Kangana Ranaut and Rihanna's comments on Israel and Palestine aren't sitting well with the internet
Kangana Ranaut woke up the other day and chose hate mongering as her tool to aggravate, but who's surprised? Her pro-Israel, Islamophobic tweets made Rihanna's wishy washy tweet about the violence in Palestine look saintly in comparison.
Let's deal with Ranaut first. She put up a series of Instagram stories addressing the issue. She also uploaded a Facebook post to complement her rant.
She announced her unhinged support for Israel, its policies and actions, declaring that "India stands with Israel" against "radical Islamic terrorists" Hamas, who are apparently the biggest threat to world peace. She claimed all Muslims stand with and support the terrorist outfit, going on and on about Islamic ideologies that we as born-and-raised Muslims have never heard in our lives.
Ranaut went on about the atrocities that Jews have faced — which is true, they've historically faced terrible crimes against humanity — but then reduced the entire matter of illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian land to Muslims "sticking their legs everywhere".
Social media, which has been vigilantly monitoring the world's views on the matter, was quick to pick up on her statements. Tweets condemning Ranaut started pouring in, as people were left startled, though perhaps not surprised.
Questions were raised about Instagram, after the platform was reportedly limiting viewership on posts made in support of Palestine and Gaza. This is a complaint that's arisen across the world, and several users have come forward to call the platform out for it.
We wish we had an answer for this guy. We wish.
Pakistani actor Maya Ali also took note of Ranaut's statements. She said she feels sorry for her Indian colleague and hoped Ranaut gets well soon. We're not sure if she will ever be cured of the illness of hate she suffers from, though.
Actor Muneeb Butt, however, had a mouthful to say. He refused to be school by "Modi, RSS and the right-wing activists inspired by the worst Nazi regime", claiming she's doing nothing but speaking on their behalf. "I wonder how much she's being paid by BJP government to distract their people from Covid disaster," he added. His advice was Ranaut fires her PR team.
Rihanna refuses to address the nuances of the Palestinian crisis
Eight-time Grammy winner Rihanna took to Instagram, saying, "My heart is breaking with the violence I'm seeing displayed between Israel and Palestine." Rejecting the nuance of the crisis, she regretted that "innocent Israeli and Palestinian children are hiding in bomb shelters," calling for some kind of resolution.
The problem people found in her tweet was that it didn't address the inequality of suffering between the two sides. Palestinian children and Israeli children do not face the same threats, their struggles don't even come close, and there is no balance in the loss and despair on either side of whatever's remaining of a border.
Her tweet also did not address how Israeli forces are armed to the teeth, with cutting edge military technology, while Palestinian bombs are essentially rocks and stones, falling clumsily after striking Israeli tanks.
Here's a quick overview of the public sentiment on Rihanna's remarks.
"Palestinians don’t have bomb shelters," this user reminded Rihanna. "Palestinians have no military, no nuclear weapons, we’re not bankrolled by billions of US dollars," she went on.
The ongoing crisis, and the discussions around it, have reminded us that a big part of addressing and resolving conflicts is how we view them. Especially in the world of today, where only united action can solve (and create) problems of such magnitude, we have been reminded how important it is to view the problems as they are. No issues will be resolved when people pander to the aggressors in the hopes of not offending them.