Actress Sharon Stone speaks at The Algemeiner’s annual gala in New York City, Sept. 13, 2018.

Israel holds “a very dear place in my heart,” famed actress Sharon Stone revealed at The Algemeiner’s fifth annual “J100” Gala in New York City on Thursday.

“I’ve worked in Israel quite a bit,” Stone said in a red carpet interview, ahead of her acceptance of The Algemeiner’s prestigious “Warrior for Truth” award. “Shimon Peres was a very, very, very dear friend of mine. And we did a lot of wonderful things together.”

Later, in her address to a crowd of more than 500 Algemeiner supporters, Stone joked, “Don’t be alarmed. I may not be a Jew, but I’m Jew-ish.”

In her remarks, Stone talked about how she had worked with Peres, the Israeli statesman who passed away in 2016, to create an online peace movement called YaLa.

“I’ve seen and touched the world, and I always thought in my quiet, secret place, if I could do anything, anything at all, I’d like to help work on peace in the Middle East,” she said.

In the red carpet interview, Stone noted, “My trips to Israel have been extraordinarily rewarding and the work that I’ve done there has been very exciting.”

Watch Stone’s red carpet interview and gala speech below: