Gigi Hadid removes Instagram post amid criticism from Palestinians and Jews.
By Pesach Benson, United With Israel
Gigi Hadid, an American supermodel of Palestinian descent is taking flak from Palestinian supporters after taking to social media to denounce Thursday’s terror attack in Tel Aviv.
Tomer Morad, Eytam Magini, childhood friends and Barak Lufan were killed when a Palestinian terrorist from Jenin opened fire on a bar on Tel Aviv’s busy Dizengoff St. The three funerals are scheduled for Sunday. Another 10 people were injured in the attack.
The terrorist, Ra’ad Fathi Hazem, was killed in a shootout with security forces after a nine-hour manhunt during which Tel Aviv residents were instructed to stay home and not go near windows.
In a Saturday Instagram post to her 73.4 million followers that has since been taken down, Hadid wrote:
“I would like to say that terrorism goes against the true message of the Free Palestine Movement.
What happened in Tel Aviv is a tragedy, and is disappointing to Palestinians who want peace and fairness for all — regardless of religion, race or politics.
Innocent Israelis don’t deserve to die. This does not help anything. It is not the answer.
My condolences to the families of those who were killed.”
Double Backlash
Hadid took a double backlash for the post.
Palestinian supporters described the attack as legitimate and suggested Hadid is out of touch with her own Palestinian identity.
A woman going by the Twitter handle @ayaghanameh tweeted, “@GiGiHadid delete your story. you don’t speak for palestinians and you framed it as if you do. as a palestinian woman i know better than to condemn resistance and actually contextualize palestinian violence, that only exists in response to oppression created by israel.”
And Twitter user @ddaengthatdown tweeted, “Gigi Hadid is white by race, American by nationality and knows nothing about her Palestinian ethnicity. Grew up w/ a white mom in a non-muslim household, rich and privileged. You guys need to take the mic off of her.”
On the other hand, pro-Israel voices also slammed the model’s history of social media incitement.
Jews slamming Hadid included Michael Dickson, who tweeted, “Not so fast, @GiGiHadid. You continue to fuel the fire that leads to antisemitic attacks and terror. You have shared vicious lies designed to dehumanise Jews and Israelis to an audience way bigger than the amount of Jews that exist on planet Earth. You’re part of the problem.”
Ido Daniel of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs tweeted, “.@GiGiHadid is afraid for her reputation, not dead Israelis. Terrorist support and sympathy is engraved in this “Free Palestine Movement” she’s part of and now praising as a peace movement. We saw it last May. We see it everyday here. Sorry, PR damage control isn’t condolences.”