00:00Hey my loves, I wanted to come on here to address something I think is really, really important.
00:06It's no secret that I have been speaking out about Palestine for quite some time.
00:10And that happened as a result of me learning about the Palestinian cause,
00:13feeling really frustrated, seeing so much injustice happening to the people of Palestine,
00:21to the children in Gaza, things that I honestly don't understand how anyone can justify.
00:26And as things escalated, the more that I learned, the more that I've always tried to use my voice.
00:32And I know that I always open myself up to a lot of different things because I choose to speak out really before it's safe to speak out.
00:40But I have a responsibility. I feel like I have to speak out on behalf of anything I think is wrong.
00:48And I am just so tired of seeing children starve, people maimed, living in tents,
00:56and being bombed while living in tents, while they're just trying to resist and honestly just trying to survive
01:01the already excruciating and uninhabitable conditions that they're living in.
01:06And in order to silence you from speaking out, to silence me, they do what they always do.
01:11They twist your words, label you an anti-Semite.
01:13And right now I'm experiencing all of those things.
01:16I've been labeled an anti-Semite and there is a smear campaign against me.
01:20And I do want to address being called an anti-Semite because I would never condone any hate of any kind.
01:26That, of course, includes Jewish hate.
01:28The fact that I even have to say that is so weird to me because it's so obvious.
01:33But you know, sometimes you have to be clear about where you stand because people try to twist your words
01:38and turn things into something they're not just to force you into silence.
01:41And I posted a video recently criticizing some of the actions of the state of Israel.
01:46I never said anything about Jews or even Israeli people.
01:50And honestly, I would never talk about any people because I stand against hate and discrimination.
01:55The video was misinterpreted and completely misused and words were put into my mouth.
01:59Things I never even said or even mentioned in the video.
02:02And the video is not up anymore.
02:04TikTok is saying that they took the video down.
02:06I'm the one who removed it myself, not TikTok, not my team.
02:10I chose to remove it because I saw a lot of people taking what I said out of context.
02:14and I didn't want that conversation happening.
02:17So I chose to remove the video.
02:20The part that was being twisted where there were a lot of fake stories about me was about the Holocaust.
02:24And again, I hate that I have to defend myself, but things were misconstrued so much.
02:29I never even mentioned the word Jews.
02:30I never mentioned the word Holocaust.
02:32I never mentioned any of those things.
02:34I never insinuated on those things either.
02:36Like even though that's what they're trying to say that I was doing, I didn't do any of those things.
02:41And when I saw the comments that were coming out, I was actually shocked.
02:44But again, the words were twisted so badly that the narrative that came out,
02:48which I was so disappointed on, was that essentially I was not recognizing the Holocaust
02:53or I was basically saying that Jews created the Holocaust,
02:57which is such a weird thing to even say.
03:00Why would I say that?
03:01It doesn't even make any sense.
03:03I learned about the Holocaust when I was in school.
03:05And honestly, it affected me so badly that this is why I choose to speak out right now.
03:11When I learned that millions of Jews were killed, it hurt me.
03:15So much so that I promised myself that I would stand up if this ever happened again.
03:19And that is my intention.
03:21It's always to speak out for humanity.
03:23I feel compelled as a human to speak out for other human beings.
03:27I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
03:29And it's also not fair that you can't criticize the actions of Israel without being mislabeled.
03:33Not being able to criticize the actions of Israel is not only creating anti-Semitism,
03:39but I would argue it's a form of anti-Semitism itself.
03:42And the reason for that is because ultimately it's creating a lot of Jewish hate.
03:47And I think that is extremely scary and extremely dangerous
03:51because at the end of the day, that ends up really hurting the Jewish people.
03:54And when one group of people are not safe, none of us are safe.
03:57You are allowed to speak out on atrocities happening in the world.
04:00And that in no way makes you an anti-Semite.
04:03It doesn't make you a self-hating Jew.
04:04It comes from wanting peace for humanity.
04:07And it's crazy that if you speak up on behalf of humanity,
04:10you could face so much backlash.
04:13And that's what I'm experiencing right now.
04:15They are harassing our retailers.
04:17They are using the press to come after me, to come after many people.
04:20And at the end of the day, to be honest,
04:22we know that the press has proven themselves to be illegitimate
04:25by choosing not to post what is really happening
04:28and ultimately to protect the actions of Israel.
04:30But nobody's reading press anymore.
04:32Everybody's getting their news from social media,
04:34which they are now trying to also censor.
04:36And I also know that they are creating a smear campaign with influencers.
04:40I know this firsthand because I spoke with an influencer,
04:43a very big influencer.
04:45She shared with me after she posted something that was,
04:48for me, very obviously Israeli propaganda.
04:51I messaged her and I asked her about it.
04:53She told me she didn't even realize it was Israeli propaganda.
04:56she deleted the post, returned the money,
04:59and she said it was packaged in a way
05:00that didn't even seem like it was pushing an Israeli motive.
05:04I know they're going to pay people to speak badly of me,
05:07about our brand, to say bad things about our products.
05:09I'm already seeing the comments.
05:11I'm already seeing the reviews.
05:12And I even believe that somehow some parts of this video
05:15will be misconstrued and used against me.
05:17I hope it's not.
05:18And ultimately, I just want you guys to know where I stand.
05:20I stand always on the side of humanity.
05:24As a young brown Muslim woman
05:26who grew up in the South of the U.S., in Tennessee,
05:29again, that's something they're publishing
05:30that I grew up in Oklahoma, grew up in Tennessee,
05:32I never felt a part of the beauty conversation.
05:34How do beauty exist to create that safe space for people,
05:38for every single person out there?
05:40And whether or not some people want to realize this,
05:44we are all 100% equal human beings.
05:47Some of us born in different places,
05:49in different locations.
05:50some of us look very different from each other,
05:52given different circumstances.
05:54But no matter what, we are all equal.
05:56Whether some people want to recognize that or not,
06:00we have to be there for each other.
06:02I genuinely believe that that's a responsibility
06:03of each and every one of us,
06:05to be there for each other.
06:06I do believe in the good in people.
06:08I really do believe in that.
06:10I believe in it so much.
06:11I believe in the good in everyone.
06:13And I also do believe that the world is changing
06:16for the better, although it may not feel that way.
06:18The fact that we are able to talk about some things
06:20that we weren't able to talk about just 18 months ago.
06:23So many people care.
06:24And I see that change.
06:27And for me, it's very important to be a part of that change.
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