H Adidas announced today that he is retiring the model of Palestinian origin Bella Hadid from a controversial ad campaign to reissue an iconic pair of sneakers from 1972 Munich Olympicsduring which it was committed a terrorist attack against Israelis.

The German company is re-launching this summer this shoe, the SL72 as it has called it, a replica of a model worn by athletes during the Munich Games.

During the games, 11 Israeli athletes and coaches and a German policeman were murdered by the Palestinian group “Black September”.

Adidas chose to embody its advertising campaign the model Bella Hadid, who has Palestinian roots and has often participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations, while since October 7 she has repeatedly condemned the Israeli bombing of Gaza.

“We are aware that there was a connection to tragic historical events, even if it was entirely unintentional, and we apologize for the upset and pain.” which this may have caused, the company writes in a press release sent to AFP.

Model Bella Hadid has pulled out of the campaign “with immediate effect,” an Adidas spokeswoman said.

The campaign provoked strong reactions among Israeli officials.

“Guess who the face of the campaign is? Bella Hadid, a model of Palestinian descent who is used to promoting anti-Semitism and advocating violence against Israelis and Jews.” wrote yesterday the embassy of Israel in Berlin, in a post on the X network.

“How can Adidas now claim that the recall of this event was ‘totally inadvertent’?” The 1972 attack was etched in the shared memory of Germans and Israelis.” Israel’s ambassador to Germany, Ron Prossor, told Welt TV today, following Adidas’ apology.

The campaign sparked a wave of criticism on social media: “Adidas is dead to me… I won’t buy anything from businesses that have anything in common with anti-Semites…” wrote a user on X.

The company will continue to promote its vintage model with other faces: French soccer player Gilles Couté, American rapper A$AP Nast, Swiss-Ethiopian-born musician Melissa Bon and Chinese model Sabrina Lan, who lives in Berlin.