Justin Timberlake Picture 'Praying' Caused Anti-Semitic Comments
Justin Timberlake's Instagram photo showing him praying in Israel has caused backlash and heated criticisms from Palestinian fans.
According to Celebrity Dirty Laundry, a simple picture of Timberlake praying had unintentionally caused passionate arguments and anti-Semitic comments.
The "Suit and Tie" singer ignited the feelings of pro-Palestine activists when he captioned his Instagram photo at the Western Wall in Jerusalem with "The Holy Land... What an experience. I will never forget this day," with the hashtag, "#Israel."
The former N'Sync member was in Jerusalem for his upcoming concert in Tel Aviv. His visit was supposed to be both for business and pleasure and certainly he did not want to be caught in some form of controversy.
But this is still what happened. Timberlake should have been more careful in what he posts on his Instagram, especially since he has more than 4.4 million followers.
Even though the picture managed to garner more than 240,000 likes, not all of his followers were pleased with the message.
One of the fans commented, "There was never an Israel, this was always Palestine." This is one of the mild comments. Justin's picture unintentionally offended many of his pro-Palestinian fans and followers who did not hold back in their comments.
Most comments bordered on insensitive and anti-Semitic. His pro-Palestinian followers specifically hated he described the wall as being part of Israel.
One fan wrote, "Correction: you are in Palestine not israel #disappointed."
In Timberlake's defense, Celebrity Dirty Laundry claimed to most of the world, Western Wall is still part of the Israel nation. Timberlake may just be posting what is considered common knowledge. But the incident may have showed that artists need to be more careful of the pictures they post when they are in other country because they can overstep some political and cultural beliefs.
A month ago, Justin Bieber himself received flak for posting a picture of him praying to a shrine in Japan. Unfortunately, the Yasukuni Shrine was established to honor those who lost their lives during the Second World War, including the war criminals and those who committed condemned acts. This did not sit well with his Chinese fans. China fought China during this war after Japan invaded China, a bit that Justin Bieber may not know.
"While in Japan I asked my driver to pull over for which I saw a beautiful shrine," Bieber explained.
"I was mislead to think the Shrines were only a place of prayer. To anyone I have offended I am extremely sorry. I love you China and I love you Japan," he stressed.