Following Hamas' attacks on Israeli civilians over the weekend, Justin Bieber took to Instagram on Wednesday to share a post in which he wrote “Praying For Israel” along with an image depicting the destruction left on the Middle East country after the attacks.
One problem - the image wasn’t actually one of Israel and instead showed the havoc left in Gaza following attacks from Israeli forces.
Bieber took the post down a short while later after apparently being notified of the error.
He went on to share the exact same message a short while later with a blank image in the background.
Despite his course correction, it was far too late as followers noticed the blunder and shared screenshots on social media.
X account Censored Men posted, “’Praying For Israel’ on Instagram, while displaying a photo of Gaza,” and soon it become a widely shared post.
🇵🇸🇮🇱 Justin Bieber posted “Praying For Israel” on Instagram, while displaying a photo of Gaza. pic.twitter.com/dvtRyJgwmN
Earlier, the multi-Grammy Award winning singer had posted a message in which he encouraged neutrality and said he stood with the families affected by the war, “Truly hurting for both my Israeli and Palestinian friends,” he wrote.
“I'm pretty sure we all instinctively know evil when we see it. To villainize all Palestinians or all Israeli people to me seems wrong. I'm not interested in choosing sides, but I am interested in standing with the families who have been brutally taken from us.”
The backlash has been swift on social media as users slammed Bieber for getting vocal about something he seemingly isn’t clued up about. “this just shows that most celebrities literally have NO idea what they’re supporting/posting/talking about,” commented @repmiias.
this just shows that most celebrities literally have NO idea what they’re supporting/posting/talking about
“I knew Justin Bieber was a f*cking idiot when he was laughing at people fasting for Ramadan and saying that it’s not good for you because ‘our bodies need nutrition to think properly’,” commented @_yassssmin.