‘Palestinian rights’ earn supermodel Bella Hadid ire of far-right Israeli minister

By Ahmed Asmar

ANKARA (AA) – US supermodel Bella Hadid’s defense of Palestinian rights has brought her under fire from Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

In an interview with an Israeli channel on Wednesday, Ben-Gvir said the safety and mobility rights of Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank held more weight than those of Palestinians.

"My right, my wife's, my children's, to roam the roads of Judea and Samaria are more important than the right of movement of the Arabs," Ben-Gvir said, using the biblical term for the occupied territory.

Hadid came out on her Instagram account, where she has around 60 million followers, to denounce Ben-Gvir’s comments against Palestinians.

"In no circumstance, at no time, particularly in 2023, should one life be considered more valuable than another's, particularly due to their ethnicity, culture, or unfounded animosity,” she wrote.

The supermodel, whose father is a Palestinian, also posted a video from Israeli rights group B’Tselem showing Israeli soldiers in the West Bank city of Hebron telling a resident that Palestinians are not permitted to walk on a certain street because it is reserved for Jews.

“Does this remind anyone of anything?” she wrote.

Ben-Gvir responded in a statement on Friday by calling the supermodel an “Israel hater” and accused her of posting a segment of the interview “with the intention of making me appear racist and evil.”

The Israeli minister’s remarks already drew widespread condemnations, including from the US, which labeled it "racist rhetoric."

Ben-Gvir holds far-right views on the Palestinians and has called for their displacement. He has repeatedly joined Israeli settlers in storming the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem.

In November, Israeli President Isaac Herzog warned in a leaked audio that "the whole world is worried" about Ben-Gvir’s far-right views.

According to estimates, about 700,000 Israeli settlers live in 164 settlements and 116 outposts in the occupied West Bank.

Under international law, all Jewish settlements in the occupied territories are considered illegal.