I lost modelling jobs for supporting Palestine, says Bella Hadid.
Supermodel Bella Hadid, who is of Dutch and Palestinian descent, has said that she is unconcerned with the loss of modelling gigs in order to maintain her support for Palestine.
This comes only days after Hadid admitted that her activism has prompted several firms to quit working with her.
The 25-year-old model discussed her Muslim and Arab origins and her continuous support for the Palestinian cause in an interview with Egyptian-American actor Ramy Youssef for GQ magazine.
‘I had so many firms that quit cooperating with me… I had pals who absolutely dumped me’
Often praised as one of the most vocal celebrities pushing for Palestine, Hadid is the daughter of Palestinian real-estate entrepreneur Mohamed Hadid and Dutch model Yolanda Hadid.
Hadid said in the interview that she felt “extracted” from her Palestinian family after moving to California after her parents’ divorce in 2000.
She spoke about her Arab roots, saying, “For so long I was missing that part of myself, and that made me very, truly sad and lonely.”
Hadid says she wishes she could have spent her childhood in a Muslim country with her father, where she could have learned about and practised Islam alongside him. “But I wasn’t given that.”
Hadid has distanced herself from her Palestinian family but still claims to be proud of her ancestry, and she often uses her fame to protest the Israeli occupation. She also spends time thinking about her family and what they experienced.
In his words, “I talk about [this] for the old who are still living there who have never seen Palestine free, and for the young that may yet grow up and enjoy a lovely existence.”
In 1948, during the Nakba or “the Catastrophe,” Zionist forces drove more than 700,000 Palestinians from ancient Palestine and destroyed around 500 communities to make way for the birth of Israel, forcing her father’s family to flee Palestine.
After losing their house in Safad to a Jewish family, Mohamed Hadid and his family were forced to seek sanctuary in Syria.
Bella told GQ, “I understood that I’m not on this world to be a model,” when asked about the impact her support for Palestine has had on her career.
I consider myself really fortunate to be in a place where I can express myself freely. And the drawback really is… It’s possible that I’ll get fired?”
Hadid was on the Rep podcast a few days before the GQ magazine came out. The podcast, hosted by journalist Noor Tagouri, looks at the stereotyping of Muslims in American popular culture.
Because of her support for Palestine, Bella Hadid alleges Instagram “shadow banned” her.
“I had a lot of firms that quit working with me,” she stated. “I’ve lost pals who were absolutely committed to me.”
When I talk about Palestine, people assume things about me that aren’t true. But it is proper for me to discuss the same issue that is occurring there but in another part of the earth. I mean, really, what’s the distinction?”
Famously, Bella Hadid has made news on many occasions when she has complained about the censorship of her postings on Palestine on social media sites like Instagram.
A New York Times advertisement from last year purported to associate the model with the Hamas organisation, the de facto rulers of the Gaza Strip. Gigi, Bella’s sister, and Dua Lipa, a Grammy Award-winning artist, also made appearances in the commercial.
Later this year, Bella Hadid will make her acting debut on the Hulu comedy Ramy.
