Bella Hadid spotted waving huge Palestinian flag at protest in support of her family’s homeland in NYC
BELLA Hadid took to the streets of New York City to join protests in support of her family’s homeland Palestine as violent clashes continue to erupt in the Middle East.
The supermodel was spotted waving a huge flag as she stood shoulder-to-shoulder with hundreds of others in Bay Ridge, donning a black and white chequered Keffiyeh – a symbol of Palestinian nationalism.
Hadid, whose father Mohamed is from Palestine, chanted and marched with the crowd just hours after taking to Instagram to share emotional posts about her heritage.
In one, she put up a photo from her grandparent’s wedding in Nazareth in 1941, along with a snap of her father as a child with his siblings and mom.
Bella noted in the caption they were “taken out of their homes in Palestine in 1948, becoming refugees in Syria, then Lebanon, the Tunisia.”
“I love my family, I love my Heritage, I love Palestine,” the 24-year-old added.
“I will stand strong to keep their hope for a better land in my heart. A better world for our people and the people around them.
“They can never erase our history.”
Her dad, Mohamed, replied in the comments saying: “Well said. You made me cry.”
Bella – who is the sister of internationally renowned model Gigi – also shared snaps from the march in New York.
“The way my heart feels.. to be around this many beautiful, smart, respectful, loving, kind and generous Palestinians all in one place,” she wrote.
“It feels whole. We are a rare breed.
“It’s free Palestine til Palestine is free!!!”.
In a previous post, she shared a picture from a rally four years ago, urging people to realize “this is not about religion” and that issues have been “going on for years”.
“This is about Israeli colonization, ethnic cleansing, military occupation and apartheid over the Palestinian people,” she wrote.
“I stand with my Palestinian brothers and sisters, I will protect and support you as best I can. I love you.
“I feel for you. And I cry for you.
“I have been told my entire life that who I am: a Palestinian woman – is not real.
“I’ve been told my father does not have a birth place if he is from Palestine.
“And I am here to say. Palestine is very much real and Palestinian people are here to stay and coexists. As they always have.”
It comes as the Israel-Palestinian conflict intensifies with bloody airstrikes.
The feud has rumbled on for decades, having begun over a dispute between land and borders.
But this month has seen some of the worst violence in Jerusalem for years, as simmering tensions boil over.
Hundreds of people in the Gaza Strip were wounded as more than 100 citizens, including children, were killed in the airstrikes.
Much of the unrest stems from the long-running legal effort by Jewish settler groups to evict several Palestinian families from their homes in the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah.
A lower court ruling earlier this year backing the settlers’ decades-old claim infuriated Palestinians.
A Supreme Court hearing on a Palestinian appeal had been set May 10 and risked inflaming tensions further.
Before long, much of the political tension turned into violence on the streets with rockets fired from both sides.
The fighting has escalated following the bombardment of Gaza as the region was hit with 1,000 missiles.
Previously Israel used a fake tweet of a ground invasion in Gaza to trick Hamas fanatics into fleeing inside their network of tunnels reports claim.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the air strikes will continue as long as they are required.
The latest round of fighting – worst since the 2014 Gaza war – has seen at least 139 people, including 39 children, killed in Gaza.
Hamas and other militant groups have fired some 2,900 rockets into Israel since Monday, when tensions over a flashpoint holy site in Jerusalem and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families boiled over.
Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes across the impoverished and blockaded territory, which is home to more than two million Palestinians, and brought down a number of high-rise buildings.
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The latest in a series of airstrikes saw Israel destroy the home of a top Hamas leader as Netanyahu vowed to continue blasts.
Israel appears to have stepped up strikes in recent days to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas as efforts to broker a cease-fire accelerate.
The Israeli military said it struck the homes of Yehiyeh Sinwar, the most senior Hamas leader inside the territory, and his brother Muhammad, another senior Hamas member.
