The official Instagram account of Israel has criticised Palestinian celebrity Gigi Hadid for “staying silent” and “turning a blind eye” to the deaths of Israelis, in a bizarre social media attack on the model after she recently shared an Instagram post addressing the Israeli occupation and Hamas’ attack.
The State of Israel Instagram account, which is run by the government’s social media team, has openly been coming for Hadid on its Stories. It accused her of “turning a blind eye” toward the murder of Israeli babies — all because she posted a statement that was critical of the state. Which itself has been indiscriminately bombing the Gaza strip in Palestine for nearly two weeks now (resulting in the murder of babies) in attacks on Palestinians that dramatically escalated following Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on October 7.
The Israel account reposted an Instagram tile Gigi Hadid shared previously which said: “There is nothing Jewish about the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians. Condemning the Israeli government is not antisemitic and supporting Palestinians is not supporting Hamas.”
Overlayed on the Story, the State of Israel wrote: “Hi Gigi, the next story is for you 👉”, and then posted a copy-cat version of the post Gigi had shared which contained a pro-Israel message.
“There is nothing valiant about Hamas’ massacre of Israelis. Condemning Hamas for what it is (ISIS) is not anti-Palestine and supporting Israelis in their fight against barbaric terrorists is the right thing to do,” it read.
The account captioned the edited picture with this rant: “@gigihadid Have you been sleeping the past week? Or are you just fine turning a blind eye to Jewish babies being butchered in their homes? You silence has been very clear about where you stand. We see you.”
This comes after The White House and Israel admitted reports circulated which claimed Palestinian militants killed 40 Israeli babies were unverified and couldn’t be confirmed.
Gigi Hadid also *hasn’t* been silent on the killing of Israeli civilians by Hamas.
In an Instagram statement last week, she mourned the deaths of Israeli citizens and said they did not deserve to be a casualty of the armed resistance against the Israeli government. She condemned the “terrorising of innocents” and wrote that she “feel[s] a responsibility to my Jewish friends to make it clear, as I have before: While I have hopes and dreams for Palestinians, none of them include the harm of a Jewish person.”
However, this refusal to endorse the Israeli state is clearly pissing off its PR team — one that has been known to post like it’s an actual person on social media.
Israel’s IG Stories have not been appreciated by Gigi’s fans, who feel the whole thing is targeted given she is not the only celebrity to speak out against Israel’s occupation of Palestine, including Riz Ahmed earlier this week. It was reported just yesterday that the Hadids have been doxxed and are receiving violent death threats for speaking up for their people.
Uh why is a whole ass country beefing with a celebrity?? pic.twitter.com/xpxXoPgCRu
— Danny (@dannywontmiss) October 16, 2023
israel literally committing a genocide against palestinians but they still have time to post a story on their official ig page harassing and intimidating hadid… no words
— fazpo (@fazpo) October 16, 2023
what other country do you see harassing people online? all gigi did was defend her own people against genocide
— s (@dollquiver) October 16, 2023
The online beef comes as the death toll of Israel’s bombardments of Gaza reaches nearly 3,500, with around 12,000 people injured. Mind you, this number is the official toll that has been counted — it is likely that the number is higher given the Gaza Health Ministry says at least 1,300 people remain missing under the rubble, including 600 children.
The death toll from Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel is currently estimated to be about 1,400, with 200 hostages also taken and still being held in Gaza. Included amongst the hostages is 30 minors and 20 people over the age of 60.
Almost 500 Gazans were killed in one explosion earlier this week, when an airstrike hit a Baptist hospital full of injured civilians and children. Palestinian officials claimed this was perpetrated by Israel, however the perpetrator of the attack has not been officially verified.
Israel has denied responsibility for that attack and blamed it on a misfire from Hamas and Palestinian militants.
“We did not strike that, and that the intelligence that we have suggests that it was a failed rocket launch by the Islamic Jihad, and I want to add, categorically, that we do not intentionally strike any sensitive facilities, any sensitive facilities, and definitely not hospitals,” Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus told CNN.
At this time last week, Israel had already bombed seven hospitals, nine ambulances and 48 schools in Gaza.
An Israeli social media personality, who is the digital aide to Israel’s PM, initially tweeted claiming the state was responsible for the airstrike. He wrote that Israel struck the hospital because it believed Hamas militants were hiding inside it.
However, this tweet has since been deleted and he now has aligned with the IDF’s assertions that Palestinian militants accidentally bombed their own hospital.
Both Hamas and ISIS have denied having anything to do with the explosion.
[Story updated in light of new information: October 20.]
