An Israeli fashion designer’s pricey apparel was yanked from a pair of luxury retail websites after she posted an inflammatory video about Hamas following the Oct. 7 massacre.
Dorit Bar Or, the Tel Aviv-based creator of fashion label Dodo Bar Or, had posted a clip on her Instagram account showing a scene reminiscent of the hit film “Independence Day.”
The spoof shows a spaceship encircled by Palestine and ISIS flags destroying a tower bearing flags of Western nations including the US, France and Great Britain, according to screengrabs first reported on by the Daily Mail.
The Muslim call to prayer is heard in the background as the building erupts in a fireball and the words “The West is Next” appear across the screen.
The video fades to black bearing the words “Hamas=Isis, Free Gaza from Hamas.”
A pro-Palestine influencer, @liudmilahq, flagged the clip to the luxury sites Mytheresa and Net-A-Porter, with both moving to pull Bar Or’s garments after outcry from other Palestine backers.
These images appeared on the Dodo Bar Or’s Instagram account.dodobaror/Instagram
This and other posts on Dodo Bar Or’s Instagram account resulted in top luxury retailers dropping the label from their websites.dodobaror/Instagram
Net-a-Porter, owned by Swiss conglomerate Richemont, defended its decision to drop the 9-year-old brand
“Discrimination, hate, and violence have no place on our platforms. We apply this policy consistently to all brands we stock in all markets,” the company said.
“After content appeared that was offensive and inflammatory, the brand in question has been suspended from our sites.”
Dorit Bar Or’s designs were pulled from Mytheresa and Net-A-Porter.dodobaror/Instagram
The soundtrack to this scene from the movie, “Independence Day” was set to Muslims being called to prayers.dodobaror/Instagram
Meanwhile, Munich based Mytheresa quietly removed the Dodo Bar Or landing page from its website – though a search for her brand pulled up some items, including a strapless black dress for $875 and a black leather jacket for $1,145.
Mytheresa did not return numerous calls for comment.
The company did send a direct message to one pro-Palestine commenter obtained by The Post that said, “We do not tolerate any kind of hate speech. We decided today with immediate effect to take the brand Dodo Bar Or out of our assortment.”
Net-A-Porter “suspended” Dodo Bar Or from its website this week.Net-a-Porter
Bar Or, a former actress in Israel, did not respond to requests for comment.
She ignored questions about the controversy when contacted by Jewish News, an Israeli publication.
““Thank you so much for your amazing support! We highly appreciate it! It’s heart-warming during these difficult times we are all going through! Thank you!❤”
Dorit Bar Or’s social media posts about the war in Israel and Gaza, included an explosion from a scene from the movie “Independence Day.”dodobaror/Instagram
Bar Or’s supporters slammed the retailers for their decision following the Hamas terror attack that killed more than 1,400 in Israel.
Jewish charity Campaign Against Antisemitism told the Daily Mail that it was “scandalous” that Dodo Bar Or’s clothing line was pulled because “she compared a proscribed Islamist terrorist group to another proscribed terrorist group.”
‘Whose sensibilities are Net-a-Porter and Mytheresa trying to protect? Their customers, which include many in the Jewish community, are entitled to an immediate explanation,” the group added according to the outlet.
Influencer, @maamaandtata warned Net–A-Porter on Instagram that if it did not “reinstate” Dodo Bar Or inventory, then “I and many other members of the Jewish community see this as a hate crime.”
The move to drop Bar Or was in sharp contrast to the decision made by Sephora last month to keep selling Huda Beauty products — despite its pro-Palestine founder Huda Kattan declaring that she “doesn’t want blood money” from Israeli customers.
A change.org petition that has some 21,000 signatures is calling on Sephora to drop Huda Beauty from its stores.
The designer’s pricey duds are carried by some of the most high end retailers.Carl Timpone Neil Rasmus/BFA/Shutterstock
Sephora has not responded to the petition or to The Post’s requests for comments while Kattan has not directly responded to the petition, but has doubled down on her support for Gaza.
Source link: https://nypost.com/2023/11/01/business/israeli-fashion-designer-dorit-bar-or-booted-from-luxury-sites/