Washington
\nGerman sportswear giant Adidas has dropped American model Bella Hadid from their advertising campaign for retro sneakers after facing criticism from Israel.
\nHadid, whose Palestinian father was born in Nazareth, has been a vocal advocate for the rights of the ethnonational group, calling for an end to the bloodshed in Gaza.
\nShe has repeatedly criticized the Israeli government over the ongoing Gaza conflict, which to date has claimed over 38,000 Palestinian lives. In October 2023, the IDF launched a military operation in the enclave in response to a deadly Hamas raid that had left approximately 1,200 Israelis dead.
\nBella and her sister Gigi, also a model with millions of social media followers, have participated in several pro-Palestinian demonstrations, publicly accusing Israel of committing \u201cgenocide\u201d in the enclave. The Hadid sisters have also donated $1 million to support multiple Palestinian relief efforts in Gaza, including HEAL Palestine, the Palestine Children\u2019s Relief Fund, World Central Kitchen, and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
\nRecently, the German sportswear giant re-launched their SL72 shoes, which they described as \u201cretro-inspired classics with effortless appeal.\u201d
\nThe sneakers were first showcased during the 1972 Munich Olympics, which are often remembered for a terrorist attack in which eleven Israeli athletes and a German police officer were killed by the Palestinian group Black September, which broke into the Olympic village and took them hostage.
\n\u201cGuess who the face of their campaign is? Bella Hadid, a half-Palestinian model who has a history of spreading anti-Semitism and calling for violence against Israelis and Jews,\u201d the Israeli Foreign Ministry wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday. Adidas responded that the company would be \u201crevising the remainder of the campaign\u201d with immediate effect without giving further details.
\n\u201cWe are conscious that connections have been made to tragic historical events \u2013 though these are completely unintentional \u2013 and we apologize for any upset or distress caused,\u201d the company said in a statement sent to AFP on Friday.
\nThe move to remove Bella Hadid from the campaign has sparked outrage on social media; Candace Owens, a well-known US conservative commentator, called it \u201cgross.\u201d
\n\u201cYou really have some audacity harassing them after the family survived as refugees and a generation later made something of themselves,\u201d Owens replied to the Israeli X post.
\n\u201cOpposing genocide does not make you anti-Semitic\u2026 It makes you human,\u201d another user responded, with several others calling for a boycott of the sportswear company.
\nHadid is not the only celebrity to have been dropped by Adidas over alleged anti-Semitic stances. In 2022, the sports giant ended a successful partnership with American rapper Kanye West, known as Ye, over his remarks about Jewish people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington German sportswear giant Adidas has dropped American model Bella Hadid from their advertising campaign for retro sneakers after facing criticism from Israel. Hadid, whose Palestinian father was born in Nazareth, has been a vocal advocate for the rights of the ethnonational group, calling for an end to the bloodshed in Gaza. She has repeatedly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419780,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-419764","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n