
Alana Hadid speaks to MEE at the screening of 'The Encampments' a documentary she served as creative director for
As a key contributor to the film, Hadid discussed its significance, the expanding pro-Palestinian solidarity movement, and the crucial role of storytelling in encouraging student activism.
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Middle East Eye
12-08-2025
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'Word soup': U2 statement on Gaza dismissed as ‘billionaire pacifism'
The massively popular Irish band U2's lengthy statement on Israel's war on Gaza on Sunday has triggered widespread backlash on social media and has been dubbed 'billionaire pacifism'. In the statement, all four members of the band shared their individual views on Gaza, touching upon an array of issues such as Israel's starvation of Gaza, the blocking of humanitarian aid and the potential military takeover of the enclave by Israel. The band's statement starts with the phrase, 'We are not experts in the politics of the region, but we want our audience to know where we each stand.' Lead singer Bono's (Paul David Hewson) own statement spans from 'The rape, murder, and abduction of Israelis at the Nova music festival was evil' to 'I also understood that Hamas are not the Palestinian people.' Bono's statement repeats Israel's often-repeated "right to self-defence justification and echoes the same debunked claims Israel makes about Hamas using civilians as human shields. 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Two years after a genocide in Gaza: 'We are not experts in the politics of the region' But two months after Russia's invasion of Ukraine 👇🏽 — Osita Mba (@DrOsitaMba) August 11, 2025 U2's statement came on the same day Israel killed prominent Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh in a drone strike on a press tent near al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. The strike also took the lives of Al Jazeera staff Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa, as well as freelance journalist Mohammed al-Khalidi. After Bono's statement, perhaps the one that received the most backlash was the statement by Larry Mullen Jr, the drummer of the band. He said that after the 7 October Hamas-led attack on Israel, Israel's response was expected. "After those attacks, the total obliteration of Hamas was called for by Israel and its allies and was expected." Many on social media expressed outrage at these words, hinting that Israel's war on Gaza started well before 7 October 2023. Larry you say what did Hamas expect? Well what did Isreal expect to happen after a blockade on Gaza since 2007? Where Isreal controls all land borders, the sky and the sea. Has bombed Gaza multiple times and murdered thousands since 2007 and Suffocates the life in Gaza! — lu (@slammesh) August 10, 2025 Some on social media, uninterested in Mullen's statement on Gaza in general, expressed their confusion as to why he felt he had to share his thoughts on this issue. This was a general sentiment towards the entirety of the statement by many social media users, saying that the band, specifically Bono, was a "fraud" and has no issue staying 'out of politics when it suits him'. I could not give an absolute fuck what U2 have to say about Gaza. Those shills have been dripping in Israeli blood money since day dot. Bono can "stay out of politics" when it suits him, while he's filling his pockets. 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