LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Mitchell Bard, Executive Director of the nonprofit American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE), has called Selena Gomez a "coward." This was after Gomez empathized with Palestinian civilians as the Israel-Hamas war continues.
Bard, a foreign policy analyst and director of the Jewish Virtual Library, showed no mercy while blaming the 31-year-old singer for her stance on the ongoing conflict.
In a conversation with TMZ, the representative of the Jewish organization strongly criticized the 'Lose You to Love Me' singer for succumbing to societal pressure on celebrities to endorse the Palestinian cause and demonize Israel's actions in the ongoing conflict.
The controversy started when the CEO of Gomez's cosmetic company, Scott Friedman, recently followed the IDF and other pro-Israel accounts on Instagram.
This led to widespread backlash as the singer had previously condemned the death of thousands of children in Palestine and declared that she was going to delete Instagram due to the ongoing violence.
Mitchell Bard blames Selena Gomez for 'appeasing bullies'
Following the controversy with Friedman, Rare Beauty on November 7 addressed the humanitarian crisis in Palestine on its Instagram page.
"Thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes & millions of civilians have been displaced & left without access to food, water, medicine, or basic necessities for survival. A large number of these victims are children. Palestinian civilians must be protected, period," read the post.
This has irked the Jewish organization. Bard told TMZ that instead of speaking about the crisis in Israel, Gomez and Rare Beauty close to "pacify bullies" by "taking the popular position that Palestinians who have been sacrificed by Hamas are the victims."
According to Bard, the singer's priorities "lies with her business," and Rare Beauty's pro-Palestine post demonized Israel "to save the business."
Internet asks critics to 'leave Selena Gomez alone'
Gomez has fueled multiple controversies after sharing her perspectives on the Israel-Hamas war.
Based on BBC reports, the conflict has so far killed more than 11,000 Palestinians and around 1200 Israelis.
One user said, "They need to leave her alone. She's not a spokesperson for Israel."
Another user stated, "Celebs are always expected to take a side and speak out about it, so when they do then they're constantly being criticized for it."
"This is crazy, but just leave Selena Gomez alone! SMH I will stand with her!" said a third user.
Another one stated, "Funny how everyone acts like pop stars personal opinion on world events matters one little bit. Leave the girl alone. What she has to say isn't going to change a damn thing."
"Absolute bullies!" noted a user.
