European Jewish Association welcomes review of Bella Hadid's Adidas campaign

The European Jewish Association (EJA), which represents hundreds of Jewish communities across Europe, has spoken to Adidas about Bella Hadid's campaign to launch a pair of trainers commemorating the 1972 Olympic Games.   

The EJA considers this campaign deeply insensitive and painful in the wake of the murder of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists during those Olympics.  

In a statement today, EJA president Rabbi Menachem Margolin, who spoke to leaders of the sporting giant, said:  

"It was deeply insensitive and painful to see Bella Hadid, one of the loudest and most hateful voices inciting anti-Semitism, spearheading a campaign for Adidas trainers commemorating the 1972 Munich Olympics, games made infamous by the tragic murder of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists. 

After speaking with the company's leadership, we appreciate the swiftness with which Adidas has acted. It is an acknowledgement that a serious mistake was made. We accept their apology and their commitment to be more mindful and sensitive to these sensitivities in the future.   

We welcome their decision to revise the campaign in the future to reflect the understandable concerns raised by Jews, Israelis and large sections of the public around the world.  

We trust that this review of the campaign will enable all of us to move beyond this entirely avoidable incident".