A leading fashion British designer has been condemned for appearing to justify the murder of Israeli civilians by Hamas.
Alice Temperley, whose designs the Princess of Wales has worn on multiple occasions, said that she would be "very angry" were she in the position of Gazans and declared: "If someone came and cut your child up you would want to retaliate."
The designer was writing in the wake of Hamas's October 7 attack against Israel that killed over 1,000 people, including hundreds of civilians, and saw Jews tortured, mutilated and kidnapped.
Writing on Instagram underneath a photo of sliced plums, Temperley said: "Thinking about the horrors in our world about how the west helped create Hamas through decades of torment and devastation in Gaza.
Alice Temperley's Instagram post (Photo: Instagram)
"If you blow kids and their family's up and trap them in a massive prison with constant bombardment - then of course they are going to seek revenge and be VERY ANGRY. (I would to in their position)
"To all the children and civilians the west is failing... it's shameful and upsetting and it's so hard not to feel hopeless and angry for them.
"All the kids in the documentary Made in Gaza, filmed in 2014, will be young adults now and they have lived their wholes lives in fear, they have lost families and most of their friends.
"They have lived their whole lives with “REAL TRUMA”, Trapped on a destitute piece of land as prisoners… it’s so F**ked up every way you look at it.
"No freedom, no rights and now genocide threatening 2.2 million people who are being refused aid, food and water [sic]."
In a comment under the post, she added: "No matter who you are, what side you are on. If someone came and cut your child up you would want to retaliate - is all I am saying... I am [seeing] how the 70 years has created this."
The Princess of Wales wears an Alice Temperley lace "eclipse dress" as she attends a reception on World Mental Health Day (Photo: Heathcliff O'Malley/WPA Pool/Getty Images)
After the post sparked a furious backlash online, Temperley edited her caption to add a line in block capitals that reads: "I do not agree with any acts of violence."
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: "Alice Temperley's comments appearing to justify Hamas's terrorism may be socially fashionable but they are morally repugnant.
"In view of the vociferousness of her post, her subsequent insistence that she does not support violence is fairly unpersuasive, as that appears to have been precisely the point she was making."
Temperley launched her eponymous label, Temperley London, in 2000 after graduating from Central Saint Martens college.
In 2011, she was awarded an MBE for services to the fashion industry.
A spokesman for Temperley London said: "Alice Temperley has always condemned the atrocities committed by Hamas and by no means justifies terrorist attacks."
