Scrolling through Instagram, I have learned to steel myself against the flood of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel disinformation and Hamas propaganda. But there’s one thing that left me cold and disappointed.
Actress Hannah Einbinder recently posted an Instagram photo wearing a keffiyeh stylized into an inverted triangle—a symbol of Hamas—alongside a shirt that read, “Fund Abortion … Not War.” Her message? That American support for Israel is somehow responsible for defunding abortion access in America.
This is not just misinformed; it is factually incorrect. Her words and actions are morally obscene. And she speaks in the name of her Jewish identity, thereby betraying each community she is part of by conflating issues. This is propaganda, not progress.
Let’s start with the keffiyeh. While originally a beautiful traditional Arab garment, it has long been co-opted as the symbol of violent Palestinian nationalism. Yasser Arafat weaponized it politically. Hamas has claimed it culturally. Today, it’s worn by militants chanting “Death to Jews,” waving swastikas, and burning Israeli flags, both in Gaza and across the globe. Her keffiyeh-as-triangle design directly mimics the Hamas insignia, showcasing her support for a terrorist organization responsible for raping women, beheading civilians, and holding children hostage. Does Hannah even know what happened on Oct. 7th? Does Hannah actually pay attention to what the Palestinian Islamist groups are saying and doing and how they use these same symbols?
This isn’t solidarity. Rather, it’s complicity in Hamas’s war against humanity.
Hannah’s suggestion that Israel is to blame for America’s abortion policy collapses under even the slightest scrutiny. Military aid to Israel is separate from domestic healthcare spending. It’s designed to ensure our key ally’s survival in a region dominated by Iranian-backed militias and Islamist regimes, and it protects American interests, too.
If Hannah genuinely cared about reproductive rights, she wouldn’t be targeting Israel, which is the only country in the Middle East where abortion is legal under broad conditions. She’d be condemning Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, which enforce one of the most extreme anti-abortion regimes on earth. In Gaza, abortion is criminalized except when the woman’s life is at risk. Even then, a woman often needs permission from her husband and male physicians. There are no exceptions for rape. Not even incest. And when women seek help? They’re often driven to unsafe, underground methods, risking their lives for lack of basic autonomy.
Where’s Hannah’s post about that? Why is she so obsessed with Israel, standing against her own people as they are engaged in a fight for their survival?
For years, women in Gaza have been barred from walking alone in public. They’re forced to be covered head to toe and must often be accompanied by a male guardian. In Hamas-controlled areas, LGBTQ+ people are routinely persecuted, imprisoned, or worse. Yet Hannah Einbinder, like many Hollywood progressives, stays silent. Worse, she wears the colors and shapes of the regime enforcing this oppression.
This isn’t activism. Her actions border on what kapos did in World War II: turning against their own while enabling their oppressors. Her fashion statement is a slap in the face, not only to Jews across the world still reeling from Oct. 7, but to Palestinians in Gaza who do not support Hamas and suffer daily under its brutal rule. She has not posted once about Palestinians bravely rising up in Gaza to protest against Hamas to end the war.
She has not posted once about Palestinians bravely rising up in Gaza to protest against Hamas to end the war.
And this isn’t her first offense. During a recent speech for the Human Rights Campaign, Hannah blamed Israel for the rise of global antisemitism.
Newsflash, Hannah: antisemitism has existed for thousands of years. Long before the State of Israel existed, Jews were blamed, persecuted, exiled and slaughtered across every continent. Your privileged take is not just tone-deaf; it’s deeply offensive to every Jew who knows our history.
And let’s be clear: By blaming Israel, Hannah is giving Hamas exactly what it wants—distraction, deflection, and cover. Her silence on the hostages is damning. While she posts slogans, 59 hostages remain trapped in Gaza. Every time public pressure shifts away from Hamas, they delay another deal. Her rhetoric helps prolong the war, not end it.
So here’s my message to Hannah: If you actually care about women’s rights, if you care about abortion access, LGBTQ+ safety, or stopping this war, stop parroting propaganda and have a real conversation. I invite you to sit down with me, one-on-one, and learn about what’s actually happening in Gaza, in Israel, and across the Jewish world.
But until then, take off the scarf. You’re not making a statement of peace. You are cloaking yourself in the imagery of the terrorists who would silence, rape or kill you simply for who you are along with every woman and LGBTQ+ person in your orbit.
You think you are standing for justice and human rights, but you are standing for the exact opposite and on the wrong side of history.
Yuval David is a Jewish and LGBTQ+ advocate, Emmy Award and multiple film festival winning journalist, actor and filmmaker.
