'Dehumanizing': Gigi and Bella Hadid's Dad Mohamed Allegedly Sends Racist Messages to Pro-Israel Congressman Ritchie Torres
April 20 2024, Published 4:00 p.m. ET
Mohamed Hadid, the luxury real estate developer father of models Gigi and Bella Hadid, has allegedly sent dozens of racist and homophobic messages to pro-Israel New York Representative Ritchie Torres, RadarOnline.com has learned.
According to screenshots obtained by The New York Post, Hadid called Torres a "slave to whites" in a series of direct messages sent from his verified Instagram account.
"You worse than the rats of New York sewage system. They have bigger brains than you. You might get a job as bouncer at gay bar," Hadid allegedly added.
"You are just unusual Black and colorful mouth for Israeli and AIPAC and looking for payday of over 500K,” he reportedly said in one message, referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbying group.
"Make sure you dress as KKK to hide that ugly gray colored face of yours," Hadid allegedly wrote in another. "I know about Bronx.”
Torres made history in 2021 when he became the first openly gay Black and Latino member of Congress. He has described himself as "the embodiment of a pro-Israel progressive." Since Hamas' October 7 attack against Israel, he has repeatedly rejected calls for a ceasefire and called claims that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza "blood libel."
"Whether it is dehumanizing me as worse than the rats of the NYC sewage system or telling me to dress like the KKK to ‘hide that gray colored face of yours,’ Mr. Hadid has hurled just about every racist insult at me shorting of calling me the N-word," Torres told The New York Post in a statement.
"That Mr. Hadid felt so at ease demonizing and dehumanizing a Black member of Congress reveals a tragic truth about our politics: if you are a person of color and pro-Israel, you are fair game for racist invective."
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Hadid, who is Palestinian American, has been a vocal critic of Israel amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
"This is Biden's war on the Palestinian people. He will be in the court with the rest of the Zionist Criminals," he wrote on his Instagram story last month. "We will hunt them down like they did the Nazis."
Gigi and Bella Hadid have also spoken out in support of Palestine and against Israel.
"Israel is the only country in the world that keeps CHILDREN AS PRISONERS OF WAR," Gigi wrote on her Instagram story in November. "ABDUCTION, RAPE, HUMILIATION, TORTURE, MURDER OF PALESTINIANS. YEARS AND YEARS AND YEARS BEFORE Oct 7 2023."
"Israel sees any Palestinian as a 'terrorist,'" she added. "Any person supporting Palestinian rights as an 'antisemite,' and any Jew that is opposed to the government's actions as 'self-hating' — even telling them to denounce their Judaism. So... everyone's lying and wrong, except Israel? If it wasn't so evil & disturbing, it would be comedic."
Israel denounced Hadid after she shared a pro-Palestine meme that read, "There is nothing Jewish about the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians. Condemning the Israeli government is not antisemitic and supporting Palestinians is not supporting Hamas."
The Hadids have reportedly received death threats for their public support of Palestine.