VENICE (Reuters) -U.S. director Julian Schnabel on Wednesday criticised calls for two of the stars of his latest film, Gal Gadot and Gerard Butler, not to show up at the Venice Film Festival over their support for Israel.

Last month a collective of hundreds of film industry figures, Venice4Palestine, urged the festival to take a robust stand over the war in Gaza.

The group subsequently called for Israeli actor Gadot and Britain’s Butler, who once took part in a fundraiser for the Israeli Defence Forces, to be barred from the 11-day event.

Both actors appear in Schnabel’s star-studded movie “In the Hand of Dante”, which is being premiered at Venice on Wednesday. Neither actor is set to appear on the red carpet — although Gadot, for one, had never been expected to attend according to pre-

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