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Israeli Ambassador Criticizes Emma Watson’s Palestinian Solidarity Instagram Post

Watson’s January 2 post featured various pro-Palestinian protesters holding “Free Palestine” signs and the words “Solidarity is a verb.”
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January 3, 2022
Joe Maher / Stringer / Getty Images

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan criticized actress Emma Watson’s Instagram post expressing Palestinian solidarity.

Watson’s January 2 post featured various pro-Palestinian protesters holding “Free Palestine” signs and the words “Solidarity is a verb.” Her caption included a lengthy quote from feminist scholar Sara Ahmed stating in part that solidarity “involves commitment, and work, as well as the recognition that even if we do not have the same feelings, or the same lives, or the same bodies, we do live on common ground.” 

Erdan tweeted out a screenshot of Watson’s post and wrote: “Fiction may work in Harry Potter but it does not work in reality. If it did, the magic used in the wizarding world could eliminate the evils of Hamas (which oppresses women & seeks the annihilation of Israel) and the PA [Palestinian Authority] (which supports terror). I would be in favor of that!” Erdan was referencing the fact that Watson starred in the Harry Potter movies as the character Hermione Granger.

Stop Antisemitism responded to Watson’s post by quoting an Amnesty International report stating that females in the Gaza Strip have been discriminated against “in law and practice and were inadequately protected against sexual and other gender-based violence, including so-called honour killings throughout Gaza and the Palestinian territories.” “We would think a feminist collective would help bring attention to these horrific situations vs. sharing silly slogans,” Stop Antisemitism added.

Scottish journalist and Zionist activist Eve Barlow tweeted, “Emma Watson posting a Free Palestine solidarity Instagram message hours after Hamas fire rockets into Israel is pretty much as tone deaf and braindead as dancing on a fresh grave, but I guess if you support terrorist regimes you like celebrating death and destruction.” On January 1, two rockets were fired from Gaza and landed in a coast nearby Tel Aviv.

New Zionist Congress Co-Founder and Journal columnist Blake Flayton tweeted, “Just in case you need an example of how disproportionate a hatred anti-Zionism is, Emma Watson just shared a Solidarity with Palestine post on Instagram, where she has 64 million followers. Four times the amount of Jews on planet earth. But sure, their state is the problem.”

This article has been updated.

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