Emma Watson. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – On the same weekend that “Harry Potter,” the film series that made her famous, celebrated its 20th anniversary, the Instagram account belonging to Emma Watson released a post in support of a “Free Palestine.”

Watson, aka Hermoine Grainger in the “Harry Potter” films, posted to millions of fans around the world a collage of photos, including images of Palestinian flags, with the words “Solidarity is a verb.” Whether Watson herself wrote the post, however, may be up for debate; her Instagram bio explains that “Emma’s official Instagram has been taken over by an anonymous Feminist Collective.”

 

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The pro-Israel advocacy group StandWithUs tweeted at the actress “about letting another group use your Instagram to post a message of support for Palestinians: We appreciate that it didn’t include hatred against Israelis, as is too often the case on social media. However, if you want to help, support the people of Israel as well. Groups that oppose Israel’s existence are already using your post to promote more division, conflict and hate.”

Israel Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan tweeted, “Fiction may work in Harry Potter but it does not work in reality. If it did, the magic used in the wizarding world could eliminate the evils of Hamas (which oppresses women & seeks the annihilation of Israel) and the PA [Palestinian Authority] (which supports terror). I would be in favor of that!”

The mention of a “Feminist Collective” in her bio may explain why Watson’s post appears to be a complete “repost” of one issued some 33 weeks ago by Bad Activist Collective, a group that on its website describes itself as exploring “topics of climate justice, environmentalism, racial justice, youth activism, disability justice, queer feminist theory, mental health, land and food sovereignty and dismantling systems of oppression and the ways that these topics are ever-evolving and intersecting.”