Lebanon bans Spielberg’s new movie over director’s link to Israel

The award-winning director landed on Lebanon’s dubious Israel boycott list.

By: World Israel News Staff

Steven Spielberg’s new movie “The Post” has been banned in Lebanon because of his links to Israel.

The Hollywood Reporter on Sunday quoted a source involved with movie’s international distribution who said the drama was presented to the Lebanese censorship board, which nixed it, citing a “boycott Israel” list that includes Spielberg due to his Oscar-winning Holocaust film “Schindler’s List.” The 1993 film included scenes shot in Jerusalem.

Spielberg is not an Israeli citizen.

The source said that the ban came as a shock. Over the past three years, at least five films either directed or produced by Spielberg were accepted and approved by the Lebanese censorship board. It is only now that the board is invoking Spielberg’s inclusion on the “boycott Israel” list.

The country is officially at war with Israel and has a law that boycotts Israeli products and bars Lebanese citizens from travelling to Israel or having contact with Israeli citizens.

Last summer, Lebanese authorities officially banned the “Wonder Woman” movie, following the casting of Gal Gadot, an Israeli actress, in the movie’s lead role.

Though “Wonder Woman” passed the country’s normal screening procedures, the Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel-Lebanon put pressure on the government to block the film, describing it as “the Israeli Soldier film.”

Gadot, who is from the small central town of Rosh HaAyin, was a combat trainer in the IDF.

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan also banned screening the superhero film over Gadot’s leading role, as did Tunisia, Algeria and the Palestinian Authority.

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