weiss, who survived the Holocaust, but whose family was killed by the Nazis. On her father’s side, she is the eighth generation to be born in Israel.
“I’m very proud of both sides of my family, and they show the two sides of Israel. On the one hand, a country that provided a life raft for refugees fleeing the horrors of persecution, pogroms, and the Holocaust. And, on the other hand, the historic homeland of the Jewish people where our roots run deep and where we are an indigenous people.
“Who are we? We, the Jewish people, are an ancient people with an ancient story in an ancient homeland. We are the people who 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.”
However, she noted that, in the current climate, it can be “extremely uncomfortable” for Jews to find their voice and confront the hatred against them.
“That’s been the case for all of us in every walk of life and every profession, including my own,” she said.
“But we can’t hold our breaths and pray or beg for support from people, groups, or the community that don’t want to be there for us,” she said. “We need to be there for ourselves.
“My name is Gal, and I’m Jewish. Am Yisrael Chai,” she added.
Never is Now Summit
The Never Is Now 2025 Summit on Antisemitism and Hate is the world’s largest gathering dedicated to fighting antisemitism and bigotry.
The March 3-4 summit took place in New York City with 4,000 attendees.
The ADL commended Gadot for “her fearless and outspoken advocacy against antisemitism and hate, as well as her unwavering support for Israel and Jewish communities worldwide.”
It also praised her use of her platform to amplify the voices of survivors and hostages, as well as her groundbreaking private screening to reveal the realities of the attacks and urging international leaders – including the UN and major women’s rights organizations – to demand justice.
“A hero both on screen and off, Gal Gadot has been an unshakable force in the fight against antisemitism,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the ADL.
“At a time when antisemitism is rising at a staggering pace, she has refused to stay silent. Her leadership, courage, and commitment to standing up for what is right make her an extraordinary recipient of this award.”