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Atlantic
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Atlantic
Israel and Gaza, Held Hostage by Fundamentalism
Apart from mourning the attack on the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, which felt like it happened while U2 was onstage at Sphere Las Vegas, I have generally tried to stay out of the politics of the Middle East … this was not humility, more uncertainty in the face of obvious complexity. In recent months, I have written about the war in Gaza in The Atlantic and spoken about it in The Observer, but I circled the subject. As a co-founder of the ONE Campaign, which tackles AIDS and extreme poverty in Africa, I felt my experience should be focused on the catastrophes facing that work and that part of the world. The hemorrhaging of human life in Sudan or Ethiopia hardly makes the news. The civil war in Sudan alone is beyond comprehension, leaving 150,000 dead and 2 million people facing famine And that was before the dismantling of USAID in March and the gutting of PEPFAR, lifesaving programs for the poorest of the poor that ONE has fought for decades to protect. Those cuts will likely lead to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children over the next few years. But there is no hierarchy to such things. The images of starving children in the Gaza Strip brought me back to a working trip that my wife, Ali, and I made 40 years ago next month to a food station in Ethiopia following U2's participation in Live Aid 1985, amid another man-made famine. To witness chronic malnutrition up close would make it personal for any family, especially as it affects children. When the loss of noncombatant 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. The rape, murder, and abduction of Israelis at the Nova music festival and elsewhere in southern Israel was evil. On the awful Saturday night and Sunday morning of October 7–8, I wasn't thinking about politics. Onstage in the Nevada desert, I just couldn't help but express the pain everyone in the room was feeling and is still feeling for other music lovers and fans like us—hiding under a stage in Kibbutz Re'im then butchered to set a diabolical trap for Israel and to get a war going that might just redraw the map from the river to the sea. Hamas's leadership was willing to gamble with the lives of 2 million Palestinians. It wanted to sow the seeds for a global intifada of the sort that U2 had glimpsed at work in Paris during the Bataclan attack in 2015, but it could succeed only if Israel's leaders fell into the trap that Hamas set for them. Yahya Sinwar didn't mind if he lost the battle or even the war if he could destroy Israel as a moral as well as an economic force. Over the months that followed, as Israel's revenge for the Hamas attack appeared more and more disproportionate and disinterested in the equally innocent civilian lives in Gaza … I felt as nauseous as anyone, but reminded myself that Hamas had deliberately positioned itself under civilian targets, having tunneled its way from school to mosque to hospital. When did a just war to defend the country turn into an unjust land grab? I hoped Israel would return to reason. I was making excuses for a people seared and shaped by the experience of Holocaust, who understood the threat of extermination not simply as a fear but as a fact. I reread Hamas's charter of 1988; it's an evil read. (Article Seven!) But I also understood that Hamas is not the Palestinian people. 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 in Ireland, it's little wonder so many here have campaigned for decades for justice for the Palestinian people. We know Hamas is using starvation as a weapon in the war, but now so too is Israel, and I feel revulsion for that moral failure. The government of Israel is not the nation of Israel, but the government of Israel, led by Prime Minister 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 or 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. Curiously, those who say these reports are not true are not demanding access to Gaza for journalists, and they seem deaf to the revealing rhetoric. Examples that sharpen my pen include: Israel's heritage minister claiming that the government 'is racing ahead for Gaza to be wiped out'; its defense minister and security minister arguing that no aid should be let into the territory; its finance minister vowing that 'not even a grain of wheat will enter the Strip.' And now Netanyahu has announced a military takeover of Gaza City, which most informed commentators understand as a euphemism for the colonization of Gaza. We know the rest of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank are next. What century are we in? Is the world not done with this far, far-right thinking? We know where it ends … world war, millenarianism … Might the world deserve to know where this once promising, bright-minded, flawed, but only democratic nation in the region, is headed unless there is a dramatic change of course? Is what was once an oasis of innovation and freethinking now in hock to a fundamentalism as blunt as a machete? Are Israelis really ready to let Benjamin Netanyahu do to Israel what its enemies failed to achieve over the past 77 years, and disappear it from membership in a community of nations built around even a flawed decency? 