Gigi Hadid under fire for claiming Israel is ‘only country’ that keeps kids as prisoners of war
Gigi Hadid faced a fresh round of backlash online after falsely claiming that Israel was “the only country in the world that keeps children as prisoners of war” — and also accusing the Jewish state of a series of heinous crimes against Palestinians.
The Palestinian American supermodel’s Instagram post, which was later deleted, accused Israel of “abduction, rape, humiliation, torture, murder of Palestinians years and years before Oct. 7, 2023.”
Hadid’s post to her 79.1 million followers also featured a photo of Palestinian terrorist Ahmed Mansara, who she claimed was “abducted” by Israeli authorities at the age of 12 and “has endured solitary confinement despite his severe health condition.”
In 2015, Mansara, who was 13 at the time, and his 15-year-old cousin, Hassan, went on a stabbing rampage in a settlement in East Jerusalem, which was caught on surveillance video.
The Palestinian teens knifed a 20-year-old security guard and a 13-year-old boy, who suffered critical injuries in the attack.
Hassan Mansara was shot dead by a police officer, while Ahmad Mansara was arrested and ultimately convicted of two counts of attempted murder. He initially received a sentence of 12 years in prison, which was later reduced to 9½ years.
During his incarceration, Mansara has repeatedly attempted to harm himself and others. He has been in and out of solitary confinement, drawing the ire of Amnesty International, a nongovernmental human rights advocacy group.
Amnesty International’s campaign on Israel and the Palestinian territories called on the Israeli government in September to release Mansara from prison, condemning the authorities for ignoring his mental health problems, allegedly including schizophrenia and depression.
Hadid’s post Friday, which coincided with the release of 13 Israeli hostages from Hamas captivity — among them tots as young as 2 — was blasted by music mogul Scooter Braun, who accused Hadid on social media of sharing false information with her millions of followers.
“I know people mean well but when you say a child was abducted when it turns out it was a teenager who went out and stabbed two random innocent civilians including a 12 year old on camera and then stated ‘I wanted to stab Jews.’ Let’s get our facts right before we post to 78 million people,” he wrote.
Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeili shared a screenshot of Hadid’s post on her Instagram Story, which called her out for being the latest to portray the “knife-wielding Palestinian terrorist as a victim.”
This is not the first time that Hadid, who has been a vocal supporter of Palestinian rights, along with her sister, Bella, has come under fire for lashing out at Israel.
In the aftermath of Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel last month, Hadid reposted a graphic on her Instagram Story that read: “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.”
The official social media account of the State of Israel took notice of the model’s post and responded to her with an infographic that read: “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 right against barbaric terrorists is the right thing to do.”
The infographic was accompanied by a post directing a withering criticism at Hadid: “Have you been sleeping the past week? Or are you just fine turning a blind eye to Jewish babies being butchered in their homes? Your silence has been very clear about where you stand. We see you.”
