What did Gigi Hadid say about her allegedly controversial Israel-Hamas conflict post? Model admits mistake, issues apology

Gigi Hadid made a two-page apology on Tuesday, November 29, 2023, for a previous post accusing Israel of being “the only country in the world that keeps children as prisoners of war.”

The model said she was regretful of spreading misinformation and added:

"It is important to me to share real stories about the hardships that Palestinians have endured and continue to endure, but this weekend I shared something that I did not fact-check or deeply think about prior to reposting."

Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of alleged war crimes and violence.

Hadid had claimed in the earlier post that Israel was responsible for "abduction, r*pe, humiliation, torture, murder of Palestinians years and years before Oct. 7, 2023."

---

Gigi Hadid apologizes after backlash over post amid Israel-Hamas hostage swap

Gigi Hadid and her sister Bella have been advocates for the pro-Palestinian movement that has arisen after the airstrikes on Gaza by the Israeli Government since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. The death toll in Israel stands at around 1,200 people. In Gaza, over 14,000 people have been killed, as per Palestine's Ministry of Health, reported by The Economist. On Tuesday, Gigi Hadid started her apology by saying:

"As someone of Palestinian descent, the endless heartbreaking news and imagery coming out of Gaza has been painful and often overwhelming."

The model used the example of a Palestinian Ahmad Manasra, who was arrested at 13 years old by Israeli police. He was sentenced by the IDF to 12 years in prison which was later reduced to nine and a half years.

The sentence was for allegedly stabbing a 20-year-old Israeli security guard and a 13-year-old boy in Jerusalem, a crime committed with his brother, as per The Hollywood Reporter. The alleged crimes have not been proven.

Hadid claimed she “wanted to show the ways in which international law is being violated by the Israeli government." She continued in her two-page writing:

"In this case, I was trying to highlight how Palestinian children who are arrested by the IDF are often not given the same rights as an Israeli child accused of the same crime would. Unfortunately, I used the wrong example to make that point and I regret that."

Gigi Hadid made it clear that she was against the violence of all humans regardless of their ethnicity or religion. She said:

“My focus was intended to be on human rights issues. That is why I also want to reiterate that attacking any human, which of course includes Jewish people, is NEVER OK. Taking innocent people hostage is NEVER OK. Harming someone BECAUSE they are Jewish is NEVER OK. It is wrong."

Hadid then accused Israel of engaging in human rights violations and also spoke about her ties to Palestine, as per Fox News. Her father Mohamed Hadid is a Palestinian. She added:

"It is well-documented by credible human rights organizations that there has been systemic mistreatment of the Palestinian people by the government of Israel. I know these historical issues well because they are the history of my own family, Palestinians who were forced to flee their homeland in the late 1940s."

According to The New York Post, the lengthy apology came a day after Gigi Hadid received significant backlash over her previous post.

She spoke about her understanding of the power of her platform and that it comes with a huge responsibility. Gigi Hadid said she is "human and I make mistakes. But I also hold myself accountable for those mistakes."

The model again apologized and said she does "not stand behind the spreading of misinformation, and have always condemned using the Free Palestine movement as justification for anti-Semitism."

She added that she owes it to herself and her followers “to gather my thoughts and share them in a more constructive way.”