DUBAI: Palestinian-Dutch supermodel Bella Hadid took to her Instagram account this week to highlight Israeli violence toward Palestinians in Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem writing, “If you want me to stop talking, they should stop killing.”
The 25-year-old posted a carousel of videos featuring graphic clips of Israeli forces attacking Palestinian worshippers.
The post comes just days after the catwalk star called out the social media platform for shadow-banning her Instagram Stories when she posted about Palestine.
In a lengthy caption, the model, daughter of real estate developer Mohamed Hadid, whose family fled Palestine as refugees in 1948, accused Instagram again of trying to silence her, writing: “If you really would like to silence me, just like the journalists, or really anyone trying to educate about Palestine, Instagram, I will continue to come forward with peace, showing factual information about how the [Israel Defense Forces], Israeli government and Settlers attack innocent Palestinians for no reason, except for simply being Palestinian.”
She continued: “I am not here to make this up. Believe me, I do not want to have to post this kind of terror. These are not actors. These are real IDF soldiers (who are supposed to protect) and real Palestinian people, with lives, families, jobs, history and souls. If you want me to stop talking, they should stop killing.
“The excuse I hear most is ‘the Palestinians. they were asking for it’ I hear, ‘they had a knife. That was the reason the soldiers started to attack.’
“Absolutely not. As you can see here, these are peaceful people, most of the time with their children, praying, or just…living. Sure, there can be extremists on both sides. (As anywhere in the world) But I will not continue to sit here and have my [people’s] name be slandered as if they are constantly doing something wrong to deserve this kind of abuse. Absolutely UNPROVOKED abuse. In their home, and on their land, that they have lived in for hundreds of years. Especially now, during the holy month of Ramadan.”
Not one to back down, the model posted a second set of videos, similar to the first, that included footage of IDF soldiers arresting and detaining Palestinians. She wrote in the caption that she will not “allow us all to be named terrorists.”
“This occupation is not only killing…many women, children and men on a regular basis, but it is tainting the name of other people in the process. It is saddening and sickening,” she wrote.
Hadid has always been vocal about her viewpoints on Arabs and Muslims and often shows her solidarity with Palestinians.
Last year, she joined demonstrations in New York City to protest the Israeli airstrike attacks on Palestinians living in Gaza.
