Amelia Dimoldenberg Embraces Bella Hadid's Heritage

Buzz Feed

4 hours ago

Bella Hadid has always been incredibly proud of her Palestinian heritage, and is one of the biggest celebrities to regularly speak out in support of Palestine. The 28-year-old model uses her public profile to advocate for Palestinian rights, raise awareness amid Israel's occupation of the country, and donate generously to relief efforts.
For reference, Bella's dad, Mohamed Hadid, was born in Nazareth back in 1948, but he and his family were forced to flee to Lebanon before settling in Syria due to the 1948 Palestinian Nakba. This saw hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs flee their homes or get expelled from their country by Zionist paramilitaries, Haganah, Irgun, and Lehi, which later merged to become the Israel Defense Forces once Israel was established.
In December 2015, Mohamed shared a childhood photo of himself with his parents and three siblings on Instagram as he opened up about his family's history. He wrote at the time: 'Thats how we became refugees to Syria and we lost our home in Safad to a Jewish family that we sheltered when they were refugees from Poland on the ship that was sailing from country to country and no one would take them... they were our guest for 2 years till they made us refugees and they kicked us out of our own home. That my history.. Strange thing. That I and my family would do it again.'
And while Bella's Palestinian pride has always been a huge part of her public image, the star has faced severe backlash from Israel's supporters in recent months. With that in mind, people were delighted by her recent appearance on Chicken Shop Date, where interviewer Amelia Dimoldenberg subtly let the star know she was in a safe space to discuss and embrace her heritage.
'You are half-Dutch, half-Palestinian,' Amelia began. 'So, out of your mom and your dad, who makes the best food?'
'My dad,' Bella immediately replied. 'Growing up, it'd be, like, spreads… He doesn't cook for four people. Anybody that's Arab knows Arab parents cook for 50 people, and that's pretty much it. My dream for him one day would always be to open a restaurant.'
'Take care of his heritage,' Bella continued, before appearing to hesitate over how to phrase what she said next. 'And, like, the legacy of our, uhm… You know, who we are as people, and… And what our food is to the world.'
'I think the Palestinian restaurant sounds amazing,' Amelia quickly and enthusiastically interjected, at which point Bella visibly relaxed and smiled as she said: 'It would be incredible.'
Viewers were quick to pick up on this sweet moment between Amelia and Bella when the interview clip was shared to X, with one particularly viral tweet reading: 'I think Amelia let her know this was a safe space to say Palestine and I actually love that. You can see the hesitation a bit.''She was lowkey avoiding saying Palestinian, then Amelia said it,' a similarly popular tweet added. Somebody else wrote: 'Bella seemed so nervous to say the word so she just didn't (I don't blame her given the disgusting attacks on her), meanwhile Amelia made a point of saying the word Palestinian twice, making it really clear where she stood. Makes such a difference.''I really appreciate Amelia saying Palestine out loud bc watching Bella mince her words is actually painful to witness, she should never have to be so careful just talking about where her family is from,' another said.One more theorized: 'bella wasn't afraid to say palestine for her sake but rather didn't want to create any controversy for amelia and her show but then amelia let her know she was an ally and i think that's wonderful.'While somebody else circled back to the original topic as they tweeted: 'I encourage anyone to try Palestinian cuisine if you ever wanna try some of the most incredible food you will ever eat in your life."