Zara faces criticism for messages sent by one of its designers to a Palestinian model

(CNN) – The fashion giant Zara is in question after her head designer for women, Vanessa Perilman, sent controversial messages to the Palestinian model Qaher Harhash on Instagram.

Harhash posts pro-Palestine content on his Instagram account and it appears that Perilman responded to a post via direct message last week.

“Maybe if his people were educated then they wouldn’t blow up the hospitals and schools that Israel helped pay for in Gaza,” reads a screenshot of Perilman’s message to Harhash. “The Israelis do not teach children to hate or throw stones at soldiers like your people do.”

Perilman’s comments come less than a month after a bloody 11-day conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas ended.

The Israel Defense Forces carried out a devastating aerial bombardment of Gaza, which killed more than 200 people, including 65 children.

Hamas fired thousands of rockets at Israel, many of which were intercepted by Israel’s defense system. At least 12 people died in Israel.

The designer said, “I will NEVER stop defending Israel” and mentioned that Harhash published “shitty media circuses.”

The Instagram Stories in which the screenshots were shared have expired.

Harhash later posted more screenshots of messages from Perilman questioning why Harhash had uploaded the screenshots to his Instagram stories, and said he received threats against his children.

“I’m sorry if this fight started any more than it should have, but now it’s getting out of hand,” wrote Perilman. “I am literally receiving death threats against my children.”

Perliman added that he felt “terrible and very bad” in a flow of messages. “This is not who I am,” he wrote.

“I’m very sorry,” he added. “I really hope you can forgive me.”

CNN has tried to contact both Perilman and Harhash for comment. Perilman deleted his account from Instagram.

The posts led to online calls for disciplinary action against Perilman and for a boycott of Zara.

«Zara does not accept any disrespect for any culture, religion, country, race or belief. Zara is a diverse company and we will never tolerate discrimination of any kind, “read a statement from a company spokesperson sent to CNN on Wednesday.

“We condemn these comments that do not reflect our core values ​​of respect for others, and we regret the offense they have caused. As a diverse and multicultural company, we are committed to ensuring a fair and inclusive environment as part of our business values.