Colombian pop star Maluma sparks angry debate after posting photo with Israeli police officer
'You lost all your Palestinian fanatics and I am the first of them,' says critic
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Your support makes all the difference.A popular Colombian pop star has sparked fury for posting a photo of himself posing with an Israeli border police officer.
Maluma, who has nearly 30 million Instagram followers, posted a photo of himself with the female security official alongside the caption “New security” in both English and Spanish.
The Colombian singer-songwriter, who performed in Tel Aviv on 12 October, has amassed over 28,000 comments on the picture and has found himself caught in the firing line of an angry debate.
Maluma, whose real name is Juan Luis Londono Arias, was accused of ignorance by some fans who argued he was not aware of the weighty geopolitical connotations of the gesture.
“You lost all your Palestinian fanatics and I am the first of them,” said one fan.
Another said: “Did you ask how many Palestinians she killed before posing for a photo with her?”
“Posing with a member of Israel’s killer army,” one more added.
Others rebuked the musician, who is signed to Sony Music Colombia, for posing with “Zionist pigs” and called for Palestine to be freed.
But not everyone hit out at Maluma, who has the biggest following of all Latin male artists on Instagram, and some posted pro-Israeli comments on the photo, which garnered almost 1.3 million likes.
During his tour, Maluma performed 62 shows in North America, 55 in South America, and 24 in Europe. The singer’s international fame has grown rapidly and he has collaborated with Latin artist’s such as Shakira and Ricky Martin.