Bella Hadid: I didn’t know about Munich massacre of Israeli athletes before taking Adidas gig linked to ’72 Games

Palestinian-American model and activist Bella Hadid says she did not know about the Palestinian terror attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics, where 11 members of the Israeli team were killed, when she agreed to take part in an Adidas campaign advertising a retro sneaker linked to those games.

Reacting publicly for the first time since she was dropped from the campaign following an outcry, Hadid posts on Instagram that the Adidas campaign was “insensitive.”

“For those of you who do not know my heart, I want to make sure you’re hearing directly from me about my recent campaign with adidas. I would never knowingly engage with any art or work that is linked to a horrific tragedy of any kind,” she writes without specifically naming the Munich massacre carried out by Palestinian Black September.

“In advance of the campaign’s release, I had no knowledge of the historical connection to the atrocious events in 1972. I am shocked, I am upset, and I am disappointed in the lack of sensitivity that went into this campaign,” she says.

Hadid says she would never have agreed to take part had she known, blaming herself, her team and the German athletic apparel company, saying she would have spoken up had she known.

“While everyone’s intentions were to make something positive, and bring people together through art, the collective lack of understanding from all parties undermined the process,” she said. “I do not believe in hate in any form, including antisemitism.”

Hadid also says it pained her that the Palestinian cause is immediately associated with terrorism.

“Palestine is not synonymous with terrorism and this campaign unintentionally highlighted an event that does not present who we are,” she says, adding that she is a “proud Palestinian woman” and ‘”there is much more to our culture than the things that have been equated over the past week.”

“I will forever stand by my people of Palestine while continuing to advocate for a world free of antisemitism. Antisemitism has no place in the liberation of the Palestinian people,” Hadid says.

Adidas has apologized to Hadid after removing her from the campaign for the Adidas Originals line, under which the retro SL 72 sneakers are sold, and has said it is revisiting the campaign entirely, without elaborating on what this means.

Hadid, who was born in the United States but has Palestinian roots through her father, has been harshly critical of Israel in her activism on behalf of Palestinians since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 triggered the war in Gaza. She has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza — an allegation rejected as unfounded by Israel — and been accused by Israel and US Jewish groups of antisemitism.