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 Netanyahu's immoral actions and to join all who have called for a cessation of hostilities on both sides. If you will not listen to Irish voices, then please, please, please stop and listen to Jewish ones—from the high-mindedness of Rabbi Sharon Brous, to the tearful comedy of the Grody-Patinkin family—who fear the damage to Judaism, as well as to Israel's neighbors. Listen to the more than 100,000 Israelis who protested in Tel Aviv this week for an end to the war. Listen to the hundreds of retired Israeli generals and intelligence leaders who say that Netanyahu has gone too far. 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. We stand in solidarity with the remaining Israeli hostages and plead that someone rational negotiate their release—maybe someone like the imprisoned Marwan Barghouti, whom a former head of the Mossad, Efraim Halevy, described as 'probably the most sane and the most qualified person' to lead the Palestinians Our band is pledged to contribute our support by donating to Medical Aid for Palestinians. We urge Israelis, the majority of whom did not vote for Netanyahu, to demand unfettered access by professionals to deliver the crucial care needed throughout Gaza and the West Bank that they best know how to distribute, and to let enough trucks through. It will take more than 100 trucks a day to seriously address the need—more like 600 —but the flooding of humanitarian aid will also undercut the black marketeering that has benefited Hamas. Wiser heads than mine will have a view of how best to accomplish this, but surely the hostages and Gazans alike deserve a different approach—and quick.
Extra.ie
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
U2 issue statement on Gaza: 'The band is pledged to contribute our support by donating to Medical Aid For Palestinians'
'The blocking of humanitarian aid and now plans for a military takeover of Gaza City has taken the conflict into uncharted territory,' wrote the band on Instagram. 'We are not experts in the politics of the region, but we want our audience to know where we each stand.' In a post on social media yesterday, all four members of U2 issued statements explaining their stances on the devastation in Gaza. The statements were prefaced in the caption, which read, 'We are not experts in the politics of the region, but we want our audience to know where we each stand.' The band also announced that they would be donating to UK-based charity Medical Aid for Palestinians. Bono wrote the lengthiest statement, in which he admitted that he 'circled the subject' of Gaza. He said the October 7 attack 'felt like it happened while U2 were on stage at Sphere Las Vegas' and ever since, he has 'generally tried to stay out of the politics of the Middle East.' 'This was not humility, more uncertainty in the face of obvious complexity,' Bono wrote, adding that images of malnourished Palestinian children reminded him of a 1985 trip he took with his wife to a food station in Ethiopia following Live Aid. 'Another man-made famine. To witness chronic malnutrition up close would make it personal for any family, especially as it affects children. 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.' Bono went on to describe Hamas's attack on the Nova music festival as 'evil', adding that in the following months, 'Israel's revenge for the Hamas attack appeared more and more disproportionate and disinterested in the equally innocent civilian lives in Gaza.' He also acknowledged that 'Hamas are not the Palestinian people' and that 'the Government of Israel is not the nation of Israel' but condemned the government under Benjamin Netanyahu. He called the weaponisation of starvation by both Hamas and Israel a 'moral failure.' '[Palestinians are] a people who have for decades endured and continue to endure marginalisation, oppression, occupation, and the systematic stealing of the land that is rightfully theirs,' Bono wrote. '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.' Bono went on to reiterate his belief in Israel's 'right to exist' and a two-state solution. Other members of the band expressed similar beliefs. The Edge addressed Netanyahu directly in his statement, 'in hopes of engaging his consciousness and the sanity of the people of Israel.' 'What we are witnessing is not a distant tragedy—it is a test of our shared humanity,' the Edge wrote. He asked if the Israeli prime minister believes Israel's attacks on civilians in Gaza can happen without placing 'generational shame' upon Israel, and how 'ethnic cleansing' of Palestinians could possibly make the Israeli people safer. 'Injustice, as we learned in Ireland, is never the pass to security: it breeds resentment, it hardens hearts, and it guarantees that future generations will inherit conflict rather than peace.' He asked Netanyahu what his 'political vision' is, if not the two-state solution, and demanded a peace process be prioritised. Adam Clayton emphasised the preservation of civilian life, while Larry Mullen condemned the lack of opposition from within Israel for the 'unexpected' escalation of Israel's attacks. View this post on Instagram A post shared by U2 (@u2)
