Bella Hadid stated that her vocal support for her home country, Palestine, has cost her several job deals, but noted that will never stop her.

Qatar’s Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani has vocalised her apparent solidarity with supermodel Bella Hadid for her ongoing support for the Palestinian cause on Monday.

The chairperson of Qatar Museums shared a post on her Instagram story that narrated the supermodel’s struggle due to her outspoken advocacy for Palestine, which cost her several career opportunities and even relationships.

“When principles trump everything,” Al Mayassa wrote in response to the post.

Bella Hadid has been a target of various pro-Israel lobby groups over the last few years due to her vocal and public support of Palestine.

“I had so many companies that stopped working with me,” she said in an interview with the Rep podcast. “I have friends that completely dropped me.”

Hadid claimed that despite having “anxiety” about talking or acting in a certain way, she still has all the personal experience and knowledge necessary to stand by her stance.

 “I know my family enough, I know my own history enough. And that should be enough,” she said on the podcast. 

Hadid came under fire from the official ‘Israel’ Twitter account after participating in a pro-Palestine march in New York City in 2021 and posting about it on Instagram. She was referred to as an “advocate for throwing Jews into the sea” – a common accusation of anti-semitism for those who stand against Israel.

 “When I speak about Palestine, I get labeled as something that I’m not. But I can speak about the same thing that’s happening there, happening somewhere else in the world, and that’s honorable. So, what’s the difference?” she added.

Qatar’s support for Palestine

Qatar has long stood in support of Palestine.

Unlike some of its neighbours, namely the UAE and Bahrain, Qatar has staunchly refused to join a wave of normalisation in the Arab world that has seen some state establish ties with Israel.

Earlier this month, the Gulf nation renewed its condemnation and denunciation of ongoing Israeli attacks on Palestinians, as occupation forces shut down key Palestinian rights organisations in the West Bank.

The statements were made during the Cabinet’s weekly meeting, where Qatari officials took aim at the continuous repression, intimidation, arrests, home demolitions, as well as various other flagrant violations carried out by the Israeli regime.

The same week saw the Zionist state conducting new raids in the West Bank and injuring tens of Palestinians.

According to Palestine’s news agency (WAFA), occupation forces detained at least 40 Palestinians, including former prisoners, as they raided houses.

Addressing the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos in May, Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani himself denounced Israel on the world stage while slamming double standards from the global community in how it deals with Israel.

Speaking about the ongoing suffering of Palestinians under occupation, Sheikh Tamim said Palestine remains an “open wound” that needs to be equally addressed by the world, similar to the way in which Ukraine has captured hearts around the globe.

“Those families have been occupied for decades, with no relief in sight. The escalation, in illegal settlement aggression, has been relentless, and the same goes for the continual attacks against the Palestinian people,” said the amir, referring to Palestinians under Israeli occupation.

More recently, Qatar’s Assistant Foreign Minister Lolwah Al Khater hit back at a Danish journalist who equated the Gulf state’s human rights record to ongoing Israeli crimes against Palestinians.

“Wait a minute, did you just confirm that you belong to the group that don’t dare to condemn the OBVIOUS crimes of the 70 year Israeli Occupation including killing thousands of kids and displacing millions? Well of course you can but unfortunately it’s still called double standards,” she noted.