Hollywood

After receiving backlash, Gigi Hadid messages Taylor Swift

Gigi Hadid has shared a sweet birthday tribute to friend Taylor Swift on social media, weeks after causing controversy on her Instagram account.

Swift celebrated her 34th birthday on Wednesday, turning up at upscale New York lounge The Box alongside Blake Lively, Miles Teller and his wife Keleigh.

Hadid posted an adorable snap of her and the singer to her Instagram Stories, alongside model Lily Aldridge, celebrity stylist Ashley Avignone, and Swift’s childhood friend Abigail Anderson.

Left: Taylor Swift in 2023. Right: Gigi Hadid in 2022. The 28-year-old runway star recently came under fire for her remarks on the Israel-Hamas war.

“Happy T-day!!” the 28-year-old captioned the image. “Love you lonngg time sister.”

Although the cute photo will no doubt please the duo’s fans, another of Hadid’s recent Instagram Stories sparked uproar. The runway star was accused of spreading “blood libel,” after reposting a clip alleging that Israeli authorities harvested the organs of dead Palestinians without consent.

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Using footage from a news segment filmed in 2015, the video featured interviews with an Israeli anatomist and the director of the Israeli Skin Bank, and claimed that the Israeli Institute of Forensic Medicine was stealing organs from Palestinian prisoners.

The runway star, along with her sister Bella Hadid, has ignited debate online recently with their social media comments about the Israel-Hamas war.

On October 7, Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israel, killing 1,200 people at a music festival and across residential areas. Another 240 were taken hostage.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared war, firing airstrikes on the Gaza strip. Supplies of food, medicine, fuel and energy into the territory were suspended, before a ground offensive was launched.

Left to right: Lily Aldridge, Gigi Hadid, Taylor Swift, Ashley Avignone and Abigail Anderson. The model sent a sweet birthday message to her pop star pal on Instagram.INSTAGRAM/@GIGIHADIDSign up for Newsweek’s daily headlines

As of December 14, at least 18,600 Gazans have been killed, with roughly 1.9 million people made homeless, according to the Associated Press.

As the daughters of Palestinian-American real estate tycoon Mohamed Hadid, both Bella and Gigi Hadid are vocal supporters of Palestinians and have been under close scrutiny since news of the attacks broke.

Despite posting statements condemning Hamas and expressing sympathy for civilians on both sides of the war, the models have faced fierce backlash online. Pro-Palestinian fans have high expectations for the sisters, while Israel supporters have lashed out at the pair.

‘Vile Antisemitic Blood Libel’

The “blood libel” clip was originally posted by user Umme Murtaza (umme_murtazaa) and used snippets from an investigative report broadcast on Israel Channel 2 in 2015.

In the news segment, Meira Weiss—an anatomist and professor of sociology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem—said: “They used to take the organs from the bodies of Palestinians and then the immigrants and foreign workers.”

The clip then cut to an interview with Israeli Skin Bank Director Maika Chouat, who informs reporters that the center is the largest skin bank in the world.

“What is the organ donation rate given the population of Israel?” asks one of the reporters, to which Chouat replies: “I can’t give an answer, the rate is very low.”

From left to right: Gigi Hadid, Mohamed Hadid and Bella Hadid attend the Victoria’s Secret After Party at the Grand Palais on November 30, 2016, in Paris, France. The sisters are the daughter of Palestinian-American real estate mogul Mohamed Hadid and vocal supporters of the Free Palestine movement.DIMITRIOS KAMBOURIS/GETTY IMAGES ENTERTAINMENT

“Watch this disturbing video, where health officials admitted that Israeli authorities had harvested the organs of dead Palestinians for years without their consent,” Murtaza said in the viral video.

Pro-Israel fans were appalled by Hadid’s post, calling it “vile antisemitic blood libel” and accusing the fashionista of spreading conspiracy theories.

The organ harvesting allegations against Israel—specifically the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)—are not new. The accusations appear to stem from an article published in Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.

In 2009, journalist Donald Bostrom interviewed Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, who believed the IDF was abducting young Palestinian men and stealing organs from their bodies.

Although no evidence was found to support the claims, the article led to the release of an interview with interview Dr. Yehuda Hiss, the former head of the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute.

Recorded by academic Nancy Scheper-Hughes in 2000, Hiss admitted that pathologists at the center took skin, bones, corneas and heart valves from deceased Israeli soldiers, citizens, Palestinians and immigrants, usually without consent from the person’s relatives.

The Israeli health ministry released a statement in 2009 that said: “The guidelines at that time were not clear. For the last 10 years, Abu Kabir has been working according to ethics and Jewish law.”

Shortly after sharing the video, Hadid shared another controversial post to Instagram claiming Israel is the “only country in the world” holding children as prisoners of war. Hadid deleted the post shortly afterward and apologized, but her following took a hit, with the star losing 121,050 followers in a month.

The Hadid sisters aren’t the only stars to come under fire after sharing their thoughts on the conflict, with both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian celebrities causing furor with their comments.

Oscar winner Susan Sarandon was dropped by her agency in November for remarks she made at a pro-Palestinian rally in New York City, while Scream star Melissa Barrera was fired from the horror franchise after accusing Israel of “genocide” on social media.

A number of Stranger Things fans are threatening to boycott the next season over actor Noah Schnapp’s statement on the conflict—in which he declared, “You either stand with Israel or you stand with terrorism”—while Israeli actress Gal Gadot was slammed for reportedly attempting to screen footage of Hamas attacking Israel on October 7.

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