‘Do better or get out of office’: Bella Hadid slams world govts for lack of empathy towards Palestinians

When you think about celebrities who’ve been unflinchingly vocal in their support for Palestine, there’s one name that’s going to top your list — Bella Hadid. In keeping with her track record, the model shared a post on Instagram on Nakba Day calling for more empathy from governments around the world to the plight of her people.

“As a child of a Nakba survivor, grandchild of grandparents that lived through the Nakba and were never able to return home; today is a day to not only acknowledge the pain and suffering of the Nakba but to end it,” she wrote. Bella’s father, Mohamed Hadid, has publicly spoken about his experiences as a Nakba survivor and how his family home was stolen from them by refugees they hosted.

“Because still, in 2024, human beings in Palestine are being brutalised, terrorised, tortured and killed because of not only being Palestinian, but living on the land they have called home for hundreds of years. I am devastated at the loss of the Palestinian people and the lack of empathy coming from the government systems worldwide,” Bella wrote.

“Do better for all involved or get out of office. Please do not be desensitised to the horrific visuals you are witnessing. It is real. It is life. And although it might not be happening to you, please imagine if it was your brother, sister, child, mother, father, aunt, uncle, grandmother, grandfather. Best friend. Partner. You. Imagine.”

She called on people to look into the eyes of the Palestinians suffering and look into their own hearts to understand “the pain of what it means to live through a genocide, being deprived of basic rights, homes and history being stolen in plain sight, starvation, consistent military occupation…”

“It isn’t war if only one side is backed by the strongest military in the world.”

She also shared some information on Nakba Day — a day marked to commemorate the mass displacement and expulsion of some 700,000 Palestinians from their land by Jewish settlers.

Israel’s violence in Gaza has left millions displaced and claimed the lives of thousands of men, women and children.