Media Hails Hadid 'Heritage,' Forgets Its 'Root Cause'
The New Arab and other outlets laud Alana Hadid for incorporating Palestinian music, keffiyehs, and food into her wedding, a beautiful display of cultural pride. Yet, this same media often struggles to cover the actual, ongoing struggle for Palestinian existence over the very land these traditions originate from. It’s a classic move: celebrate the culture as 'exotic' while sanitizing the politics
of oppression that makes such celebration an act of defiance, not just festivity. We're allowed Palestinian weddings, so long as we don't ask about the Nakba that displaced Hadid's own family, or the daily reality for Palestinians living under occupation—a reality the US funds with billions in aid. It's like admiring a beautiful flower while ignoring the concrete cracking beneath it. How many more
articles can celebrate 'heritage' before questioning the systematic attempt to erase it?