Musicians from the United Kingdom and Ireland have come together to form a new syndicate aimed at supporting artists who speak out against Israel\u2019s war in Gaza and its international backing.<\/p>\n
In a social media statement, the band Massive Attack said: \u201cBecause of our expressions of conscience, we face various forms of intimidation from the industry,\u201d as well as \u201clegal actions through organized groups such as UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI).\u201d This message was also supported by Kneecap, Fontaines D.C., and musician and producer Brian Eno.<\/p>\n
The musicians emphasized that they are aware of \u201caggressive campaigns conducted by UKLFI, as well as numerous cases of intimidation within the music industry,\u201d which attempt to silence artists.<\/p>\n
Caroline Turner, director of UKLFI, told CNN: \u201cMassive Attack have launched an attack on our organization, which helps protect victims of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel racism.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also added: \u201cUnfortunately, antisemitism has become an everyday part of life in the UK, and those who try to protect its victims are now facing harsh attacks from the very perpetrators themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
These statements came after Northern Irish rappers Kneecap and the British rap-punk duo Bob Vylan faced criticism for their pro-reform and anti-Israel rhetoric. Police are investigating both artists over their performances at the Glastonbury Festival following complaints from UKLFI.<\/p>\n
UKLFI reported that it contacted the police regarding Bob Vylan\u2019s vocalist for shouting \u201cDeath to the IDF\u201d during a performance, referring to the Israeli army. The organization also filed a complaint against the British public broadcaster BBC for airing this performance; later, the BBC called it \u201cantisemitic\u201d and stated it should not have been broadcast.<\/p>\n
A member of Kneecap, who openly criticizes Israel and the war in Gaza, was charged last month with a terrorist offense for allegedly displaying a flag \u201cin support of Hezbollah,\u201d according to London police following a complaint from UKLFI.<\/p>\n
British counterterrorism police are investigating the group after videos emerged allegedly showing members calling for the killing of British politicians and shouting \u201cforward Hamas, forward Hezbollah,\u201d which supports militant groups from Gaza and Lebanon that are enemies of Israel.<\/p>\n
Kneecap previously stated that they have never supported Hamas or Hezbollah, and that the videos circulating online were \u201cdeliberately taken out of context\u201d as part of a \u201cdiscrediting campaign\u201d following their criticism of Israel and the US over the 20-month war in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Both bands, Bob Vylan and Kneecap, have faced widespread concert cancellations. UKLFI sent letters to UK venues where Kneecap were scheduled to perform this summer, warning of the risks associated with their shows.<\/p>\n
The US State Department has banned Bob Vylan from performing on US soil.<\/p>\n
In joint social media posts, the musicians of the newly formed alliance called on other artists who want to speak out but fear the consequences to reach out to them for support.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe events in Gaza have gone beyond description,\u201d the statement announcing the syndicate said, calling for a ceasefire; \u201cimmediate, unhindered access\u201d of humanitarian aid to Gaza; a halt to arms sales by the UK to Israel; and other measures.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving endured these campaigns of attempted censorship, we will not allow other artists \u2013 especially those early in their careers or in vulnerable professional positions \u2013 to be forced into silence or lose their careers,\u201d the musicians stressed.<\/p>\n
English singer Paloma Faith expressed support in a comment on Kneecap\u2019s post.<\/p>\n
\u201cKeep going, everyone, this will change eventually! Stay strong,\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 Paloma Faith<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Musicians from the United Kingdom and Ireland have come together to form a new syndicate aimed at supporting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6311,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[3699,3700,3701,3702,59,57,58,3703,3704,3705,50,3706,56,3707,54,55,3708],"class_list":["post-6310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-anti-israel-rhetoric","tag-artists-syndicate","tag-bob-vylan","tag-censorship-in-music","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-kneecap","tag-massive-attack","tag-musicians-of-great-britain","tag-news","tag-support-for-artists","tag-uk","tag-uklfi","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-war-in-gaza"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}