U.S. attack on Iranian nuclear sites raises fears of escalation
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CTV News
6 days ago
- CTV News
Madonna asks Pope Leo to visit Gaza ‘before it's too late'
Madonna attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style" exhibition. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP) Madonna has urged Pope Leo to visit Gaza in a humanitarian mission to help starving Palestinian children, saying 'there is no more time.' The American superstar, who was raised a Roman Catholic, pleaded with the new pontiff to visit the enclave in an Instagram post Monday and said: 'Most Holy Father. Please go to Gaza and bring your light to the children before it's too late. As a mother, I cannot bear to watch their suffering. The children of the world belong to everyone. You are the only one of us who cannot be denied entry.' Madonna said she was calling on Leo to visit Gaza because 'politics cannot affect change,' but 'consciousness can.' In the post, published on her son Rocco's birthday, Madonna said the best gift she could give to him is 'to ask everyone to do what they can to help save the innocent children caught in the crossfire in Gaza.' CNN has reached out to the Vatican for comment. Since his papacy began in May, the pope has been robust in his criticisms of Israel's war in Gaza, consistently voicing his concern for Palestinian civilians facing Israeli bombardment. 'I am following with great concern the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where the civilian population is suffering from severe hunger and remains exposed to violence and death,' he said in July, calling for a ceasefire. According to UNICEF, the United Nations' children's agency, more than 18,000 children have been killed in Gaza since the war began in October 2023. An average of 28 children have been killed a day there, the agency said last week. An Israeli blockade on aid to the enclave has resulted in what the World Health Organization (WHO) has called 'man-made mass starvation.' Madonna said that she is 'not pointing fingers, placing blame or taking sides.' 'Everyone is suffering. Including the mothers of the hostages. I pray that they are released as well,' she said. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus responded to Madonna's post on Monday, thanking her for her 'compassion, solidarity and commitment to care for everyone caught in the Gaza crisis, especially the children.' 'This is greatly needed. Humanity and peace must prevail,' he said. At least 222 people – including 101 children – have died from malnutrition since the beginning of the war, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Ramesh Rajasingham, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told a UN security council meeting Sunday: 'This is no longer a looming hunger crisis – this is starvation, pure and simple.' Israel tightly controls the flow of aid and personnel to the enclave. In a rare instance in July, Israel allowed two church leaders to visit after Israel struck Gaza's sole Catholic church, killing three people and wounding several others. The church had served as a shelter for Gaza's tiny Christian community throughout nearly two years of war. Since then, Gaza's starvation crisis has deepened, with images of emaciated children causing global alarm. 'We need the humanitarian gates to be fully opened to save these innocent children,' Madonna said. 'There is no more time. Please say you will go,' she wrote. Whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government would grant the pope entry to the enclave is not certain, but Madonna's appeal underlines growing condemnation of the 22-month war, which has caused tensions between Israel and its allies. Australia, Canada and France have announced plans to recognize a Palestinian state, with the United Kingdom conditionally saying last month that it will recognize a Palestinian state in September if Israel does not meet criteria that includes agreeing to a ceasefire in Gaza. Madonna's comments come as a growing number of artists, including Massive Attack, Brian Eno and most recently U2, have highlighted the humanitarian situation in Gaza. During a performance in late 2023, Madonna also criticized the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on Israel, and Israel's military response. She called the war 'heartbreaking.' By Christian Edwards, Catherine Nicholls.
CTV News
7 days ago
- CTV News
U2 members speak out on Gaza: ‘A test of our shared humanity'
Adam Clayton, Bono, Larry Mullen Jr, and The Edge from U2 in 2022. The legendary band U2 has always been outspoken about their views and they are now sharing their thoughts about the conflict in Gaza. (Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images via CNN Newsource) The legendary band U2 has always been outspoken about their views and they are now sharing their thoughts about the conflict in Gaza. Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr., took to their official site to post statements condemning the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, speaking out in support of the safe return of the remaining Israeli hostages and calling for access to critical care for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. 'Everyone has long been horrified by what is unfolding in Gaza - but the blocking of humanitarian aid and now plans for a military takeover of Gaza City has taken the conflict into uncharted territory,' their site reads. 'We are not experts in the politics of the region, but we want our audience to know where we each stand.' 'Apart from the attack on the Nova music festival on October 7th, which felt like it happened while U2 were on stage at Sphere Las Vegas, I have generally tried to stay out of the politics of the Middle East,' Bono wrote in his individual statement. 'This was not humility, more uncertainty in the face of obvious complexity,' he added. 'I have over recent months written about the war in Gaza in The Atlantic and spoken about it in The Observer, but I circled the subject.' He went on to write that as 'a cofounder of the ONE Campaign, which tackles AIDS and extreme poverty in Africa, I felt my experience should be on the catastrophes facing that work and that part of the world' before stating that 'there is no hierarchy to such things.' Seeing 'images of starving children on the Gaza Strip' has been deeply grieving, Bono added, given his experience witnessing famine first hand in Ethiopia years ago. 'To witness chronic malnutrition up close would make it personal for any family, especially as it affects children,' he wrote. '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… in the sacred text of Jew, Christian, and Muslim it is an evil that must be resisted.' 'As someone who has long believed in Israel's right to exist and supported a two-state solution, I want to make clear to anyone who cares to listen our band's condemnation of [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu's immoral actions and join all who have called for a cessation of hostilities on both sides,' Bono wrote. 'If not Irish voices, please please please stop and listen to Jewish ones.' 'We are all deeply shocked and profoundly grieved by the suffering unfolding in Gaza,' his bandmate, The Edge, wrote. 'What we are witnessing is not a distant tragedy—it is a test of our shared humanity.' 'We know from our own experience in Ireland that peace is not made through dominance,' he continued. 'Peace is made when people sit down with their opponents—when they recognize the equal dignity of all, even those they once feared or despised.' Clayton and Mullen Jr. also shared individual statements, calling for preservation of civilian life and an end to the conflict.
CBC
07-08-2025
- CBC
More musicians are speaking out about Gaza than ever before. Why now?
Social Sharing From major pop stars like Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish to rap acts like Bob Vylan and Kneecap, this summer has seen the music industry turn its focus to what's happening right now in Gaza in a big way. But each artist has taken their own approach to spreading the word about the ongoing crisis. The acts that have taken a more bold stance on the festival circuit, however, have been met with undeniable backlash. Today on Commotion, Palestinian-Canadian musician John Kameel Farah, Israeli-American culture writer Lux Alptraum, and Vassar College music professor Justin Patch join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to discuss the recent surge of musicians speaking up about the hunger crisis in Gaza, and how the repercussions for speaking out have changed since the war in Gaza began almost two years ago.
