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People believe there's something sinister behind Bella Hadid's sudden 'neutrality' on Palestine

People believe there's something sinister behind Bella Hadid's sudden 'neutrality' on Palestine

The supermodel, who had been publicly supportive of Palestinians, has taken a more 'neutral' stance in her last now deleted post.
Updated 19 May, 2021

Model Bella Hadid appeared at the forefront of the tiny Hollywood fraternity vocal against the atrocities sanctioned by the Israeli state on the Palestinian people. She participated in a pro-Palestine protest in NYC — shouting slogans, Keffiyeh on her head, flag in her grip — and has been furiously posting about the human rights violations on social media. But a noticeable shift in her position has left fans stunned.

She posted a now deleted Instagram Story and tweet where she called for "peace, co-existence and equality", with accompanying flags of the two states, Israel and Palestine.

This post is nothing out of the ordinary for ordinary Hollywood A-Listers who have been on the fence about calling Israel out, but Hadid is no ordinary A-Lister. She's half Palestinian and has been vocal about the Israeli occupation of Palestine for years.

Her wishy washy post came three days after the Israeli state's barely-not-a-parody official account on Twitter had called her out for her initial support. Hadid attended a protest in NYC where she and others present chanted "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free", something residents of Israel (or at least the government of Israel's Twitter account) believes to be anti-semitic. The tweet prompted further criticism of her from Israeli supporters.

Though Hadid has since deleted her "neutral" post, the post featuring her at the protest remain up on her Instagram account. "It's free Palestine till Palestine is free!" she had said.

The sentiments she shared previously are noticeably disconnected with her latest post.

So, what's really happening here?

Some social media users are speculating it has to do with Dior.

Hadid has been a long-term partner of Dior, appearing in multiple campaigns as the face of the brand and becoming one of its most recognisable brand ambassadors. After her support for Palestine made headlines and social media feeds, pro-Israel comments flooded Dior's comment sections on Instagram. People began calling for a boycott of the brand for its perceived 'anti-semitism'.

People believe this is reflective of some of the pressure Hadid might be under. Though a lot of people also rushed to the account to pledge their loyalty to the brand and supporting its choice of model.

We're not saying her Dior deal is the reason for her neutral post but it's indicative of the cost of supporting Palestine in the West. As we're learning on Instagram and Twitter, Israeli supporters are deeply embedded in the world's business elite and living in Pakistan, we are rather disconnected from what's at stake for supporting Palestine in the West.

We're not justifying Hadid's sudden switch in stance (or maybe not since she deleted her posts), nor do we claim to know what happened. But people are suspicious about why one of Palestine's most outspoken celebrity advocates suddenly changed her tune.

Others were done with celebrity activism.

This is definitely not the last we're hearing of the matter. The Hadids are very outspoken about the situation in Palestine and we expect there will be more posts soon.

Comments

Ibrahim May 19, 2021 05:08pm
A clear lesson for fellow Pakistanis on Kashmir issue .
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Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad May 19, 2021 05:13pm
When the going gets tough and the environments get rough, only the toughest and roughest get going.
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M. Saeed May 19, 2021 05:31pm
It is very obvious. Bella Hadid, a US model of Palestinian roots, has to live and exist in Hollywood. Being a Jewish owned entity, Hollywood has deep rooted controls over everything related with it. The Jews also control almost 80% of all media empires of the US and financial establishments. So, reversal of Hadid's earlier statement to a more neutral stance, is well understood.
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Truth be told May 19, 2021 07:44pm
Money talks and everyone has a price. Such a pity that after such a stand she buckled under pressure. Hopefully her original posts were genuine and not a ruse to improve upon her pre-existent deals by momentarily appearing to support Palestine.
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ENGR Hamid Shafiq May 19, 2021 09:01pm
Difference between to live in USA and Pakistan
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skb May 19, 2021 10:55pm
@M. Saeed also if this is not presented as religious conflict instead humanitarian crisis, will get more traction.
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Chrís Dăn May 19, 2021 11:27pm
She had struggled a lot to reach this esteemed point in her career. She is a self made woman.
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Chrís Dăn May 19, 2021 11:28pm
@Truth be told you want a self made professional to lose her career?
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RationalBabu May 20, 2021 12:08am
@skb spot on!
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Irshaad New York May 20, 2021 06:11am
Two Sentences to the Wise people is enough.... One, Don't try to bite the hand that feeds you ..... Two, He, who has the gold, makes the rules ......
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JFG May 20, 2021 02:05pm
Hadid should be careful with social media slogans and chants that can be misinterpreted. In Israel last month, a video on the social media platform TikTok encouraged users to film themselves assaulting Orthodox Jews. That video became a spark that ignited outrage across the country. A band of Jewish extremists, Lehava, organised a march in response. They clashed with Arab groups at Damascus Gate. In a situation that was already a tinderbox, things escalated from there. Why did it happen? Why would any ordinary person get pleasure from assault? ‘There is a competition for likes and views,’ a 15-year-old victim told an Israeli news organisation. ‘A video of an Arab slapping an ultra-Orthodox man will get you both.’ A violent riot set off by teenage longing for likes. Welcome to the TikTokisation of global politics. Thank heavens for Dawn's more measured coverage - at the heart, this is not genocide or religious war, it is a land dispute,
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Kanye May 22, 2021 12:12am
@M. Saeed You are racist and bad at math. Too bad for you.
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Angelina May 22, 2021 01:37am
Bella in my eyes is no longer a model. It is a symbol of terror, hatred of Jews and anti-Semitism.
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K Maher May 22, 2021 04:58am
@M. Saeed I think from recent events, you obviously know that Jewish people do not run the media. You are an anti Semitic man that needs to be better educated.
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Gary May 22, 2021 11:24am
Money talks.
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