In mid-July, pop singer Olivia Rodrigo shared an Instagram post condemning the conditions in Gaza, writing: “There are no words to describe the heartbreak I feel witnessing the devastation that is being inflicted upon innocent people in Palestine.” The 22-year-old, known for her multiple Grammy Awards, also encouraged her followers to donate to UNICEF to support what she called “victims of this horrifying situation.”
Rodrigo did include a throwaway line meant to show balance: “There is no child in Israel, Palestine or anywhere in the world who deserves to suffer.”
But this single sentence doesn’t make up for what her post glaringly omits—the suffering of Israeli children, foreign nationals and other civilians who were targeted in in the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. It is Hamas that has caused “this horrifying situation,” but Rodrigo appears either ignorant of that fact or does not care. That Hamas uses Gazan children as human shields is well-documented.
Rodrigo’s father’s family is from the Philippines, and she identifies as a Filipino American. She may not realize that around the same time she was posting online about Palestinian suffering, a Filipina caregiver who was injured by an Iranian missile during its attack on Israel in mid-June died from her wounds. Her name wasn’t trending. She earned no post from Rodrigo. The caregiver was named as 49-year-old Leah Mosquera. She passed away on July 13, after lingering in the hospital from being wounded on June 15.
Rodrigo also chose to promote UNICEF as the beneficiary of donations. But UNICEF doesn’t provide direct aid to Israeli children at all. Unlike its operations in Gaza and other areas, the U.N. agency does not run active assistance programs for Israeli children. UNICEF has been loudly present in Gaza, releasing reports and funding psychosocial support, but utterly silent on the trauma experienced by children in Israel.
UNICEF’s double standard is even more troubling. The organization may advocate for children in Gaza, but its failure to provide one ounce of support or even a word for Israeli child victims of Hamas and Hezbollah undermines its stated mission. UNICEF, like the United Nations, has lost its moral compass.
Its silence when it comes to the trauma and violence Israeli children have suffered from is scandalous, given the staggering toll. Since Oct. 7, more than 23,000 Israeli children and teenagers have been seriously physically or psychologically harmed. More than 56 have been murdered. Mila Cohen, just 9 months old, was shot dead with her father in Kibbutz Be’eri on Oct. 7. Mila was shot while in the arms of her mother, Sandra. In Kibbutz Nir Oz, the burned bodies of 2-year-old Omer Kedem Siman Tov, his 5-year-old twin sisters, and their parents were found together. Israeli children living in communities near Gaza have all been displaced from their homes.
Across the north, near the Lebanese border, another 18,000 Israeli children were displaced for about a year due to Hezbollah rocket fire. Nearly 1,000 Israeli children have been orphaned. Tens of thousands suffer from trauma and displacement, yet they remain largely invisible to UNICEF and the many celebrities who are quick to speak out when they can demonize Israel.
On July 27, 2024, a Hezbollah rocket hit a soccer field in Majdal Shams, a non-Jewish, Druze town in the Golan Heights. The explosion killed 12 children from the Druze community and injured at least 42 others. Most of the victims were between 10 and 16 years old. Rodrigo didn’t take to Instagram when these kids were murdered or remember them with a post on the occasion of the first anniversary of their deaths this year.
UNICEF did mention the 12 Druze children in its “Global Annual Results Report 2024,” but made it seem like Israel was responsible: “In July 2024, 12 children were killed in Majdal Shams in the occupied Syrian Golan.” In its tweet on July 27, 2024, about the Hezbollah attack on Majdal Shams, UNICEF blamed a “cycle of violence,” rather than the terrorist culprits.
After nearly two weeks of rocket and drone attacks by Iran on Israeli targets, UNICEF failed to offer Israeli children any services. Israeli kids spent sleepless nights in bomb shelters, and many are suffering from PTSD.
And what of the non-Israelis killed or kidnapped by Hamas? Among them were dozens of agricultural workers from Thailand. Twenty-three were released in one deal. Five more in January 2025. Two died in captivity. One, Nattapong Pinta, was only confirmed dead when his body was recovered in June. These individuals weren’t combatants. They were foreign laborers. Their lives mattered, too. Rodrigo hasn’t mentioned them on Instagram.
The deeper issue isn’t whether celebrities have the right to comment on international issues; they most definitely do. But with that platform comes responsibility. If you’re going to speak out in the name of children, be consistent and know what you’re talking about.
Rodrigo’s post may have been well-meaning, but it’s pretty difficult to believe that, especially when she writes “Palestine” and not “Gaza.”
** This article was originally published on JNS.org but shared with us by the author.
