Gigi Hadid retracts post, says 'Palestinian kids should have same rights like others'

Supermodel Gigi Hadid, who is quite vocal about her support for Palestine amid the Israel-Hamas war, took back a statement that is being labelled by many as “antisemitic”. In an Instagram post, Gigi said that Israel is the “only country in the world” that keeps children as prisoners of war. To prove her point, she posted an example that didn’t go down too well for everyone. 

In a now-deleted post, Gigi shared that Palestinian Ahmad Manasra, who was arrested at 13 years old by Israeli police and sentenced to 12 years in prison, was later In a now-deleted post, Gigi shared that Palestinian Ahmad Manasra, who was arrested at 13 years old by Israeli police and sentenced to 12 years in prison, was later reduced to 9.5 years. The Palestinian child was arrested for stabbing an Israeli security guard and a 12-year-old boy. She was trying to point out that while Palestinian children are picked up for crimes, they are not treated as kids but as adults -- left to serve prison time and are not treated fairly. She said in her post that no other country treats children and adults the same way when it concerns correctional treatment and prison time. 

As for Hadid’s post, it was met with severe criticism with some of her industry peers calling it false. Music mogul Scooter Braun (who manages profiles of some of the most noteworthy musicians) said, “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.”

In an Instagram post in reply, Gigi Hadid wrote, “I wanted to show the ways in which international law is being undermined by the Israeli government. 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.”

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She also criticised violence from any and all sides in the current Israel-Hamas war. “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,” she said. 

She added, “A Palestinian child, even if he is accused of a horrific crime, deserves the same rights that an Israeli child would have under the same circumstances.”

Gigi Hadid and sister Bella Hadid’s father is Mohamed Hadid, a Palestinian immigrant. Ever since the October 7 Hamas attack took place, Israel has carpet bombed Gaza in retaliation. Gigi and her sister Bella have criticised the Israeli government on social media over its treatment of people in Gaza.