Singer Justin Bieber's call to his 293 million Instagram followers to "pray for Israel" on Wednesday was accompanied by an image of Israeli-inflicted damage to the Palestinian territory of Gaza.
The Canadian-born pop star shared the image as part of a Story on the Meta-owned platform. It was missing on Wednesday afternoon, however, after numerous social media users pointed out the incongruity. Bieber's replacement Story kept the "pray for Israel" text but used a blank background and a broken-heart emoji instead.
The awkward combination of picture and sentiment that Bieber shared appears to have originated with Churchome, a non-denominational Christian group that he is a member of. They have since deleted it from their Instagram profile as well.
The Associated Press file photo used in the original post shows the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike on Gaza, a Palestinian territory used as a base by Hamas. The militant group launched rockets and commando attacks against Israel on Saturday, in the deadliest escalation of the ongoing conflict in decades.
"To vilianize [sic] all Palestinians or all Israeli people to me seems wrong," Bieber wrote in an earlier post. "I'm not interested in choosing sides, but I am interested in standing with the families who have been brutally taken from us."
Actress Jamie Lee Curtis made a similar faux pas on Tuesday, sharing a photo captioned "terror from the skies, Israel" which she then deleted when it emerged that the children in the photo were actually Palestinians in Gaza looking at an incoming Israel airstrike.
Comment: Oops! Empathizing with the wrong side's children, Jamie! Abort!
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared war against Hamas, while his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, called the group "animals" and ordered a "complete siege" of Gaza. The US government has given unequivocal support to Israel.




I realized more than 3 decades ago that actors are basically braindead whores, which are good at pretending and reciting. Their political opinions are less worth than those of a bum. And I explicitly include music business celebs here.
By the way, Justin the Bieber had some serious nerve damage some while ago, making his face look like a stroke patient. Jou can't really expect anything from him.
No, this is all a concerted mass media effort, to push The Next Big Thing. Until we are having Big Things at our front doors ...