Former Selling Sunset star Maya Vander has revealed she is receiving “a lot of hate” and is preparing to lose clients after voicing her support for Israel as she expressed her fears for her family who lives in constant danger in her homeland.
In an exclusive interview with , the reality TV star confirmed that her mother, brother, cousins and nieces had been hiding in “safe spaces” to escape missiles and also revealed that she was of peace “less optimistic” had been achieved.
Maya, 41, has been vocal about the “horrifying” situation on Instagram, posting several videos since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack in which around 1,200 people – including children – were slaughtered and hundreds of Israelis were kidnapped after being abducted and sent as Hostages were held in Gaza.
“What has happened in the world is shocking,” she told . “I think it’s just a lot of hate.” I’m a Jew and I see all this hatred against Jewish people…
“I mean, you don’t have to agree with certain things that the Israeli government does, but people who deny things that happened to us on October 7, that’s unacceptable.”
Selling Sunset star Maya Vander has received “a lot of hate” for her defense of Israel
Maya, 41, revealed that her mother (pictured) sometimes has to hide in “safe spaces” in Israel
The TV favorite has been vocal about the “terrible situation” and revealed she has lost Instagram followers as a result and could lose out on real estate clients
“People who justify a terrorist organization and call them ‘freedom fighters’ really get under my skin because I grew up in Israel and have been raised around terror my whole life.”
Maya loudly urged people on Instagram to “check your facts” before expressing their opinions on the current unrest, claiming that Palestinians are “victims” of a terrorist organization and will be “happy” if Israel destroys Hamas would.
She admitted that it was a “very intense” time, but said that although she was Jewish, she was not “trying to be an activist,” arguing that “people who go to Columbia University or Harvard go and raise the flag without knowing the history, and…” Conflict parties are simply “very ignorant.”
She was referring to protests by pro-Palestinian Harvard groups in October, in which students marched from Harvard’s main campus in Cambridge to the business school in Boston.
Maya, who was born and raised in Israel by her Jewish mother and Dutch father, admitted that she could never ride the bus in Tel Aviv because she was “always afraid that someone would explode.” [it].’
The real estate agent now lives in Miami with her husband Dave Miller and their children Aiden, four, Elle, three, and six-month-old Emma, but her mother remains in Israel.
“I have my mother, my brother, my cousins, my nieces, they all live in Israel,” Maya explained in the interview, which took place days before the ceasefire. “They got rockets, and no one is talking about Israel getting over 10,000 rockets…”
“Everyone just talks about what the Israeli military is doing in Gaza, but many media outlets don’t show why we are in Gaza at all.”
When asked if she would prefer her family to come to the US and stay with her, Maya replied: “I told them to come here and spend time until the situation calms down, but in Israel the people are so strong.” They say: “We have our work here, we have our routine here, we can’t just leave.”
“They also feel an obligation to stay for their country.” Every place in Israel – if it is a new building – has this safe space that you have to manage [to] Once you have a rocket. I was just talking to my mom and she was like, “Oh, I’m in the safe room because we just heard sirens and a lot of banging.”
Maya’s brother (pictured) also lives in Israel along with her nieces and cousins
The Israeli-born star rose to fame on the hit 2019 Netflix reality series Selling Sunset
Maya lives in Miami with her husband Dave Miller and their children: Aiden, four, Elle, three, and six-month-old Emma
Maya went on to stress that “people don’t know the truth” about what’s really happening, admitting: “This is a very complex situation.” Unfortunately, I’m less optimistic when it comes to peace and stuff. Hamas doesn’t care about the civilian population, that’s the truth. They don’t care about the Palestinian people.
“If you really think about it, if Israel really started some terrible wars that caused genocide and so on, they could really invade Gaza and destroy Gaza in about five minutes.” And they don’t do that, they try to do everything “What they can do, but it’s a war and it’s not easy because they fire missiles under tunnels, that’s a fact.”
The reality TV star certainly won’t back down when it comes to speaking out and predicted she’ll “probably lose clients” as a result.
“I do real estate and that’s important to me, but I think there are more important things in life and you know what, if I lose followers then maybe I can gain a few more,” she said.
“I grew up very open to all cultures, religions and colors. I don’t see people based on their faith. “We never learned to hate… I never took a course in Israel where I was taught to hate Arabs, like never in my life, ever.”