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Cate Blanchett Appears to Show Palestinian Solidarity With Gown on Cannes Film Festival Red Carpet
Cate Blanchett poses on the red carpet during arrivals for the screening of the film “The Apprentice” in competition at the 77th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 20, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
Australian actress Cate Blanchett attended the premiere of “The Apprentice” at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival on Monday wearing a gown that, according to some observers, appeared to be a show of solidarity with Palestinians amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
The Oscar winner, 55, wore a custom color-blocked gown by Colombian-French designer Haider Ackermann for Jean Paul Gaultier from the Spring 2023 Haute Couture collection, which was released after the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel. Blanchett’s dress had a blush pink silk satin back and emerald silk satin lining. She added a necklace made from repurposed pearls and diamonds while attending the premiere of her film at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France. While posing on the red carpet, the actress lifted the back of the dress to draw attention to the emerald green lining.
The original dress that walked the runway in January was shorter and had a lime green back and purple satin lining. Blanchett changed the colors of the gown for the Cannes Film Festival on Monday and, against the backdrop of the red carpet, some people claimed it looked similar to the black, white, and green Palestinian flag — especially since the blush pink part of her gown photographed as white.
Several social media users suggested that the actress “coordinated her outfit to look like the flag of #Palestine” while others called it a “Palestine-inspired dress.” One social media user who shared a photo of Blanchett in the Jean Paul Gaultier gown said the actress was “using one’s influence for a good cause [and] reminding where good humans stand: for liberation, against genocidal occupation.”
THIS WOMAN
Cate Blanchett aka Galadriel from the Lord of the Rings knew that the carpet at Cannes Film Festival would be red, so she designed her outfit in Black White & Green, so that when she stands on red carpet, it looks like the flag of Palestine pic.twitter.com/mXvDkzn9zz
— Waseem ವಸೀಮ್ وسیم (@WazBLR) May 21, 2024
Cate Blanchett aka Queen Hela showing solidarity with Palestine at Cannes Film Festival. We stan. pic.twitter.com/Zw7hzfnltB
— Ikhwan (@JatIkhwan) May 21, 2024
Vogue Arabia‘s Editor Livia Giuggioli Firth also seemed to think Blanchett’s gown was a nod to Palestinians. She posted on Instagram a picture of Blanchett wearing the gown on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival and wrote in the caption, “I LOVE U CATE cannes #cannesfilmfestival when the carpet has meaning.”
In October, after the Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel, Blanchett joined other celebrities in signing a letter addressed to US President Joe Biden that urged him to call for a ceasefire in Israel and Gaza. The following month, Blanchett — who is a goodwill ambassador of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) — called for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip while addressing the European Parliament Plenary Session.
“I am not Syrian. I am not Ukrainian. I am not Yemeni. I am not Afghani. I am not from South Sudan. I am not from Israel or Palestine. I am not a politician. I am not even a pundit. But I am a witness,” she said. “And having witnessed the human cost of war, violence and persecution visiting refugees from across the globe, I cannot look away.”
Blanchett and Ackermann have not commented on the dress and if it was intentionally made to resemble the Palestinian flag.
The post Cate Blanchett Appears to Show Palestinian Solidarity With Gown on Cannes Film Festival Red Carpet first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘With or Without Russia’s Help’: Iran Pledges to Block South Caucasus Route Opened Up By Peace Deal
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – Iran will block the establishment of a US-backed transit corridor in the South Caucasus region with or without Moscow’s help, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Iran International website, one day after the historic peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“Mr. Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Ali Akbar Velayati said of the so-called Zangezur corridor, the establishment of which is stipulated in the peace deal unveiled on Friday by US President Donald Trump. The White House said the transit route would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.
“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,” the Khamenei advisor added.
Baku and Yerevan have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting or forcing almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.
Yet that painful history was put to the side on Friday at the White House, as Trump oversaw a signing ceremony, flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The peace deal with Azerbaijan—a pro-Western ally of Israel—is expected to pull Armenia out of the Russian and Iranian sphere of influence and could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran.
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UK Police Arrest 150 at Protest for Banned Palestine Action Group
People holding signs sit during a rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, August 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
London’s Metropolitan Police said on Saturday it had arrested 150 people at a protest against Britain’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action, adding it was making further arrests.
Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.
Protesters, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, chanted “shame on you” and “hands off Gaza,” and held signs such as “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” video taken by Reuters at the scene showed.
In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.
The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban.
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‘No Leniency’: Iran Announces Arrest of 20 ‘Zionist Agents’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addresses a special session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
i24 News – Iranian authorities have in recent months arrested 20 people charged with being “Israeli Mossad operatives,” the judiciary said, adding that the Islamic regime will mete out the harshest punishments.
“The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all,” spokesperson Asghar Jahangiri told Iranian media. However, it is understood that an unspecified number of detainees were released, apparently after the charges against them could not be substantiated.
The Islamic Republic was left reeling by a devastating 12-day war with Israel earlier in the summer that left a significant proportion of its military arsenal in ruins and dealt a serious setback to its uranium enrichment program. The fallout included an uptick in executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel, with at least eight death sentences carried out in recent months. Hit with international sanctions, the country is in dire economic straights, with frequent energy outages and skyrocketing unemployment.
In recent weeks Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed that Tehran cannot give up on its nuclear enrichment program even as it was severely damaged during the war.
“It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe. But obviously we cannot give up of enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” the official told Fox News.