The founder of makeup empire Huda Beauty, Huda Kattan, is willing to risk her entire business over her stance on Israel’s war crimes in Gaza. The 40-year-old Iraqi-American beauty mogul says she has received threats for expressing her pro-Palestine views online and, in a recent TikTok video, emphasised her commitment to seeking truth and justice.
The beauty mogul stressed, in the video posted on December 11, stressed, that she will “not be intimidated” and has done “nothing wrong” by speaking about Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip.
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“I am speaking on behalf of humanity, and I will not be intimidated,” Kattan said in the video.
“We can’t be afraid to lose anything; we have to trust the process. If we lose something, something else will come to us the right way because we are doing good work — I believe that wholeheartedly,” she said.
She expressed her readiness to risk her business for truth and justice, criticising attempts to redefine terms related to ethnic cleansing and genocide.
“I am willing to risk my entire business, everything that I have on that, in search of the truth and justice,” Kattan stressed.
She said she has faced intimidation but questions the motive behind such efforts, emphasising her focus on the suffering of innocent people.
Despite the high stakes with her cosmetics business being valued at $1.2 billion, with 54 million Instagram followers, Kattan remains undeterred in sharing her opinions online and denies accusations of antisemitism.
“I’m not antisemitic; I’m not anti any people and never will be. I stand against that,” Kattan declared, expressing concern that the Israeli government’s actions may be putting Jewish people in harm’s way.
She accused the government of using religion and people as human shields and projecting falsehoods onto the Palestinian people.
Despite potential repercussions, Kattan received overwhelming support in the comment section of her video, with many praising her courage and ethical stance. Some even pledged to switch to her products when financially able.
This isn’t the first time Kattan has spoken out against the Israel’s atrocities. In October, a controversy arose when an Israeli fan accused her of choosing Gaza over Israeli customers. Kattan responded, “I don’t want blood money,” leading to a petition urging Sephora to remove Huda Beauty from its US stores.
Later, she announced a $1 million donation to Human Appeal and Doctors Without Borders for humanitarian efforts in Gaza.
In 2021, Kattan criticised Israel for airstrikes on Gaza and condemned the evictions of Palestinians in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood.
