U2 frontman Bono called on Thursday for Israel to be “released” from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies, as well as for the release of the hostages and an end to the war in Gaza, as he accepted an award in London.
The rock star and activist, speaking at the Ivor Novello Awards for songwriting, made the comments to introduce a performance of “Sunday, Bloody Sunday,” the Irish band’s 1983 anthem inspired by the violence of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
“I used to introduce this next song by saying it was not a rebel song,” he said as the band was honored, according to the NME. “It was, because believing in the possibilities of peace was then, and is now, a rebellious act.”
“Peace creates possibilities in the most intractable situations,” Bono continued. “Lord knows, there’s a few of them out there right now.”
“Hamas release the hostages. Stop the war. Israel, be released from Benjamin Netanyahu and far-right fundamentalists that twist your sacred texts,” he said.
“All of you protect our aid workers, they are the best of us,” he added. “God, you must be so tired of us, children of Abraham, in the rubble of our certainties. Children in the rubble of our revenge. God forgive us.”
@debbieridgard U2’s Bono calls for hostages to be released and for Israel to be “released from Benjamin Netanyahu” at the Ivor Novello Awards #Bono #U2
♬ original sound – Debbie Ridgard – Film/TV ????????
On October 8, 2023 — two nights after the Hamas terror group’s October 7 invasion of southern Israel, when thousands of terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, starting the war, Bono paid tribute to the young Israelis murdered at the Nova music festival the previous day.
At a show at the Las Vegas Sphere, Bono dedicated the song “Pride” to “those beautiful kids at that music festival,” speaking and singing about the hundreds of dead, missing and captured participants.
It’s not (only) about you.
Supporting The Times of Israel isn’t a transaction for an online service, like subscribing to Netflix. The ToI Community is for people like you who care about a common good: ensuring that balanced, responsible coverage of Israel continues to be available to millions across the world, for free.
Sure, we’ll remove all ads from your page and you’ll unlock access to some excellent Community-only content. But your support gives you something more profound than that: the pride of joining something that really matters.
Join the Times of Israel Community
Join our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You appreciate professional journalism
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
You clearly find our careful reporting valuable, during an ongoing war when facts are often distorted and news coverage of Israel often lacks context.
Your support is essential to continue our work. We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically since October 7.
So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you’ll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘272776440645465’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
