Social media users have criticised Vogue magazine after it edited a reference to Palestine out of an Instagram post in which model Gigi Hadid pledged to donate all of her Fashion Month earnings to people in Ukraine and Palestine.
The furore has led some readers of the fashion magazine to question its motivation in selecting and removing key words from a recent social media post.
On Sunday, the 26-year-old model, who has Palestinian-Dutch heritage, announced on Instagram that she would give away the entirety of her income from her A/W 2022 shows to “aid those suffering from the Ukraine war, as well as continuing to support those experiencing the same in Palestine.”
The fashion magazine then dedicated an Instagram post on its official social media page to Hadid’s pledge quoting the model’s statement, including the reference to Palestine.
Social media users attacked the post for “fanning the flames of anti-Semitism”, with StopAntisemitism.org commenting that “While Gigi Hadid and crew are appropriating the Russian invasion of Ukraine to push their political agenda vilifying Israel, the Jewish nation instead is negotiating peace between the two nations. Appropriation of another person's suffering is a new low, come on!”
The following day, social media users noted that the original photo caption on Vogue’s Instagram post had been edited to remove the reference to Palestine, including the model’s declaration at the end of her statement which read: “HANDS OFF UKRAINE. HANDS OFF PALESTINE. PEACE. PEACE. PEACE.”
Prominent figures and social media users condemned the move and its “involvement in the racism against and erasure of Palestinians from their home, culture, history, and heritage”.
Mehdi Hassan wrote: “So @GiGiHadid pledges to donate her earnings from Fall 2022 to relief efforts for occupied Ukrainians *and* occupied Palestinians and then @voguemagazine magazine just erases the Palestinians from its @instagram post on her pledge?”
Another wrote: “Not only is this totally spineless, it erases someone's identity and ALSO manages to be inaccurate reporting. Gigi is palestinian!!! she donated her money to PALESTINE”, while another simply replied to Vogue with: “Your white supremacy is showing”.
Hadid’s sister Alana even commented on the edited Instagram post, writing: “WOW, you removed Palestine. She is supporting both the crisis in Ukraine and Palestine. It’s a sad time when you can be bullied out of factual reporting.”
While some users objected to the comparison of the two countries' struggles, another user wrote: “What is happening in Palestine, like Ukraine, is fundamentally a story of occupier and occupied. The erasure of Palestinians from these narratives has material consequences - it permits the continued ethnic cleansing of Palestinians - with the media acting as accomplice.”
In the last hour, Vogue’s Instagram post has been amended a third time, with the caption now reading: “@GigiHadid announces that she will be donating her fashion month earnings towards relief efforts in Ukraine as well as continuing to support relief efforts in Palestine.”
In February, Amnesty International published a damning report stating that Israel’s discrimination against Palestinians amounted to the to the practice of apartheid under international law.
The leading human rights organisation has called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to consider the crime of apartheid in its current investigation into the situation in Palestine, noting the “massive seizures of Palestinian land and property, unlawful killings, forcible transfer, drastic movement restrictions, and the denial of nationality and citizenship to Palestinians”.
The Independent has approached Vogue for comment.
