Prada Controversy: Ambassador's Palestine Map Necklace Sparks Outrage

Italian luxury giant Prada is facing sharp criticism after promotional videos for its Spring/Summer 2027 menswear collection showed newly appointed global ambassador Saint Levant wearing a silver pendant depicting "historic Palestine" — the full territory from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, erasing the State of Israel.

The videos, posted to Prada's account of more than 33 million followers following its Milan show, feature Saint Levant, born Marwan Abdelhamid in Jerusalem, in Prada attire alongside the prominent necklace. The map reflects the borders of the British Mandate for Palestine prior to Israel's founding in 1948 and corresponds directly to the geography invoked by the slogan "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" — a phrase Jewish organizations, Israeli officials, and the U.S. government have widely condemned as a call for Israel's elimination.

Pro-Israel activist Hen Mazzig was among the first to call out the campaign. "I'm all for representation of Palestinians, but Prada posting a video of their new 'Palestinian ambassador' Saint Levant wearing a necklace shaped like the entire land with Israel erased, that's a message," he wrote. "If an Israeli, or any Jew, wore a pendant that included Gaza, the outrage would be instant. But erasing Israel gets a luxury campaign."

Prada described the collaboration as spotlighting the multilingual artist's rising global profile. Saint Levant, who has Algerian-French and Palestinian-Serbian heritage and spent part of his childhood in Gaza, is known for music addressing Palestinian identity. He joins fellow Palestinian-American model Bella Hadid as a Prada ambassador. Neither Prada nor Saint Levant had commented directly on the necklace controversy as of Saturday.

The backlash reflects an ongoing reality for global brands: in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, maps are not neutral. Prada did not stumble into a nuanced political debate, the necklace's imagery is one of the most recognizable symbols of rejecting Israel's existence, and its placement in a high-profile luxury campaign with tens of millions of viewers is difficult to read as accidental.