A May 22 ad in The New York Times accuses singer Dua Lipa and Palestinian-Dutch models Gigi and Bella Hadid for having “vilified the Jewish state.”
The ad, which was written by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, calls on Lipa and the Hadid sisters to condemn Hamas because the terror group “calls for a second Holocaust,” citing a passage in the Hamas charter advocating for killing Jews. Boteach wrote in the ad that Lipa and the Hadid sisters have “vilified the Jewish state in a manner that is deeply troubling,” pointing to Lipa and Bella Hadid accusing Israel of “ethnic cleansing, even as millions of Jews in Israel descend from Holocaust survivors, refugees savagely forced out of every Arab land and Jews living in pre-state Israel who were subjected to multiple Arab massacres and pogroms.”
Additionally, Boteach noted that Bella Hadid has accused Israel of being an apartheid state, even though “millions of Christians, Muslims and Jews of all races” live in harmony in Israel. “If Bella, Gigi and Dua cared about Palestinians, they should consider condemning, not Israel, a free society, but Hamas, a bloodthirsty death cult, whose brutality toward women and tolerance for honor killings of young Palestinian girls is an abomination. They should demand Hamas stop its use of children as human shields for military stockpiles and rocket launch-pads, cease its regular murders of LGBTQ Palestinians, and restore the Palestinians’ right to fair elections, after fourteen autocratic years.”
Boteach concluded the ad by arguing that allegations of Israel “being an apartheid state engaging in ethnic cleansing” are “a boldface libel that is putting Jews at risk around the world. Bella, Gigi and Dua, help us turn the tide against rising anti-Semitism today and bring peace to the Middle East.”
Our ad about @DUALIPA pic.twitter.com/DF7T5sGb2v
— Rabbi Shmuley (@RabbiShmuley) May 23, 2021
Lipa, who is dating Anwar Hadid, the younger brother of Gigi and Bella, posted a lengthy statement to Twitter responding to the ad, accusing the ad of being filled with “false and appalling allegations” and claiming that “this is the price you pay for defending Palestinian human rights against an Israeli government whose actions in Palestine both Human Rights Watch and Israeli human rights group B’Tselem accuse of persecution and discrimination.” She concluded her post by stating, “I stand in solidarity with all oppressed people and reject all forms of racism.”
— DUA LIPA (@DUALIPA) May 22, 2021
Boteach responded to Lipa by tweeting, “Time to follow the example of @MarkRuffalo
and apologize for your extreme defamation of the #Jewish people and #Israel. It’s not too late Dua.”
Time to follow the example of @MarkRuffalo and apologize for your extreme defamation of the #Jewish people and #Israel. It’s not too late Dua. #DoTheRightThing https://t.co/KHBmz2Z31r
— Rabbi Shmuley (@RabbiShmuley) May 25, 2021
He also wrote in an earlier tweet that the Hadid sisters “have hung out @dualipa
to dry on her own. They have publicly abandoned her. They will not respond to our @NYT
ad because they cannot factually defend their nauseating lies about #Israel as an apartheid state.”
It’s now clear that @bellahadid and @gigihadid have hung out @dualipa to dry on her own. They have publicly abandoned her. They will not respond to our @NYT ad because they cannot factually defend their nauseating lies about #Israel as an apartheid state. https://t.co/zycsng5XEs
— Rabbi Shmuley (@RabbiShmuley) May 23, 2021
Stop Antisemitism tweeted in response to Lipa, “Remember that [Instagram] story you shared calling Israelis ‘fake Jews’ and Hamas being an Israeli invention? We didn’t. Not only are [you] a rabid antisemite but you’re a pathetic liar.”
Remember that IG story you shared calling Israelis “fake Jews” and Hamas being an Israeli invention?
We didn’t.
Not only are a rabid antisemite but you’re a pathetic liar. pic.twitter.com/BQJru9oKLm
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) May 23, 2021
Previously, Israel’s official Twitter account criticized Bella Hadid for chanting “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” during a May 14 Instagram live stream; the Israel Twitter account argued that by chanting that refrain Hadid was “advocating for the elimination of the Jewish State.” Gigi Hadid has also claimed in a previous Instagram post that she just wants “equal rights for Palestinians.”
