One Celebrity I’d Really Like to Send to the Middle East

When you love Israel, it’s painful to watch as she’s incessantly bashed by multi-millionaires (and a few billionaires) who seem to believe they’re experts in the geopolitics of the Middle East. But when that kind of blind bias occurs among those with tens of millions of social media followers, do you know what proves particularly cathartic? Imagining which Western-based, Israel-bashing celebrities you’d love to send to the Middle East.

World-famous model Bella Hadid, whose mother is a Dutch former model and whose father is a Palestinian-Jordanian real estate mogul (who is now based in Beverly Hills), has always espoused anti-Israel views. In 2017, she protested outside the American Embassy in London to declare her opposition to then-President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. How I wish that she would have actually visited Jerusalem and met with — believe it or not — the most vocal Arab members of Israel’s Knesset, if only to witness the unique vibrancy of Israel’s democratic system. 

But Hadid saved her worst vitriol for the May 2021 war between Israel and Hamas. In one Instagram story, she posted, “One cannot advocate for racial equality, LGBT and women’s rights, condemn corrupt and abusive regimes and other injustices yet choose to ignore the Palestinian oppression.”

I was hopelessly dumbfounded by this observation. In fact, you could have hit me over the head with a Persian cucumber and I still wouldn’t have believed it. It’s almost as if the model didn’t know that Palestinian leadership is rife with corruption, “abusive regimes” and hideous oppression. Almost. 

Did I mention that Hadid has nearly 55 million Instagram followers? 

In several interviews last month, Hadid revealed that she’s lost both friends and job opportunities due to her high-profile anti-Israel statements. In response, one Israeli friend who was severely injured years ago in a Palestinian terror attack told me that Hadid can “cry me a river to the sea.” 

Maybe that’s too harsh. But in an April 2022 op-ed in The Jerusalem Post, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach condemned what he called Hadid’s “blood libels against the Jewish people,” referring to the dangers of her penchant of spreading misinformation among her tens of millions of Instagram followers.

It’s incitement that’s broadcast to millions of followers who are prone to influence in a world of misinformation: a world of zero context or nuance.

Here’s the problem: Hadid and many other antisemites on social media approach their posts with an almost casual detachment. In their minds, they’re merely exercising their right to speech, not promoting violence. And I imagine they believe that in a world of “Us versus Them,” comprised of continuous partisan spin and disregard for the truth, where no side is more guilty than the other; each is doing their part to spread their equally valid message — or so they think. The louder voice will win a bloodless coup, or so they fantasize. But I wonder whether these Israel bashers pause to think that this speech is potential incitement to hatred, and violence, toward Israelis and Jews around the world. It’s incitement that’s broadcast to millions of followers who are prone to influence in a world of misinformation: a world of zero context or nuance.

This August, the 25-year-old Hadid, who was born in Washington, D.C., told Libyan American journalist Noor Tagouri about the consequences she faced as a result of her pro-Palestinian advocacy: “I had friends that completely dropped me, like even friends that I had been having dinner with on Friday nights, for seven years, now just won’t let me into their house,” said Hadid. 

Maybe her friends were triggered Jews who decided to give Friday night Shabbat dinners a try instead, or perhaps they were Jews who were adhering to a little-known, seven-year sabbatical law that forbids contact with unabashed Israel haters (I’m kidding, of course).

But there’s a paradox to Hadid’s penchant for bashing Israel: In a GQ interview, she also claimed that she feels “detached” from her Palestinian identity as a result of parents’ 2000 divorce, adding, “For so long I was missing that part of me, and it made me really, really sad and lonely. I would have loved to grow up and be with my dad every day and studying and really being able to practice [Islam], just in general being able to live in a Muslim culture.” 

Did I mention that Hadid loves to post photos of herself wearing string bikinis on the beach? Last month, InStyle swooned over an Instagram image of her in what it called “the tiniest blue string bikini.” Naturally, she looked stunning, though I’ve seen Doritos that were bigger than that bikini. 

I believe it’s an injustice to hinder Hadid’s ability to frolic on the sand in one of the world’s most beautiful beaches: the shoreline of Gaza City. That’s why I’d love to send Bella Hadid to Gaza. 

And if anyone, including her 54.5 million Instagram followers, has a problem with that, it must mean that they understand the “corrupt,” “abusive regime” of so-called Palestinian leadership in Gaza, otherwise known as Hamas.

I would love for Hadid to meet with Gazans whose daughters were murdered in honor killings or whose sons were shot or hung by Hamas thugs because they were charged with homosexuality. What could she possibly say to them that would implicate Israel and not Hamas?

But there’s more: I would love for Hadid to meet with Gazans whose daughters were murdered in honor killings or whose sons were shot or hung by Hamas thugs because they were charged with homosexuality. What could she possibly say to them that would implicate Israel and not Hamas?

I don’t know about you, but I believe it would constitute an indescribably rare and precious moment if someone like Hadid finally found one Palestinian plight that she couldn’t blame on Israel. 

And if Hadid ever actually visited Gaza, I would pray for her to be safe. Though something tells me that if Hamas leaders enjoy Instagram, they’ll be less merciful. 

And after she enjoys some time in Gaza, she can visit Tel Aviv and speak with Arab Israeli Muslims frolicking on the beach. Now that would be a new and unpredictable Instagram photo.

Of course, there’s also the matter of Hadid’s oldest sister, Gigi, who also is a model (and who boasts 75 million Instagram followers). In March 2022, Gigi wrote a delightful Instagram post: “I am pledging to donate my earnings … to aid those suffering from the war in Ukraine, as well as continuing to support those experiencing the same in Palestine … HANDS OFF UKRAINE, HANDS OFF PALESTINE, PEACE PEACE PEACE.”

No, Gigi is too clear-minded and unbiased to enjoy a few weeks in Gaza. But I hear there’s a promising new job opening in the Iranian Ministry of Information, complete with a stunning view of downtown Tehran.

Tabby Refael is an award-winning, LA-based writer, speaker and civic action advocate who was born in post-revolutionary Iran.