Emma Watson shares message in solidarity with the Palestinian movement

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DESK REPORT

The British actor's message has received worldwide

attention, with Pro-Palestinian supporters on

social media lauding the move.

Photo: AP

British actor Emma Watson recently took to social media to share a message in support of the Palestinian movement, leaving many Pro-Palestinian netizens both surprised and elated at the move.

The 31-year-old — who rose to fame for her portrayal of Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies — reposted a post originally shared by the Bad Activist Collective on Instagram on January 2.

The post includes a picture showing Pro-Palestinian supporters with the quote "solidarity is a verb". The post's caption included a poem by British-Australian scholar Sara Ahmed about what solidarity truly entails.

Watson's move has received worldwide attention. Pro-Palestinian supporters on social media have hailed her support for the cause.

Watson was already in the public eye because of her appearance in the Harry Potter reunion special broadcast on January 1. Netizens have lauded how she chose to post the message while she and the reunion were trending on social media, capitalising on the opportunity to make her post "more visible and impactful".

However, the actor has also been on the receiving end of criticism. Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan strongly criticised her post, calling Watson an "antisemite".

A long-held argument of the anti-Palestinian movement is that calling for a free Palestine is akin to anti-Semitism. Model Bella Hadid was on the receiving end of a lot of backlash and claims of anti-Semitism after she was vocal about her support for the Palestinian cause. Actor and activist Mark Ruffalo withdrew his support for Palestine and apologised after criticism.

Harry Potter actor Watson is a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador and has been since July 2014. She is known for her campaigning efforts in promoting gender equality, campaigns such as the HeforShe solidarity movement.

Israel's UN envoy lashes out after Emma Watson expresses support for Palestinians

Gilad Erdan and former ambassador Danny Danon face online backlash after criticising Harry Potter star who expressed solidarity with Palestinians

Emma Watson at a premiere in NY in 2019 for her movie Little Women (AFP)

By MEE staff
Published date: 3 January 2022 

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations lashed out at actress Emma Watson on Monday after the Harry Potter star shared a picture on Instagram in solidarity with Palestinia

In the post, Watson shared a picture from a pro-Palestinian rally with the phrase, "Solidarity is a verb". In the caption, Watson included a quote from British-Australian activist Sara Ahmed, who said: "Solidarity does not assume that our struggles are the same struggles, or that our pain is the same pain, or that our hope is for the same future.

"Solidarity involves commitment, and work, as well as the recognition that even if we do not have the same feelings, or the same lives, or the same bodies, we do live on common ground."

Gilad Erdan, Israel's ambassador to the UN, took to Twitter to criticise the actress' remarks, writing: "Fiction may work in Harry Potter but it does not work in reality."

"If it did, the magic used in the wizarding world could eliminate the evils of Hamas (which oppresses women and seeks the annihilation of Israel) and the PA (which supports terror). I would be in favor of that!" he added.

His comments came shortly after Danny Danon, the former Israeli ambassador to the UN, also lashed out at Watson.

"10 points from Gryffindor for being an antisemite," Danon tweeted

Social media users slammed both Erdan and Danon over their comments, with many claiming they "diminished attention to real cases of anti-semitism."

Leah Greenberg, the co-executive director of Indivisible Project, a nonprofit founded in 2016 in response to the election of Donald Trump as president, said Danon's remarks were "a perfect demonstration of the utterly cynical and bad-faith weaponization of antisemitism to shut down basic expressions of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

"Former Israeli ambassador to the UN calls Emma Watson an ‘antisemite’ for expressing solidarity with the Palestinians. Beyond parody," tweeted broadcaster Mehdi Hasan.

Meanwhile, Palestinian activist Mohammed El-Kurd, who played a crucial role in raising international awareness about the forced evictions of Palestinians in the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, responded with, "Cry louder it's making me laugh."

Watson's Instagram post currently has over 600,000 likes and over 47,000 comments. The picture was originally posted in May by the Bad Activism Collective after Israel's latest offensive on the Gaza Strip resulted in the deaths of more than 250 Palestinians.