By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON (AA): British actress Emma Watson has voiced solidarity with pro-Palestinian activism on social media, eliciting backlash from current and former Israeli officials and praise from pro-Palestine social media users.
The actress, who is known for her portrayal of Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies, reposted a May post from the Bad Activist Collective on Instagram on Sunday that depicts pro-Palestine activists marching with the words “Solidarity is a verb” prominently displayed on the image.
Watson accompanied the post with a quote from British-Australian scholar Sara Ahmed, which said “Solidarity does not assume that our struggles are the same struggles, or that our pain is the same pain, or that our hope is for the same future.”
“Solidarity involves commitment, and work, as well as the recognition that even if we do not have the same feelings, or the same lives, or the same bodies, we do live on common ground,” the quote added.
Watson’s post garnered widespread acclaim from pro-Palestine Instagram users, several of whom thanked her for her support in the comments section, and posted the emoji of the Palestinian flag, many with the hashtags #FreePalestine and #PalestineWillBeFree.
In addition to her big screen roles, Watson is a UN Women’s goodwill ambassador.
Israel’s UN envoy, Gilad Erdan, strongly criticized her post, lashing out at the star on Twitter by saying, “Fiction may work in Harry Potter but it does not work in reality.” He was joined by his predecessor, Danny Danon, who accused Watson of “being an antisemite.”
Leah Greenberg, the co-executive director of the Indivisible Guide progressive advocacy group, dismissed Danon’s accusations, saying they are “a perfect demonstration of the utterly cynical and bad-faith weaponization of antisemitism to shut down basic expressions of solidarity with the Palestinian people.”
[Photo: Emma Watson by Georges Biard/Creative Commons]
