Justin Bieber is facing backlash after he shared a post showing his support for Israel, featuring a photo of the destruction of Gaza.
The Canadian singer shared the update yesterday (October 11) on his Instagram Story, posting an image of the ruined buildings in the Gaza Strip with the caption “Praying for Israel” laid over the top.
As highlighted by The Independent, the musician had taken down the original post within an hour of posting it and later replaced it with a new Story, which re-stated the same caption, but this time had no image attached.
Earlier to the incident, he also shared another update, writing: “To vilianize [sic] all Palestinians or all Israeli people to me seems wrong. I’m not interested in choosing sides, but I am interested in standing with the families who have been brutally taken from us.”
Justin Bieber deletes and reposts ‘Praying For Israel’ story after the original post he shared had the words over a photo of destruction in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/5yHoXC8Ilr
— Pop Base (@PopBase) October 11, 2023
The posts come amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine, which has seen hundreds killed on both sides.
His support for Israel arrives following Hamas operatives carrying out its largest-ever attack against Israel over the weekend.
Palestinian militants launched an early morning attack on a music festival in Southern Israel on Saturday (October 7), and the following day Israeli rescue service Zaka reported at least 260 bodies at the site, as well as hundreds of people missing.
Soon after, residential buildings, markets and mosques in Gaza were destroyed in retaliation and Israel later announced a “complete siege” – cutting off water, food, fuel and electricity supplies to Gaza, which is home to 2.3 million people.
As per The Independent, authorities in Palestinian have accused Israel of targeting the “entire neighbourhood” around the Al-Sousi mosque, which was razed to the ground by an airstrike on Monday (October 9).
At time of writing, ABC News reports that 1,055 people have been killed and another 5,184 have been injured in Gaza, while In Israel, 1,200 people have been killed and more than 2,900 others have been injured.
Justin Bieber is not the first famous face to have been called out online because of their stance on the conflict. Earlier this week Jamie Lee Curtis was criticised for showing her support for Israel by sharing an image of destruction in Palestine.
I’d like to make the radical proposal that the harming of children, no matter who they are & no matter who does it, is always wrong and should be condemned. https://t.co/JQvD2Eo2tq
— Tom Morello (@tmorello) October 10, 2023
The actor posted a photo of children running with one boy carrying a little girl and wrote the caption “Terror in the skies” with an Israeli flag emoji added.
However, this soon led to backlash as it turned out the photo was taken by Gaza-based photojournalist Samar Abu Elouf, who shared the post over the weekend with the description: “Palestinian families seek refuge with their children from the northern Gaza Strip to UNRWA schools inside Gaza City, children are afraid of the sound of bombing who hear it during their presence due to the events on the Strip’s borders.”
Following the post, Journalist Muhammad Shehada posted the photo on his X/Twitter account with the caption: “Cognitive Dissonance: Jamie Lee Curtis was deeply moved by this picture ONLY when she thought they were Israeli. As soon as she learned they were Gazan, she lost all feelings for them & deleted the picture.”
Rage Against The Machine guitarist, Tom Morello also reposted the journalist’s tweet and wrote: “I’d like to make the radical proposal that the harming of children, no matter who they are & no matter who does it, is always wrong and should be condemned.”
“Similarly, WAR CRIMES committed by any person, any organization or any government (yours, mine, friend or foe) must be denounced and the responsible parties held accountable,” he added.
You can view the original article HERE.
