Just a 'conflict'? Local brand Beyond The Vines faces backlash for 'tone-deaf' remarks about Israel-Hamas war

[Update Nov 16] Beyond The Vines (BTV) has apologised on Thursday (Nov 16) for their previous "grossly inadequate" response on social media to the Israel-Hamas war.

In a statement on Instagram, founders Daniel Chew and Rebecca Ting said that their words and manner on Instagram were "insensitive and inappropriate".

They reiterated that they do not condone the killing of thousands of innocent Palestinians in Gaza City.

But Chew and Ting added that they "take full responsibility" for their "insensitivity and mishandling" of the matter, and hope to be given an opportunity to learn and get this right in the future.

"We're sorry for the mistakes we made. As an active founder-led business, we take great pride in doing most things ourselves," BTV's founders said.

"But as the brand and community have grown and evolved, so must our practices, which in this event was grossly inadequate.

"We can't reiterate our sincere apology and commitment to learning from this incident and aspire to be a business that our community is proud of."
 

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A local fashion label has come under fire for their online comments on social media about the Israel-Hamas War, with many criticising them for being "entitled" and "ignorant".

In a 'live' product launch last Friday (Nov 10), Beyond The Vines (BTV) co-founder Rebecca Ting said that she wanted to talk about "things that have arisen" in the past few days.

Ting was referring to how eagle-eyed netizens noticed that her husband and BTV founder Daniel Chew had followed the Fellowship of Israel Related Ministries (Firm) - a Jerusalem-based Christian non-profit organisation - on Instagram.

This has resulted in social media users accusing BTV for supporting the Israeli military's ongoing operations in Gaza City, which stemmed from Palestine militant group Hamas' surprise attack in Israel on Oct 7.

During the Instagram live-stream, Ting said that she wanted to "address it".

"But I don't want to hang around that point for too long. I know you understand that," she added.

"Because I do want to move on. I do want to talk about this collection, and we want to launch this thing."

On her husband's social media activity, Ting said that Chew had followed Firm's Instagram account "long before the conflict" in the beginning of this year.

She shared that Firm used to post food and travel-related content, adding that it started sharing "political content" after the "conflict" broke out.

"Once this information of the account was brought to Daniel's attention, maybe in the past three days, he has unfollowed it.

"Daniel has no interest in being associated with political content."

[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/Czc-7mdyC1O/[/embed]

Ting later refuted online claims that her husband supports the "genocide" in Gaza.

She said that those who say otherwise are either "jumping to conclusions" or "deliberately trying to mislead others online".

Ting's comments echoed Chew's earlier statement on Instagram, which were made in response to the online accusations about his alleged support for Israel's actions in Gaza. 

"As a father, it pains me to watch the events unfold. Every child deserves the right to run back safely to their father's arms," the BTV founder wrote on Nov 9. 

"I do not support nor condone any form of violence against civilians, especially children, women and the elderly." 

Chew said that he and his wife had previously donated to support humanitarian work in Palestine - something that he added is not shared on social media. 

"I am a Singaporean son and have been a recipient of our nation's social harmony. It pains me to see disharmony from such accusations. 

"I stand on the side of humanity and hope for peace." 

'Please read the room' 

But Ting's live-stream, which has since been posted on Instagram, has sparked much discussion on social media. Many netizens have labelled her attempt to dispel the online accusations as "tone deaf".

"Giggling and repeating that you'll move on to launch the collection once you're done 'addressing' the issue is super tone-deaf," one user wrote. "Please read the room."

"This is the perfect epitome of 'as long as my business is booming, it doesn't affect my life and it doesn't matter' mentality," another said.

Several netizens criticised Ting for her repeated use of the word "conflict", but others urged BTV to post a separate statement so that "customers can make up their minds".

One user simply wrote: "You've officially lost a customer."

However, several netizens did not agree with boycotting BTV, with one user saying that doing so would not contribute to the Palestinian cause. 

"We tell them the truth with kindness, we plead to their humanity. And everyone has a heart, remember that," one of them said. 

"Their profits don't fund Israel, and the founder has never stated outright support except for the fact that he was interested in visiting Israel." 

Another netizen suggested a possible reason for Ting's demeanour during the live-stream. 

"[Ting] was giggling because she has loyal customers on the live-stream interacting with her. Do you expect her to be crying?" he said.

AsiaOne has contacted BTV for comments.

chingshijie@asiaone.com