Supermodel Bella Hadid criticised Israel's far-right security minister. Now he's lashing out at her
Entertainment
The supermodel had criticised the minister’s remarks about Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
TEL AVIV (AP) — Israel’s far-right national security minister lashed out at supermodel Bella Hadid on Friday for criticizing his recent fiery televised remarks about Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
In an interview earlier this week with Israel’s Channel 12 following two deadly Palestinian attacks against Israelis in the occupied territory, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir argued that his right to freedom of movement as a Jewish settler outweighs the same right for Palestinians.
“My right, the right of my wife and my children to move around Judea and Samaria, is more important than freedom of movement for the Arabs,” Ben-Gvir said on Wednesday, using the biblical name for the West Bank. “The right to life comes before freedom of movement.”
Addressing Mohammad Magadli, a well-known Israeli-Arab television host who was in the studio, Ben-Gvir added: “Sorry, Mohammad. But that’s the reality.”
His statement drew widespread criticism as commentators seized on it as proof of allegations that Israel was turning into an apartheid system that seeks to maintain Jewish hegemony from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.
Protesters thronged outside Ben-Gvir’s home in a West Bank settlement on Friday to condemn his remarks. The catchphrase “Sorry, Mohammad” became meme fodder for social media as critics posted it alongside videos of Israeli violence against Palestinians.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended Ben-Gvir’s comments in a statement Friday night, saying that Israel “allows maximum freedom of movement” in the West Bank. Palestinian militants, Netanyahu said, “take advantage of this freedom of movement to murder Israeli women, children, and families by ambushing them at certain points on different routes.”
“This is what Minister Ben-Gvir meant when he said ‘the right to life precedes freedom of movement,” Netanyahu added.