Irish Examiner
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Enda McEvoy: Like the granny rule, Pogues' 'Rum' redefined what it meant to be Irish
Memories of the summer of 40 years ago… The rain (ceaseless). Live Aid at Wembley (I wasn't there). U2 at Croke Park (I was). Getting a loan of Pat Carroll's copy of Murmur, REM's debut album (they'd been on the bill at Croke Park), and finding it intriguing if utterly unintelligible lyrically. What in the name of God was the lead singer – Michael Somethingorother; Stripe? – muttering about? This is exclusive subscriber content. Already a subscriber? Sign in Take us with you this summer. Annual €130€65 Best value Monthly €12€6 / month
Perth Now
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Midge Ure postpones upcoming tour dates due to urgent health treatment
Midge Ure has said it is with 'great sadness and difficulty' he is postponing upcoming tour dates due to urgent treatment for a health issue discovered during a routine medical check-up. The 71-year-old Ultravox frontman will go ahead with solo performances scheduled for August but has announced a pause on all shows planned from September onwards, affecting concerts in Australia, New Zealand, the US and Europe. Midge said: 'During a recent routine check-up, doctors discovered a health issue that requires urgent treatment and a period of recovery. It is with great sadness and difficulty I have to reschedule all shows planned from September onwards.' The Scottish singer and songwriter made the announcement on Wednesday (06.08.25), adding while he is 'truly sorry' for the disruption to fans' plans, he remains 'fully committed' to performing the remaining shows this month. He said: 'I know many of you travel great distances, often across borders to attend the shows, and I never take that support for granted. I'm truly sorry for any inconvenience or disruption this causes to your plans. 'I remain fully committed to performing all shows scheduled for this month and I'm looking forward to being out there with you for as long as I'm able.' Midge reassured fans that his A Man of Two Worlds tour, currently scheduled for May and June next year, is still 'very much going ahead'. He said: 'I'm aiming to be back on the road again as soon as possible. My team and I are working closely with promoters to reschedule affected dates. I kindly ask you respect the privacy of myself and my family during this difficult time.' Midge rose to prominence in the early 1980s as frontman of Ultravox and later as co-founder of Band Aid alongside Bob Geldof. He co-wrote the charity single Do They Know It's Christmas?, released in 1984 to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia, and performed at Live Aid the following year. Earlier in 2025, Midge reunited with Bob for a 40th anniversary commemoration of the Band Aid initiative. His best-known song, Vienna, released in 1981, famously reached No 2 in the UK charts and was kept off the top spot by Shaddap You Face, a novelty single by Joe Dolce. Fans are advised to check with local promoters for new dates once they are rescheduled.
Scotsman
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
The Boomtown Rats, Fringe by the Sea review: 'still towering and energetic'
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The Boomtown Rats, Big Top, North Berwick ★★★★ As he famously demonstrated with Live Aid in 1985, Bob Geldof is a very persuasive man; and as proven by this date at North Berwick's Fringe by the Sea, played on a Wednesday with the energy of a Saturday night gig, the white-haired 73-year-old is also no stranger to convincing a live crowd to eat out of the palm of his hand. The Boomtown Rats | Contributed The set began with Rat Trap, their glorious 1978 hit, here shorn of its propulsive saxophone but still sounding great. With the crowd warmed up the band took a little time to catch up, working through (I Never Loved) Eva Braun, the jagged broken glass post-punk rattle of Like Clockwork and the U2ish pub rock of Neon Heart. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad (She's Gonna) Do You In and Someone's Looking At You came with extended, Doors-like, apparently improvised spoken word excursions (at one point we were invited "down to Dunbar and back again… down to the high street… down to the harbour"), and it's clear Geldof – still towering and energetic, but in shorter bursts than 40 years ago – is as much influenced by Jim Morrison as anyone. Just before the midway point in the set, he paused for breath and a moment of connection. 'On a night like this, all of us together and alive on a midsummer's night, does it get any f***ing better?' The familiar piano glissando intro of I Don't Like Mondays began, and a roar and a sea of cameraphones went up, pausing only when Geldof expertly held a long moment after the '…how to die' line. He used the gap to dedicate the song to those suffering in Gaza and Ukraine. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad
