U2’s lead singer Bono has expressed his “revulsion” over what he described as a “moral failure” in Gaza, while acknowledging that he has previously avoided engaging in the politics of the Middle East, reports RTE.
The musician, who faced backlash for staying silent on the situation in Gaza and for accepting the Medal of Freedom from then-US President Joe Biden earlier this year, explained that his silence stemmed from “uncertainty in the face of obvious complexity”.
He stated that “Israel’s revenge for the Hamas attack appeared more and more disproportionate and disinterested in the equally innocent civilian lives in Gaza”, reports RTE.
“The Government of Israel is not the nation of Israel, but the Government of Israel led by Benjamin Netanyahu today deserves our categorical and unequivocal condemnation,” he said, reports RTE.
Bono reiterated his long-standing support for Israel’s right to exist and his belief in a two-state solution.
“I want to make clear to anyone who cares to listen our band’s condemnation of Netanyahu’s immoral actions and join all who have called for a cessation of hostilities on both sides,” he said, reports RTE.
“Our band stands in solidarity with the people of Palestine who truly seek a path to peace and coexistence with Israel and with their rightful and legitimate demand for statehood,” reports RTE.
“We stand in solidarity with the remaining hostages and plead that someone rational negotiate their release,” reports RTE.
He shared that he had previously chosen to focus on the AIDS crisis and poverty in Africa, noting that “the hemorrhaging of human life in Sudan or Ethiopia hardly makes the news”.
“But but but… there is no hierarchy to such things,” he continued, reports RTE.
Bono recalled that images of “starving children on the Gaza Strip” reminded him of a trip he and his wife Ali Hewson took to Ethiopia nearly 40 years ago.
“To witness chronic malnutrition up close would make it personal for any family, especially as it affects children,” he said, reports RTE.
“Because when the loss of non-combatant life en masse appears so calculated… especially the deaths of children, then ‘evil’ is not a hyperbolic adjective,” reports RTE.
He said Palestinians have “for decades endured and continue to endure marginalization, oppression, occupation, and the systematic stealing of the land that is rightfully theirs.”
“Given our own historic experience of oppression and occupation, it’s little wonder so many here in Ireland have campaigned for decades for justice for the Palestinian people,” reports RTE.
He continued: “We know Hamas are using starvation as a weapon in the war, but now so too is Israel and I feel revulsion for the moral failure. The Government of Israel is not the nation of Israel, but the Government of Israel led by Benjamin Netanyahu today deserves our categorical and unequivocal condemnation. There is no justification for the brutality he and his far right government have inflicted on the Palestinian people… in Gaza… in the West Bank. And not just since October 7, well before it too… though the level of depravity and lawlessness we are seeing now feels like uncharted territory,” reports RTE.
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