Rihanna, Halsey Attacked Over Political Statements Regarding Israeli/Palestinian Conflict

Rihanna and Halsey have been blasted for wading into the Middle East conflict between Israel and Palestine with “reductive” tweets.

The pop stars have offered their takes on the ongoing war between the two nations, which boiled over again following a series of attacks after Israeli police officials blocked off the Damascus Gate, where Palestinian Arabs were planning to gather for the religious holiday Ramadan.

Rihanna revealed her heart was broken after the deaths of innocent children and she called for a resolution.

“My heart is breaking with the violence I’m seeing displayed between Israel and Palestine!” the singer wrote on Instagram. “I can’t bare (sic) to see it! Innocent Israeli and Palestinian children are hiding in bomb shelters, over 40 lives lost in Gaza alone, at least 13 of whom were also innocent children!

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“There needs to be some kind of resolve! We are sadly watching innocent people fall victim to notions perpetuated by government and extremists, and this cycle needs to be broken!”

She was criticized for taking a “neutral stance”, with one commenter stating: “No @rihanna, if you stand with humanity you stand with Palestine.”

Halsey offered: “It is not ‘too complicated to understand’ that brown children are being murdered + people are being displaced under the occupation of one of the most powerful armies in the world. It is willful ignorance to conflate these simple horrors with religion + geopolitics.”

It is not “too complicated to understand” that brown children are being murdered + people are being displaced under the occupation of one of the most powerful armies in the world. It is willful ignorance to conflate these simple horrors with religion + geopolitics. #FreePalestine

— h (@halsey) May 12, 2021

The singer was criticized for the tweet and returned to social media to clarify her comments.

“My tweet is for my peers/white Americans who don’t concern themselves with middle eastern crises because they don’t care about what happens to POC, and can afford to act as such by writing it off as ‘too complicated’. I’m sorry I didn’t make the target of the tweet more clear!”

My tweet is for my peers / white Americans who don’t concern themselves with middle eastern crises because they don’t care about what happens to POC, and can afford to act as such by writing it off as “too complicated”. I’m sorry I didn’t make the target of the tweet more clear! https://t.co/KwwiQPKNpA

— h (@halsey) May 13, 2021

Israeli actress Gal Gadot also sparked backlash earlier this week after she addressed the latest conflict via Twitter writing: “My heart breaks. My country is at war. I worry for my family, my friends. I worry for my people. This is a vicious cycle that has been going on for far too long.

“Israel deserves to live as a free and safe nation. Our neighbors deserve the same. I pray for the victims and their families. I pray for this unimaginable hostility to end, I pray for our leaders to find the solution so we can live side by side in peace. I pray for better days.”

Journalist Tamoor Hussain was among her critics, writing: “Denying Palestinians even a shred of compassion by refusing to acknowledge them and their suffering is a common tactic employed by their oppressors.”