Emma Watson's pro-Palestine post draws criticism

British actress Emma Watson's latest post on Instagram supporting the Palestinians has not gone down well with Israel's former ambassador to the United Nations.

The actress, best known for playing Hermoine Granger in the Harry Potter series posted an image on Instagram recently showing a photograph of a pro-Palestinian protest with a banner that reads "Solidarity is a Verb".

The photo was accompanied by a quote about the meaning of solidarity from the intersectional feminist scholar Sara Ahmed.

Watson's post got widespread support from Palestinian activists across the world but it drew severe criticism from Israeli officials who termed it antisemitic in nature.

Danny Danon, who formerly held the posts of science minister in Benjamin Netanyahu's government and Israeli ambassador to the United Nations shared Watson's post on Twitter, and wrote, "10 points from Gryffindor for being an antisemite."

Israel's current ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan too expressed displeasure over her post and wrote, "Fiction may work in Harry Potter but it does not work in reality," Erdan wrote. "If it did, the magic used in the wizarding world could eliminate the evils of Hamas (which oppresses women and seeks the annihilation of Israel) and the PA (which supports terror). I would be in favor of that!"

Danon's criticism brought backlash for the former minister. Leah Greenberg, a co-executive director of Indivisible Project, a non-profit organisation founded in 2016 in response to the election of Donald Trump, wrote, "A perfect demonstration of the utterly cynical and bad-faith weaponization of antisemitism to shut down basic expressions of solidarity with the Palestinian people."

The Tory peer Sayeeda Warsi called Danon's comments "appalling". "These constant attempts to stifle any and all support for Palestinians must be called out," she said. Watson is known to be an outspoken feminist who has used often used social media to support high profile causes.

For her work, she even earned a spot on Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2015.

In 2014 she was appointed as a UN women's goodwill ambassador and delivered an address at the UN headquarters in New York to launch HeForShe, a campaign that urges men to advocate for women's equality. Watson was appointed to a G7 advisory body for women's rights in 2019, consulting with leaders on foreign policy. So far Watson has not responded to the backlash. (Agencies)

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