Palestine
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On Monday (May 5), City Parks SummerStage announced that its planned benefit concert featuring R&B star Kehlani was being canceled under advisement from the Mayor’s Office. “We have been notified by the Mayor’s Office that they have concerns for security and safety issues,” their statement on Instagram began. “Those concerns are due to the controversy surrounding Cornell University’s decision to cancel Kehlani’s concert at the University, as well as security demands in Central Park and throughout the City for other Pride events during that same period.”
The post continued, “We strongly and emphatically believe in artistic expression of all kinds. However, the safety and security of our guests and artists is of the utmost importance … While artists may choose to express their opinions, their views may not necessarily be representative of the festival.” To date, the event is still listed on SummerStage’s main website. Kehlani reposted the statement in their Instagram Stories with the caption “lol.” In another story, they shared a selfie, writing: “I just found that one out on instagram by the way.”The SummerStage cancellation comes a week after a show with Kehlani as the headliner was canceled at Cornell University, where their chancellor wrote in a statement that the “Nights Like This” artist “espoused antisemitic, anti-Israel sentiments in performances, videos and on social media.” Kehlani has been staunchly supportive of the Palestinian people since the beginning of Israel’s war with the Hamas terror organization on Oct. 7, 2023 after the group kidnapped over 250 people and killed 1,200 at the Nova Music Festival near Gaza. Since then, an estimated 52,000 Palestinian people have been killed in Gaza, according to CNN, which cites reports from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
“It is deeply unsettling to see elected officials using their offices to dictate the bounds of acceptable expression and muscling private entities to fall into line,” PEN America said in a statement. “No one wins when politicians meddle to suppress artistic expression.” PEN America is a group that supports and advocates for artist freedom and expression, and has lent its voice to fighting back against the misuse of antisemitism charges as the Trump administration has used antisemitism claims against college campuses.
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R&B singer Kehlani was scheduled to perform at a concert event at Cornell University next month, but it has been canceled due to their support for the Palestinian people and their stance on the war in Gaza. The decision was announced by Cornell University president Michael I. Kotlikoff in an email on Wednesday (April 23), where he wrote that “although it was not the intention, the selection of Kehlani as this year’s headliner has injected division and discord” into the Slope Day event, which is held after the last day of classes at the school.“In the days since Kehlani was announced, I have heard grave concerns from our community that many are angry, hurt and confused that Slope Day would feature a performer who has espoused antisemitic, anti-Israel sentiments in performances, videos and on social media,” Kotlikoff wrote, adding that the choice would “be celebrated by some and criticized by others,” but it was “the right thing to do.”The 30-year-old singer has been consistently vocal in their support for the Palestinian people and against Israel’s actions in the war. Kehlani was a signee of the Artists Against Apartheid letter calling for a ceasefire in October 2023 and featured Palestinian flags and kaffiyehs in their “Next 2 U” video. The singer has also criticized the silence of other artists regarding Gaza, saying in a video from last May, “f— Israel, f— Zionism.”The news was disappointing to students expecting to see Kehlani. “I was ecstatic,” said Black Students United history co-chair Muna Mohamed in an interview with the New York Times. And then, “to see it kind of torn from us so quickly, it was kind of like, oh, our happiness never really mattered in the long run.”Cornell University is one of the Ivy League institutions which has been targeted by the Trump administration over allegations of antisemitism, having had $1 billion in federal funding frozen by President Donald Trump. The decision also comes after Gambian-British student Momodou Taal, who participated in pro-Palestinian protests at Cornell, left the school this year to avoid being forcibly deported by the administration.
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A new report by two witnesses sheds more light on an incident in late March where Israeli soldiers reportedly attacked rescue workers in Gaza. Saeed al-Bardawil, a doctor, and Red Crescent volunteer paramedic Munther Abed were detained by the Israeli Defense Forces earlier. Abed said that he was captured while surviving an assault on his ambulance, which killed the other members of his crew, and al-Bardawil was captured while venturing out to go fishing with his son.
The two men alleged that the soldiers attacked another ambulance and fire truck in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, claiming the workers were members of the Hamas organization. The vehicles and crew were sent out to investigate what happened to Abed’s ambulance, which had their headlights and emergency signals on when attacked. “I wasn’t blindfolded — I saw everything clearly,” Dr. al-Bardawil said to the New York Times. “The medics got out to inspect the damaged ambulance. That’s when the soldiers opened heavy fire.”The United Nations would find a mass grave containing 15 rescue workers – eight from the Palestine Red Crescent Society, one from the United Nations, and from Gaza’s Civil Defense – along with their half-crushed vehicles in a separate grave, leading them to accuse the Israeli Defense Forces of targeting the workers “one by one.” The IDF would deny the claims until a seven-minute video retrieved from the phone of one of the victims showed the moments leading up to soldiers confronting the medics and opening fire. An official would then backtrack in a statement, saying: “What we understand currently is the person who gives the initial account is mistaken. We’re trying to understand why.”Abed described the attack on his ambulance, and how he was confronted by Israeli soldiers who told him to strip naked and kneel. “You’re a terrorist — why are you here?” he recalled a soldier shouting at him. He then detailed how when he asked about his colleagues, another soldier told him in Arabic that “those terrorists” had been taken to hell by God. He and Dr. al-Bardawil would be released after telling others to evacuate.
