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| The Hadid Sisters |
Supermodel sisters Bella and Gigi Hadid have sparked a firestorm over an Instagram post that said Israel was not a country, but rather a land settled by colonizers.
Bella, who has nearly 42 million followers on the platform, published the series of cartoons Wednesday that called Israel 'occupiers' and called Palestinians 'oppressed.'
Her sister Gigi then liked the post, amplifying the cartoons riddled with historic inaccuracies and anti-Semitic tropes to her 66.2 million followers.
The Hadid sisters and Gal's posts come as Israel on Thursday pressed ahead with a fierce military offensive in the Gaza Strip, killing as many as 11 senior Hamas terrorist military figures in retaliation for artillery and mortar that had been lobbed into Israel from Palestinian areas.Bella, 24, and Gigi, 26, are vocal in their support for the Palestinian cause, and have attended marches and demonstrations.
Their father Mohamed Hadid, 72, is a Palestinian born in Nazareth in November 1948, four months after his city was captured by Israeli forces. The family fled to Syria, and ultimately to Washington DC. He has Jordanian and American citizenship.
On Tuesday, as the conflict in the Middle East escalated, Bella shared the post on Instagram.
In the cartoon, a woman is telling her friend: 'There is no 'fighting'. There is only Israeli colonization, ethnic cleansing, military occupation and apartheid.
'When I say 'Israel', I am referring to a group of people, a group of settlers, who are colonizing Palestine.'
The post gives a highly subjective view of the situation, and critics responded immediately.
'You speak as if you know what you are talking about. Inform yourself please,' said one woman.
'So many factual incorrect things here,' said a man.
Another urged: 'Go read a book,' while one simply commented: 'Lies.'
'This is wildly biased,' said another. 'Seems more like a way to shame Jews rather than creating any real change for your brothers and sisters.'
Another replied: 'This ain't it, Bella. Only causing more of the lucrative divide.'
The sisters have long been vocal about the issue.
In 2018, Gigi said on Twitter: 'I've said it before and I'll say it again. For me, this is not about religion or one against the other — it's about the greed,' using the hashtags 'Free Palestine,' 'Free Gaza,' and 'Coexist,' with a peace-sign emoji.
She later added: 'My intent is never to further separate groups in hatred. I'm not anti-anyone. I am only pro-coexistence.'
When Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Bella wrote: 'The treatment of the Palestinian people is unfair, one-sided and should not be tolerated. I stand with Palestine'. Israel is a diverse country, founded in 1948, and much like the United States is ethnically very mixed.
Bella is wrong to describe Israel as a colony, because Jewish people had already been in the region for centuries.
The Holocaust increased the pace of arrivals with Jews fleeing Nazi Germany, and many emigrated from Eastern Europe and Russia.
In 1947, after years of Arab-Jewish violence, the UN General Assembly voted for the establishment of two states in Palestine - one Jewish and the other Arab.
Bella is incorrect in describing ethnic cleansing and a military occupation, because the redrawing of boundaries was done under UN auspices.
Shortly after the UN ruling, the Jewish community in Palestine declared Israel an independent state, prompting hundreds of thousands more Jews to emigrate, and precipitating a war launched by neighboring Arab states.
She is also incorrect in describing the region as being under apartheid, because Israelis and Palestinians are free to choose their own leaders and live under their own rules.
THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIME
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