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Adidas’ Olympics Campaign — With or Without Bella Hadid — Is a Disgrace to Israelis and Jews
Bella Hadid in a now-cancelled Adidas campaign for the brand’s remake of its SL 72 sneaker. Photo: Adidas
The decision makers at Adidas are either suffering from mental decline, incompetence, or the virus of antisemitism.
The German shoe company fired Bella Hadid — an anti-Israel model and social media influencer who has more than 61.3 million Instagram followers — from a campaign marking the 52nd anniversary of the 1972 Munich Olympics, and their shoes from that year.
Forget Hadid for a second.
On September 5, 1972, eight Palestinian terrorists from the group Black September posed as athletes, and took 11 Israeli athletes and coaches hostage, killing two on the scene, and the remaining nine in helicopters by grenade and by shooting them.
German forces refused requests to have an Israeli special unit come to try to save them, and then bungled their own operation. Ultimately, some German police officers weren’t willing to go through with the operation. What a surprise that Germans didn’t want to risk their life to save Jews.
While none of the 200+ prisoners the terrorists demanded to be released from Israeli jails were freed, in a press conference, a Palestinian terrorist said it was a success because the whole world was talking about their cause.
To make matters worse, initial press reports claimed the hostages were saved, only to later be corrected, as ABC’s Jim McKay said, “They’re all gone.”
The Olympics continued anyway, and Israel buried Moshe Weinberg, Yossef Romano, Ze’ev Friedman, David Berger, Yacov Springer, Eliezer Halfin, Yosef Guttfreund, Kehat Shorr, Mark Slavin, and Andre Spitzer.
In addition, the International Olympic Committee long rejected Israel’s request for a moment of silence for the athletes at the games in an open display of antisemitism.
For more horrific details about the attack, which were only released in the early 1990s, click here.
Why in the world is Adidas having any campaign to honor the 1972 Olympics, or the relaunch of its SL72 shoe line?
Furthermore, Hadid’s history of refusing to condemn Palestinian terrorism is disturbing.
She did not specially condemn Hamas for the massacre of October 7, but wrote that she condemned terrorist attacks on any civilians. Her father, Mohamed, was born in Nazareth in 1948, and the family is notorious for its anti-Israel activism.
Hadid has filed a lawsuit she may very well win against Adidas. The decision to hire Hadid (and fire her after complaints from Jews and others) is revolting, but the company, which cut ties with Kanye West after his antisemitic meltdown, has said it will in some way revamp the ad campaign.
Perhaps they will find Jamal al-Gashey, believed to be the only current surviving terrorist of the attack at the Munich Olympics, who appeared in the documentary One Day in September, to endorse the sneaker line.
The stupidity or malice of the ad with Hadid only causes more tension and hatred for Jews, if that is even possible at this point.
In 2022, Germany announced a payment of $28 million to families of the Israelis murdered in the 1972 attack, and last year, the government announced an international commission to “rigorously examine the period before and after” the attack — more than 50 years after it took place.
I guess Germans aren’t always punctual.
The author is a writer based in New York.
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Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
The Israeli army said on Saturday that a missile fired from Yemen towards Israeli territory had been “most likely successfully intercepted,” while Yemen’s Houthi forces claimed responsibility for the launch.
Israel has threatened Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement – which has been attacking Israel in what it says is solidarity with Gaza – with a naval and air blockade if its attacks on Israel persist.
The Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group was responsible for Saturday’s attack, adding that it fired a missile towards the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
Since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023, the Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been firing at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade.
Most of the dozens of missiles and drones they have launched have been intercepted or fallen short. Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes.
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Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel
People attend the funeral procession of Iranian military commanders, nuclear scientists and others killed in Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 28, 2025. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Large crowds of mourners dressed in black lined streets in Iran’s capital Tehran as the country held a funeral on Saturday for top military commanders, nuclear scientists and some of the civilians killed during this month’s aerial war with Israel.
At least 16 scientists and 10 senior commanders were among those mourned at the funeral, according to state media, including armed forces chief Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Revolutionary Guards commander General Hossein Salami, and Guards Aerospace Force chief General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
Their coffins were driven into Tehran’s Azadi Square adorned with their photos and national flags, as crowds waved flags and some reached out to touch the caskets and throw rose petals onto them. State-run Press TV showed an image of ballistic missiles on display.
Mass prayers were later held in the square.
State TV said the funeral, dubbed the “procession of the Martyrs of Power,” was held for a total of 60 people killed in the war, including four women and four children.
In attendance were President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior figures including Ali Shamkhani, who was seriously wounded during the conflict and is an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as Khamenei’s son Mojtaba.
“Today, Iranians, through heroic resistance against two regimes armed with nuclear weapons, protected their honor and dignity, and look to the future prouder, more dignified, and more resolute than ever,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who also attended the funeral, said in a Telegram post.
There was no immediate statement from Khamenei, who has not appeared publicly since the conflict began. In past funerals, he led prayers over the coffins of senior commanders ahead of public ceremonies broadcast on state television.
Israel launched the air war on June 13, attacking Iranian nuclear facilities and killing top military commanders as well as civilians in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq.
Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites, infrastructure and cities. The United States entered the war on June 22 with strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
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Israel, the only Middle Eastern country widely believed to have nuclear weapons, said it aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons.
Iran denies having a nuclear weapons program. The U.N. nuclear watchdog has said it has “no credible indication” of an active, coordinated weapons program in Iran.
Bagheri, Salami and Hajizadeh were killed on June 13, the first day of the war. Bagheri was being buried at the Behesht Zahra cemetery outside Tehran mid-afternoon on Saturday. Salami and Hajizadeh were due to be buried on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would consider bombing Iran again, while Khamenei, who has appeared in two pre-recorded video messages since the start of the war, has said Iran would respond to any future US attack by striking US military bases in the Middle East.
A senior Israeli military official said on Friday that Israel had delivered a “major blow” to Iran’s nuclear project. On Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that Israel and the US “failed to achieve their stated objectives” in the war.
According to Iranian health ministry figures, 610 people were killed on the Iranian side in the war before a ceasefire went into effect on Tuesday. More than 4,700 were injured.
Activist news agency HRANA put the number of killed at 974, including 387 civilians.
Israel’s health ministry said 28 were killed in Israel and 3,238 injured.
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Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival
Revellers dance as Avril Lavigne performs on the Other Stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
i24 News – Chants of “death to the IDF” were heard during the English Glastonbury music festival on Saturday ahead of the appearance of the pro-Palestinian Irish rappers Kneecap.
One half of punk duo based Bob Vylan (who both use aliases to protect their privacy) shouted out during a section of their show “Death to the IDF” – the Israeli military. Videos posted on X (formerly Twitter) show the crowd responding to and repeating the cheer.
This comes after officials had petitioned the music festival to drop the band. The rap duo also expressed support for the following act, Kneecap, who the BCC refused to show live after one of its members, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh – better known by stage name Mo Chara – was charged with a terror offense.
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