'Don't want blood money': Makeup mogul Huda Kattan 'willing to risk entire business' over pro-Palestine stance

Huda Kattan, the founder of the popular makeup and beauty brand Huda Beauty, said she would risk her entire business over her standpoint on the dispute in Gaza.

In a video uploaded on TikTok and Instagram on Sunday, the 40-year-old Iraqi-American beauty mogul said she received threats for her pro-Palestinian stance online.

"I have been experiencing so much intimidation from so many different ways, trying to get me to be silent. I had to ask myself, 'Why do they want me to be silent?' I'm talking about innocent people being hurt," she said in the video.

Kattan, who was on Forbes's list of 100 most powerful businesswomen 2023, attacked the Israeli government in her video, saying, "I really feel the Israeli government is putting the Jewish people if they do care about them, they're putting the Jewish people in harm's way by mixing all the different things that they're mixing, and it's really sad."

"I've always said that the Israeli government uses their religion and their people as human shields. I've always believed that they deflect and project everything that they do on the Palestinian people, and they're just caught up in a web of lies," she added.

Kattan's cosmetics business is worth $1.2 billion, Newsweek reported. According to Forbes, Huda Beauty brings about $200 million in annual sales. She also has 54 million followers on Instagram.

However, Kattan is in no mood to hold herself back from expressing her opinion online. The Dubai-based businesswoman also criticised any notion that she was antisemitic.

Kattan said in her video, "I'm willing to risk to my entire business, everything I have on that, in seek of truth and justice, and we have to be willing to do that."

"We have to remember that we can't be afraid to lose anything. We have to trust the process, and we have to trust that if we lose something, something else will come to us the right way because we are doing good work. We have to believe that. I believe that wholeheartedly," she added.

Huda Kattan has been vocal about her support for the Palestinian people for a long time. In 2021, she criticised Israel for the airstrikes on Gaza and the eviction of Palestinians from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem.

She has also spoken about the war many times in the last few months. In November 2023, Kattan pledged to donate $1 million to Human Appeal and Doctors Without Borders, two humanitarian organisations working in Gaza. She faced a boycott by some Israeli customers and supporters of Israel after she openly expressed her support for the Palestinian people.

In an Instagram post on her 40th birthday, an Israeli user criticised her for supporting Gaza despite doing so much business in Israel. The comment said, "So remember this as soon as no Israeli buys from you again, anywhere in the world. And it's a shame because we buy a lot."

Kattan replied to the remark, saying, "I don't want blood money." However, this led to a petition demanding beauty product retailer Sephora remove Huda Beauty from its stores in the United States.

(With inputs from agencies)