Lebanese ministry bans Wonder Woman film because of Israeli actress

BEIRUT — Lebanon's interior ministry banned the new Wonder Woman film from cinemas on Wednesday because an Israeli actress plays the lead role, a ministry source and a security official said. 

Lebanon considers Israel an enemy country and the Ministry of Economy and Trade oversees a boycott of any business transaction concerning Israel. 

An interior ministry source said they had issued an order to ban the movie, which stars former Israeli army soldier Gal Gadot, based on a recommendation from the general security directorate. 

The distributor for Warner Brothers in the region said the movie was set to premiere officially in most of Beirut's major cinemas on Wednesday night, after private showings had been held the day before. The public release screenings were cancelled a few hours in advance. 

The ministry of economy had said in a statement on Tuesday that it had asked the general security directorate to prevent screenings of Wonder Woman due to Gadot's role in the film. 

Israel fought a month-long war with its Lebanese foe Hizbollah in 2006, and has targeted the Iranian-backed armed group with strikes in Syria in recent years but there has been no major direct confrontation.

The 2006 war killed around 160 Israelis, most of them troops fighting inside Lebanon, while 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, died in Israel's military barrages. 

A UN-monitored ceasefire has largely held since the 2006 war, which also displaced a million people in Lebanon and nearly 500,000 in Israel.