{"id":639741,"date":"2026-09-29T17:34:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T17:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/639741\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T17:34:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T17:34:15","slug":"bono-and-israeli-minister-in-fierce-row-after-musician-likens-him-to-hitlers-right-hand-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/639741\/","title":{"rendered":"Bono and Israeli minister in fierce row after musician likens him to Hitler’s right-hand man"},"content":{"rendered":"

U2 FRONTMAN BONO and an Israeli minister are in a heated debate after the musician likened the politician to Hitler\u2019s right-hand man, Heinrich Himmler.<\/p>\n

In an interview in the magazine Rolling Stone<\/a>, Bono was asked about U2\u2032s new song, The Tears of Things, which was described as an \u201celliptical take\u201d on the history of Gaza.<\/p>\n

Among other comments, the musician likened Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel\u2019s national security minister, to Himmler, leader of the SS, and the architect of the \u201cfinal solution\u201d, the plan to eliminate all Jewish people from Europe.<\/p>\n

Ben-Gvir has since hit back, posting on X that \u201cthere is no limit to the hypocrisy of the world\u2019s supporters of terrorism\u201d.<\/p>\n

In June, the Taoiseach banned Ben-Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich<\/a> from entering Ireland, after a video showed Ben-Gvir mocking bound activists who had been detained by Israeli forces on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.<\/p>\n

France also announced<\/a> it had banned Ben-Gvir from entering the country.<\/p>\n

The wide-ranging Rolling Stone interview, ahead of the release of U2\u2032s new album later this year, touches on the new single,\u00a0The Tears of Things, which\u00a0in Bono\u2019s words, is an \u201cattempt to try and grasp what\u2019s going on in a world where we never needed the moral force of Judaism more than now\u201d.<\/p>\n

In the interview, Bono condemns the 7 October attacks, calling it \u201can unholy offence\u201d, but also criticises the words of Ben-Gvir, comparing his words, where he says \u201cthere are people there who are not worthy of life. They shouldn\u2019t live. They\u2019re not even people\u201d to Himmler.<\/p>\n

Bono says: \u201cBut here\u2019s a guy, a minister in the government, and he\u2019s not being locked up\u2026 so many of the people that have expanded my mind, changed my consciousness, made me laugh, broken my heart with their songs, lifted my spirits, are Jewish.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd this guy\u2019s putting their religion in the shade\u2026 It\u2019s just outrageous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bono has previously spoken out against the 7 October terror attack by Hamas<\/a> on Israel, having come under fire previously for not speaking out against it.<\/p>\n

Last August, he condemned Hamas\u2019 attack, while also reiterating that he believes in Israel\u2019s \u201cright to exist\u201d and a two-state solution.<\/p>\n

Bono\u2019s comments catalysed a fierce rebuke from Ben-Gvir, who wrote in a post on X \u201cwe are done shaping Israel\u2019s security policy to win the approval of hypocritical supporters of terrorism\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot
\n Itamar Ben Gvir’s X post.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cBono did not compare the Hamas murderers to Himmler \u2013 only those who defend the Jews from the next massacre,\u201d the post continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have news for him: the Jews are done apologizing for their right to live. We can do without your sympathy for dead Jews; we prefer to remain alive and face your criticism.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you truly care about the residents of Gaza, help them leave for Ireland. They are begging to emigrate from Gaza. They will have a wonderful future in Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben-Gvir also added that \u201cmy only concern is saving Jewish lives\u2026 The State of Israel will not apologize for its right to defend the lives of its citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U2 FRONTMAN BONO and an Israeli minister are in a heated debate after the musician likened the politician…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":639742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[271708,26016,93,271709,20753,61,60,3410,199295,660],"class_list":["post-639741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-at-loggerheads","tag-bono","tag-entertainment","tag-himmler","tag-hitler","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-israel","tag-itamar-ben-gvir","tag-u2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}