{"id":609357,"date":"2026-09-08T06:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T06:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/609357\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T06:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T06:52:10","slug":"criticism-of-israel-is-not-criticism-of-jews-macklemore-responds-to-concert-backla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/609357\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Criticism of Israel is not criticism of Jews\u2019: Macklemore responds to concert backla"},"content":{"rendered":"

Macklemore<\/a> has responded to the backlash over his opening performance for Ed Sheeran at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where he called for a \u201cfree Palestine\u201d and performed his anti-Israel protest song Hind\u2019s Hall. During his second appearance at the stadium Saturday, the rapper said his criticism of Israel was not directed at Jewish people, while repeating severe accusations against the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo all my Jewish brothers and sisters: Criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid and opposition to genocide are in no way criticism of you,\u201d Macklemore said, according to reports in U.S. media. \u201cMy message is peace and love, and that all human beings deserve to be treated with dignity and equality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u05d4\u05e8\u05d0\u05e4\u05e8<\/a>\"\u05d4\u05e8\u05d0\u05e4\u05e8<\/p>\n

Macklemore <\/p>\n

(Photo: Yaniv Levin)<\/p>\n

He then broadened his remarks, saying: \u201cSo I call to free Palestine, free Lebanon, free Cuba, free Congo, free Sudan and free all the people in America who are living in fear of this terrorist organization, ICE. None of us are free until all of us are free.\u201d Macklemore later posted video of the remarks on social media, writing: \u201cWanting all human beings to be treated equally should never be controversial.\u201d<\/p>\n

The controversy began during his first opening set Friday, when Macklemore told the crowd that one reason he joined Sheeran\u2019s tour was the opportunity to perform in stadiums across the United States and call for a \u201cfree Palestine.\u201d \u201cI want those words to be heard loud and clear, so that the people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank know that we have not forgotten them,\u201d he said. He then performed Hind\u2019s Hall, a song inspired by the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, as images from Gaza appeared on the stadium screens.<\/p>\n

Israelis attending the concert told ynet they were stunned to discover that Macklemore was one of Sheeran\u2019s opening acts. \u201cWe were in shock. It was really awful,\u201d Noya Zoaretz and Gefen Levin said. \u201cIt was even harder because friends of ours were killed in the war and murdered at Nova. It was like a knife in the heart to hear him sing like that and hear the crowd cheering.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the performance, the Israeli-American Council<\/a> launched a petition calling on Sheeran to remove Macklemore from the remaining dates on which he is scheduled to open during the U.S. tour. \u201cThis was an Ed Sheeran concert, not a political rally, protest or activist event,\u201d the petition said. \u201cThe question is not whether Macklemore has the right to hold political views, but where the line is drawn when an opening act uses a global stage to promote a one-sided political agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

Macklemore is scheduled to continue appearing alongside Sheeran through November. As of publication, Sheeran had not publicly addressed the controversy or calls to remove the rapper from the tour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Macklemore has responded to the backlash over his opening performance for Ed Sheeran at MetLife Stadium in New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-609357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}