On Saturday, May 22, Dua Lipa was accused of alleged anti-semitism by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and the World Values Network in a full-page advertisement published by The New York Times. She promptly responded to the accusations, saying, “I stand in solidarity with all oppressed people and reject all forms of racism.”
The advertisement addressed models Bella and Gigi Hadid as well as Lipa, who is dating the Hadid sisters’ brother, Anwar. The headline reads, “Bella, Gigi and Dua, Hamas calls for a second Holocaust. Condemn them now.”
Hamas, which means ‘Islamic Resistance Movement,’ is claimed to be a ‘Liberation Organization’ by pro-Palestinians, as seen in one of the top replies to the tweet that brought The New York Times advertisement to Twitter’s attention, which likened Hamas to the Black Panthers. The World Values Network has a different opinion, alleging, “If Bella, Gigi, and Dua cared about Palestinians they should consider condemning, not Israel, a free society, but Hamas, a bloodthirsty death cult whose brutality toward women and tolerance for honor killings of young Palestinian girls is an abomination.”
“Bella, Gigi and Dua protest that they only revile Zionists, not Jews,” The advertisement suggests, before criticizing that ideology with a Martin Luther King, Jr. quote, “When people criticize Zionists they mean Jews, you are talking Anti-Semitism.” Boteach also alleged, “Bella Hadid and Dua Lipa even went so far as including the disgusting libel that Israel, a country with 2 million Muslim-Arab citizens, is engaging in ethnic cleansing.”
Lipa responded, “I utterly reject the false and appalling allegations that were published today in the New York Times advertisement taken out by the World Values Network. This is the price you pay for defending Palestinian human rights against an Israeli government whose actions in Palestine both Human Rights Watch and the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem accuse of persecution and discrimination. I take this stance because I believe that everyone — Jews, Muslims and Christians — have the right to live in peace as equal citizens of a state they choose. The World Values Network are shamelessly using my name to advance their ugly campaign with falsehoods and blatant misrepresentation of who I am and what I stand for. I stand in solidarity with all oppressed people and reject all forms of racism.”
Dua Lipa has attracted controversy for her political views before. In July 2020, she Tweeted in support of Albanian nationalism by posting a picture of ‘Greater Albania,’ which expands the country’s borders to include parts of Greece, Macedonia and Serbia, including Kosovo.
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