Palestinian-Dutch supermodel Bella Hadid recently called out social media giant Instagram for removing one of her posts, in which she shared a photo of her father’s American passport showing his birthplace as Palestine.
Bella used her social media platform to proudly show the world her father, Mohamed Hadid’s Palestinian roots. She posted a picture of his now-expired US passport, which was removed by Instagram on grounds of ‘harassment and bullying’.
The model didn’t hold back and responded to the platform while sharing its unjust practices with the world. It is not clear why the platform chose to take down the image, however, Bella shared a screenshot of the notification she received that stated ‘the content was against its community guidelines’. She then tagged them and asked why her post was taken down.
“What part of me being proud of my father’s birthplace of Palestine is ‘bullying, harassment, graphic, or sexual nudity’? Are we not allowed to be Palestinian on Instagram? This, to me, is bullying,â€Â her post read.
“You can’t erase history by silencing people. It doesn’t work like that,†she added and re-shared the picture of her dad’s passport. “Do you want him to change his birth place for you?†she questioned. “I am proud to be Palestinian,†she wrote and then urged her followers to share where their parents are from.
The incident has opened a much-needed conversation about how social media platforms have policies that silence posts about Palestine. Many people on Twitter appreciated the model for praised her for standing up against this bullying.
Bella and her two siblings Gigi and Anwar Hadid are the children of real estate developer Mohamed Hadid and Dutch model Yolanda. Mohamed Hadid was born in Palestine and raised in Jordan.
