Bella Hadid has urged fans to give to charity this Eid Al Fitr in an Instagram post. Getty Images
Bella Hadid has urged fans to give to charity this Eid Al Fitr in an Instagram post. Getty Images
Bella Hadid has urged fans to give to charity this Eid Al Fitr in an Instagram post. Getty Images
Bella Hadid has urged fans to give to charity this Eid Al Fitr in an Instagram post. Getty Images

Bella Hadid urges fans to donate to Middle Eastern families in need with Eid Al Fitr message


Farah Andrews
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Bella Hadid, 23, posted a lengthy message on Instagram, sending Eid wishes to her friends and family. In the post, the model, whose father Mohamed Hadid is a Jordanian-American real estate developer, reflects on those most in need this Eid, highlighting three charities that are working to help children in Palestine, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.

She urges fans to donate to Middle Eastern families in need in her message. "As Ramadan comes to a close, my thoughts are with families and children around the world without a safe place to call home," the model wrote.

"I remember the beauty of Ramadan, and fasting with my father and my Teta when I was young. Eid was so special for me, to be able to celebrate together. It makes my heart break thinking about the children and families that are separated and unable to unite during this time," she wrote.

"I will be supporting and donating to three charities that are working endlessly, in different ways, to help support refugees, displaced families, families in the front lines of conflict and very importantly, the powerful and beautiful Middle Eastern children across Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and other affected regions," she wrote, before linking to the aforementioned charities: Preemptive Love, UNRWA USA and Middle East Children's Alliance (Meca).

She then went into detail, explaining the work that Meca does.

"The Middle East Children's Alliance works for the rights and well-being of children in the Middle East. They support dozens of community projects for Palestinian children and refugees from Syria," she explains. "Meca has been dedicated to making sure the children get direct aid like food, water, clothes, toys, books and school supplies [as well as] financial support and assistance in the West Bank and Gaza that helps children get basic needs such as accessible parks, kindergarten classes, libraries, sports, music / art programmes etc!

"They also offer university programs to help Palestinians grow up to be everything they can be."

She then urged her followers to donate to the charities, writing: "I would love for you to join me to help these incredible charities, and if not, spreading the word will always help... We can and will be the voice for the ones who cannot be heard".

Her father Mohamed was born in Nazareth, Palestine, in 1948 and moved to the US at the age of 14.

He has also posted Eid wishes of his own on social media, including a video of the call to prayer from London.

"For the first time in history [Kazi Shafiqur Rahman] was honoured tonight to be able to perform the Azan in Makkah Style in Canary Wharf London. Subhanallah what an amazing feeling," he wrote.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Trump v Khan

2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US

2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks

2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit

2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”

2022:  Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency

July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”

Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.

Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”

Retail gloom

Online grocer Ocado revealed retail sales fell 5.7 per cen in its first quarter as customers switched back to pre-pandemic shopping patterns.

It was a tough comparison from a year earlier, when the UK was in lockdown, but on a two-year basis its retail division, a joint venture with Marks&Spencer, rose 31.7 per cent over the quarter.

The group added that a 15 per cent drop in customer basket size offset an 11.6. per cent rise in the number of customer transactions.

The specs: 2018 Mercedes-Benz S 450

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