One Direction, Kim Kardashian: tweeting for Israel

Normally, neither Kim Kardashian nor the boyband One Direction would be in my sphere of attention. I know that both have a massive following worldwide, and in fact, I don’t want to comment any further on that. I do not aim to insult people, and fear that elaborating on my opinion might be interpreted by some as such.

Sorry to disappoint you, sensation-seekers! The reason I mention these celebrities in this blog is because both in these days managed to make tremendous blunders on Twitter, that they have rushed to attempt to correct. While ‘Israel’ is unleashing its high-tech firepower upon the besieged civilians of Gaza, murdering and injuring mainly women and children, these self-absorbed celebs had the political and humanitarian short-sightedness to tweet their sympathies primarily to the people of ‘Israel’.

In One Direction’s case, it was Harry Styles who wrote the tweet – which has now been removed – as if it was written on behalf of his whole band, using the word “our”, as you can see in the provided screenshot. His tweet said: “For all our Israeli fans, stay strong! Hope you will be ok. xx #PrayForIsrael”. I have not been able to find any comment from the band itself on this issue.

Kim Kardashian, the day before, apparently caused an outrage by tweeting “Praying for everyone in Israel” and five minutes later tweeting “Praying for everyone in Palestine and across the world!”, apparently after noticing that her pro-Israel tweets had caused a barrage of angry comments to her Twitter-account.

If we don’t want to give her the benefit of the doubt, we may remark that the tweet for the Palestinians was sent much later than the first, after a truckload of criticism, and was diluted by mixing it with well-wishes for everyone in the world. Half an hour later, both tweets were removed.

Apparently, her advisers gave her a diplomatic way out by providing her with a soothing text of apology, which was published somewhat later:

“I want to own up to and explain that earlier today I sent out two tweets about saying prayers for the people in Palestine and Israel and after hearing from my followers, I decided to take down the tweets because I realized that some people were offended and hurt by what I said, and for that I apologize. I should have pointed out my intentions behind these tweets when I posted them. The fact is that regardless of religion and political beliefs, there are countless innocent people involved who didn’t choose this, and I pray for all of them and also for a resolution. I also pray for all the other people around the world who are caught in similar crossfires.”

We have seen no such response from One Direction. Harry Styles’ tweet was removed, but never followed up by a tweet for the people of Palestine. In comparison, Kim Kardashian, one could say, at least showed a willingness to listen to criticism and retract or correct tactless statements that were possibly made in a rush. Do you find Kim’s correction believable? That is all up to you.

We leave it up to the fans of One Direction to tell their favorite band what they think, or not, or perhaps to find some other music to listen to. Does it make sense to be the fan of a band that singles out its Israeli fans for a message of support? Is it still okay to be pro-Palestinian AND a fan of One Direction? No one can make that decision for you – you will have to decide for yourself.

We have to stand up for justice, we have to support the oppressed. We are not in any way obliged to spare celebrities our criticism. In fact, we will continue to rally for our cause, and we are not going to gag ourselves or censor ourselves when it comes to calling out celebrities who make mistakes in the field of our human rights, or those of others.

Free Palestine !

Doc Jazz