Mia Khalifa Faces Criticism After Jewish Woman Spat

Video footage of Mia Khalifa purportedly using her face mask to pick up dog poop, before placing it back over her mouth, has resurfaced on social media amid backlash over a clip of her spat with a Jewish woman.

The former adult film star, who has been a vocal supporter of Palestinians and critic of Israel amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, on Monday took to X, formerly Twitter, to share a video clip of a confrontation she had with an unknown Jewish woman, who Khalifa had accused of following her.

Tensions have heightened globally after Hamas led a surprise attack on Israel on October 7, which it said was retribution for worsening conditions for Palestinians under Israeli occupation. More than 200 people were taken hostage in the attack.

Israel subsequently declared war on Hamas and launched hundreds of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, followed by a ground invasion. At least 1,200 people were killed in Israel, The Associated Press has reported, and more than 24,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to health authorities in Gaza.

The discourse around the conflict has proved to be contentious over the past few months, with people divided in their support of either side. There have also been calls for a ceasefire in what is the latest outbreak of hostility between Israel and Palestinians.

Captioning the post, Lebanon-born Khalifa wrote: "The Zionists are losing the plot. She followed me through the lobby calling me slurs and didn't stop the entire time she was waiting for her UberPool at the Antique Jewelry Fair. She's a vendor—something she made abundantly clear, so I guess this is what her business stands for."

In the 43-second video, the woman in question is seen standing behind Khalifa outside the Miami Beach Convention Center, as she says: "That's right." Khalifa then addresses the young man next to her asking, "You proud of your mom?"

"Am Yisrael Chai," the woman says in response, a Jewish solidarity anthem and a widely used expression of Jewish peoplehood. She then repeats the phrase several times, approaching Khalifa from behind to get closer to the video and revealing a Hebrew Chai necklace, which means "life."

"You see that?" the woman asks Khalifa.

Khalifa responds: "Are you waiting for the bus? Because I'm waiting for my valet."

The next 15 seconds of the video are unremarkable—until both Khalifa and the woman speak to each other again at almost the same time.

Again, the woman approaches Khalifa from behind, exposes her necklace, and says: "Am Yisrael Chai."

At this point, Khalifa walks away saying: "You smell like knockoff falafel."

Khalifa's final line in her video drew the attention of gamer and political commentator Ian Miles Cheong, who wrote on X: "Mia Khalifa should not be talking about someone else having bad breath when she did this."

Cheong's caption accompanied a video that first surfaced in late 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. It showed Khalifa using her face mask to pick up what was portrayed as her pet pooch's poop during a stroll. After throwing the item into the trash, she then put the mask back over her mouth before resuming her walk.

As of press time, Cheong's post has been viewed more than 12 million times. The video contains some profanity.

The Khalifa mask clip, which carried the screen caption "This is gross," was originally shared by music producer Benny Blanco on TikTok.

In the clip, which appeared to have been shot from a parked car across the street from Khalifa, he was heard saying: "Here's another reason why Mia Khalifa's boyfriend doesn't kiss her. This b**** literally picks up s*** with her mask and puts it back on. She do be kind of resourceful, though."

"I just saw @miakhalifa put poop on her face," wrote Blanco, who was recently confirmed to be dating Selena Gomez.

"At least I'm not an anti-masker," Khalifa responded, before adding in a video shared on her own account: "I just got back from traveling and I have to walk my dog so, safety first, everyone has to wear a mask."

While the clip drew strong reactions of disgust, many social media users at the time believed the footage to be part of a hoax to draw social media engagement. Compounding this is the fact that Khalifa and Blanco had collaborated on a TikTok video with a similar unsavory theme days before the mask clip was posted.

Newsweek has contacted a representative of Khalifa via email for comment.