“Antisemitism” watchdog groups are flipping the fuck out about hip hop artist Macklemore saying “Free Palestine” while opening for Ed Sheeran, and the western press are of course helping to spin this ridiculous nonsense as a massive scandal.
During a New Jersey concert over the weekend, Macklemore said the following:
“One of the reasons why I wanted to come on this tour was because I wanted to stand up here on stages and stadiums across America and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: Free Palestine.
“I said, Free Palestine.
“I want those words to be loud and clear, so the people from Gaza, all the way to the occupied West Bank, know that we have not forgotten them.
“And this next song was inspired by the bravery of Columbia University students who led an encampment movement that mobilized the entire world; open up hearts, myself included, so thank you to those students that risked their diplomas, that risked their tuition, that risked their scholarships, that stood up and said, no. CUAD students, Students for Justice in Palestine, and Jewish Voices for Peace. Thank you, guys.
“To all of my Jewish brothers and sisters: criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide in no way is a criticism of you. My message is for peace; love for all human beings to be treated with dignity, respect, and equality.
“So I say Free Palestine, I say Free Lebanon, I say Free Cuba, I say Free Congo, Free Sudan, I say Free all people in America living in fear of this terrorist organization, ICE. None of us will be free until we are all free.”
Our society is so brainwashed and dystopian that THIS is being framed by the news media as a controversial and incendiary statement.
A normal person might assume this is the most obvious and inoffensive thing a celebrity could possibly say about any issue of moral importance, but you’d never know this from the Israel apologists and the headlines in the mainstream press.
“Controversy swirls following pro-Palestinian comments made by Macklemore at MetLife Stadium before Ed Sheeran concert,” reads a headline by CBS News.
“Macklemore faces renewed backlash over ‘Free Palestine’ remarks,” says USA Today.
“Woke rapper Macklemore sparks fury over anti-Israel rant at Ed Sheeran’s MetLife show,” blares The New York Post.
“Macklemore Calls Out ‘Free Palestine’ Onstage, Spurring Petition Demanding He Leave Ed Sheeran Tour,” screams Variety.
“Pink Calls Out Macklemore After Pro-Palestine Comments During Concert,” crows TMZ.
The Anti-Defamation League 𝕏issued a statement accusing Macklemore of “engaging in antisemitic rhetoric and behavior,” whining, “Imagine being a Jewish or Israeli fan who came with family or friends to enjoy the show, only to be confronted with this hostility from the stage.”
The Adelson-funded Israeli-American Council is circulating a petition demanding that Ed Sheeran cease touring with Macklemore immediately, accusing the artist of “spreading one-sided political propaganda” which “relies on selective imagery, biased messaging and disputed claims presented to a massive audience as fact, without context or complexity.”
Hasbarists are 𝕏swarming the 𝕏internet with 𝕏screenshots of a 2014 photo in which Macklemore wore a 𝕏fake witch’s nose onstage, falsely suggesting that he was performing a Jewish caricature. In reality the artist had disguised himself for a secret show in Seattle and only later learned that the large nose had been interpreted by some as an offensive portrayal of a Jewish person. He apologized profusely and the ADL accepted that it was an innocent mistake.
This fucking bullshit is what we are choosing to fixate on as a society while Gaza holds multiple mass funerals for the children that Israel killed in its genocidal onslaught.
When you hear people talk about an epidemic of “antisemitism” in our society, this is the kind of “antisemitism” they are talking about. A celebrity musician saying Palestinians are human beings. A flight attendant with a watermelon pin. A secretary wearing a keffiyeh. Some students opposing genocide.
Antisemitism is treated as the number one problem in our world, but it’s not in the top ten. It’s not in the top one hundred. It’s not even in the top one thousand. Once every several years someone shoots up a synagogue or Jewish event, which is of course bad, but compared to all the other real material atrocities and urgent existential perils we face as a species on this troubled planet it doesn’t rank very high on the list. Jewish people simply are not a mistreated or marginalized population in our society; they’re just white people who tend to have better than average household incomes.
But because “antisemitism” is used as a cynical tool to defend Israeli atrocities and western interventionism in the middle east, it needs to be framed as a much larger problem than it is. That’s why the imperial propaganda machine is currently presenting Macklemore’s obviously morally correct position as this major white hot controversy, and why it keeps churning out reports about western Jews feeling unsafe because they saw a Free Palestine bumper sticker or whatever.
Israel apologia is mostly just lying about Palestinians and acting like hatred of Jews is an exponentially larger threat than it actually is. That’s all these hasbarists are ever doing.
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Feature image by Eva Rinaldi from Sydney, Australia — This image has been extracted from another file, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36782528
