Israel: writer launches propaganda campaign against model Bella Hadid 

An Israeli writer has launched a propaganda campaign to incite people against Palestinian American model Bella Hadid over her support for the people of occupied Palestine. Hadid, 25, is very vocal about her Palestinian heritage and describes herself as the proud daughter of a Palestinian father.

“Hadid stirs up hatred and anti-Semitism against the Israelis, but at the same time she receives wide support among the Palestinians who support her anti-Israel positions,” alleged Anibal Hayat, a writer for Israel Hayom newspaper. She added that supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement see Hadid as a unique example for attacking Israel, although she had faced attacks from pro-Israel people in the West.

“Hadid often brags about her Palestinian father, Muhammad, who is a harsh and outspoken critic of Israel,” explained Hayat in an article translated by Arabi 21. Nevertheless, she said, the model has paid a price for her views and activities, both personally and professionally, because many companies have stopped working with her due to her criticism of the occupation state.

Bella Hadid: I will never allow anyone to forget about our beautiful Palestine

Hadid often says that her goal is not to spread hatred, but to support her “Palestinian brothers and sisters.”

It is both inaccurate and misleading to conflate legitimate criticism of the Zionist state of Israel with repugnant anti-Semitism, as Anibal Hayat has done. As US President Joe Biden’s father once told him, “You don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist.” Conversely, not all Jews are Zionists; many oppose the apartheid state.

The supermodel has 42 million followers on Instagram, and hundreds of thousands on other social media sites. Her posts mention frequently how her father and his family were expelled from their homes in Palestine in 1948, and became refugees in Syria, Lebanon and then Tunisia, before ending up in the United States.