Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli accuses Bella Hadid of spreading fake news with photo of ‘starving Gaza child’ and blasts ‘Didn’t you learn from your sister’s mistake?’ in reference to Gigi’s Palestine blunder

Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli has accused Bella Hadid of spreading fake news with a post featuring Palestinian children.

Hadid, 27, shared a photo of the children with her 60 million followers on Monday, along with the caption: “Gaza on my mind” – a reference to the ongoing situation in the Palestinian territory currently under attack by Israel.

However, the clip originally came from the Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria and came from a 2021 documentary directed by Bashar al-Assad during the Syrian civil war.

After social media users started pointing out that the image came from Syria, Instagram added a note saying the post lacked important context and could mislead people. The note links to a web page explaining that the images come from a refugee camp in Syria and show the victims of the Assad regime, not Israel.

Today, Refaeli took to her own Instagram to call out Hadid. She shared a screenshot of her fellow model’s post with a red “fake news” stamp on top.

“Haven’t you learned from your sister’s mistake?” she wrote, likely in reference to Bella’s older sister Gigi Hadid’s own gaffe claiming that Israel is “the only country in the world that keeps children as prisoners of war.”

Gigi’s post accused Israel of the “kidnapping, rape, humiliation, torture and murder of Palestinians,” but the model – whose father is Palestinian and who compared Israelis to Nazis last year – apologized for her “mistake,” which she said was careless .

“Taking innocent people hostage is never okay,” Hadid wrote at the time, adding, “Hurting someone because they are Jewish is never okay.”

At the time, Refaeli hit out at Gigi in the wake of her post. She shared other posts invoking Gigi, and also shared a video in which an Israeli army spokesperson spoke about the country’s Iron Dome defense system and the ongoing conflict with Hamas – which was sparked by the October 7 terrorist attack.

Israel began its war in Gaza after Hamas’ attack, which killed about 1,200 people. Hamas militants have also taken about 250 people hostage and Israel estimates that 129 remain in Gaza, including 34 who are presumed dead.

“I think there is a lot to be angry about, but I think the world’s anger should be directed at Hamas (for its attack on Israel),” the spokesperson said in the video shared by Refaeli at the time.

‘Because Israel didn’t start this war. We didn’t want this war.’

“Our war is against Hamas,” the spokesman continued, adding, “It is not against the Palestinians.” The video ends with the spokesperson urging the world to investigate and “be on the right side of history.”

“I think she’s talking to you,” Refaeli captioned the video, tagging Gigi.

Both Gigi Hadid and Bar Refaeli are rumored to have dated Hollywood superstar Leonardo DiCaprio in the past.

Bella’s post from Monday will be online from Thursday afternoon.

The fact check on Instagram links to a web page explaining that the images are from a refugee camp in Syria, showing the victims of the Assad regime, and not Israel.

It reads: ‘This message is misleading. This video was not shot in Palestine. The video dates from 2013, from the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus.’

The footage is part of the film Little Palestine, Diary of a Siege, which shows the aftermath of Assad’s siege in Yarmouk – which was then the largest Palestinian refugee camp in the world, housing tens of thousands of people.

It is not the first time that the Los Angeles resident has shared images from Syria that lack context.

In November, the millionaire posted the same images of children in Syria sharing their hopes and dreams during the war, claiming they had been taken to Gaza during the ongoing conflict with Israel.

She wrote at the time: ‘Thousands of innocent Palestinian men, women and CHILDREN imprisoned without trial.’

Syrian-Americans have been quick to take up the model because of misleading reports about the war.

“This is not the first time she has done this with the SAME IMAGES of children from Yarmouk,” wrote media strategist Kareem Rifai of the American Enterprise Institute.

‘Completely unacceptable and irresponsible for a mega-celebrity with a huge reach. Syrians are still being killed by Assad every day.”

Just two days ago, Hadid’s father, real estate mogul Mohamed Hadid, was forced to apologize for a slew of hateful messages he sent to US Congressman Ritchie Torres.

A New York Post report details how Hadid has attacked Torres online in recent months over the congressman’s support for Israel following the October 7 Hamas attacks.

In text messages to Torres, Hadid labeled him “worse than the rats in the New York sewer system.”

Torres, who is gay, was also told by the model’s father that he “might get a job as a bouncer at a gay bar,” and that he should “dress like a KKK to hide that ugly gray-colored face of yours.” .

Despite the backlash to the published posts, Hadid apologized for his language but took the opportunity to throw a few more insults at Torres.

He said Torres is a “shill” for Israel, a state that not only “mistreats black and brown people, but also covers up their atrocities by using their targeted gay rights as a shield for their human rights abuses.”

“My feeling after 76 years of being a refugee from the country where I and my ancestors were born and seeing a genocide is at an all-time high,” he continued.

‘I see American politicians working like AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs Committee] messengers of genocide.

“I used the wrong words to express this anger, but the anger is justified. It is wrong to let black, brown and other marginalized communities do the dirty work in two countries that have never respected them.

“I apologize to my community for focusing the conversation on this. And even for a minute away from Palestine. All eyes on Palestine. Liberate Palestine.’

Torres, who made history when he became the first openly gay African American and openly gay Latin American congressman in 2021, said he felt “dehumanized” by Hadid’s posts.

Mohamed has also compared the method of the Nazi gas chambers to the bombing of Gaza, and Auschwitz to the Gaza Strip.