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According to reports, Hamdan Ballal, the Palestinian co-director of the Academy Award-winning documentary film No Other Land was assaulted by Israeli settlers near his home village in the West Bank on Monday (March 24). In a post on X, formerly Twitter, his co-director Yuval Abraham detailed what happened: “A group of settlers just lynched Hamdan Ballal, co-director of our film No Other Land. They beat him and he has injuries in his head and stomach, bleeding. Soldiers invaded the ambulance he called and took him. No sign of him since.”
https://twitter.com/yuval_abraham/status/1904235552620339365
According to AP News, Palestinian residents of the village of Susya confronted a settler who approached their homes during the breaking of their Ramadan fast and asked them to leave. More settlers arrived, smashing car windows and damaging infrastructure on top of attacking villagers. Soldiers then detained Ballal after a settler beat him in front of his home, according to his wife, Lamia. According to Abraham, the same setter threatened Ballal in April, which was captured on video. “This is my land, I was given it by God,” the settler says in the video, shouting profanity and goading Ballal into trying to fight him. “Next time it won’t be nice,” the settler says.
Ballal was released Tuesday (March 25) from a police station in the Kiryat Arba settlement. “All my body is pain,” he said to the Associated Press. “I heard the voices of the soldiers, they were laughing about me … I heard ‘Oscar’ but I didn’t speak Hebrew.” He revealed he was held at an army base and forced to sleep under an ongoing air conditioner while blindfolded.
Ballal is one of four directors of the documentary along with Abraham, who is Israeli. No Other Land covers the struggles of Palestinians living in Israel under daily oppression. Another one of the directors, Palestinian activist Basel Adra, confirmed that since the Oscar win, settlers and Israeli soldiers have increased their attacks. “We’re living in dark days here, in Gaza, and all of the West Bank,” Adra said, adding, “Nobody’s stopping this.” No Other Land has been under attack since its win at the 97th Academy Awards, with Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner voicing intent to end the lease of a cinema planning to show the film claiming it wasn’t a balanced view. Local opposition forced him to back off from the move.
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An activist who was a key organizer of the pro-Palestinian student protest movement at Columbia University was arrested by ICE over the weekend.
The effort to detain and deport student activists by President Donald Trump took a new turn as federal authorities arrested an activist who helped organize pro-Palestinian student protests at Columbia University. Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at the university until last December, was detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents last Saturday evening at his university-owned apartment. According to his lawyer, Amy Greer, Kahlil is a legal green card resident of the United States. They also threatened to arrest his wife, an American citizen who is eight months pregnant.
Department of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin confirmed Khalil’s arrest on Sunday night to the press. “Khalil led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization,” she said. “ICE and the Department of State are committed to enforcing President Trump’s executive orders and to protecting U.S. national security.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio went further in a post on X, formerly Twitter, linking to another article covering the arrest and writing: “We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”
“We will vigorously be pursuing Mahmoud’s rights in court, and will continue our efforts to right this terrible and inexcusable — and calculated — wrong committed against him,” Greer said in a statement, adding that Khalil’s arrest “follows the U.S. government’s open repression of student activism and political speech.” Greer said that they were unsure of his “precise whereabouts,” stating that they were told that he was being held in an immigration detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey, but when his wife arrived to visit she was told he wasn’t there. She speculated that he could be as far away as Louisiana.
Khalil had served as a negotiator between students who erected encampments at Columbia and university officials last spring. It made him a target for pro-Israel figures who labeled him as antisemitic, including Columbia University professor Shai Davidal who openly called for him to be deported. The arrest has sparked outrage from several civil liberties groups. Columbia Law School immigrant rights director Elora Mukherjee said that revoking Khalil’s green card with no criminal offense “in retaliation for his public speech, that is prohibited by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,” expressing it was a rare situation.
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President Donald Trump floated the idea of moving the Palestinians out of Gaza permanently after the United States took ownership of the region.
On Tuesday afternoon, (Feb. 4), President Donald Trump met with the far-right Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. He would go on to stun reporters (and reportedly Netanyahu) by proposing that the United States should take over Gaza. “The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip,” Trump began. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site. Level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings. Level it out.”
He would continue by proposing that the Palestinian people should “move out” of Gaza to be taken in by other countries, saying they live in a “hellhole.” Trump then said the Gaza Strip could be a “Riviera of The Middle East,” adding: “This was not a decision made lightly. Everybody I’ve spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land.” Afterward, many pointed out comments made by Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and former adviser discussing the opportunities of that kind of move last year: “Gaza’s waterfront property, it could be very valuable if people would focus on kind of building up livelihoods…I think that it’s a little bit of an unfortunate situation there but I think from Israel’s perspective, I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up.”
Trump’s remarks at the press conference were met with outrage and firm refusals by the international community. “This is out of the question,” Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenza, said in an interview. “The Palestinians don’t want it, the world community doesn’t want it, and you cannot forcefully resettle someone, somewhere.” The Saudi Foreign Ministry, King Abdullah of Jordan, and Egypt’s Foreign Ministry have all rejected his proposal, reaffirming their commitment to Palestine having its own state within Israel as a bridge to peace in the Middle East.
The news was met with anger and defiance among those Palestinians who have returned to Gaza since the initial 42-day ceasefire between Hamas and Israel began last month. “This is my homeland and I have no intention to leave even if Trump provides me with the best of everything somewhere else,” said surgeon Nehad Ghonaim.
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Macklemore is no stranger to using his massive platform to throw his support behind causes that are important to him. In a recent benefit concert in support of the residents of Palestine, Macklemore uttered a strong “F*ck America” statement during his set.
As reported by Rolling Stone India, Macklemore was performing in his home state of Washington over the weekend. The “Thrift Shop” star dropped the pro-Palestinian track “Hind’s Hall” earlier this year in celebration of the students who led protests at Columbia University in New York that took over Hamilton Hall to honor the life and legacy of Hind Rajab, an elementary school-aged girl who was killed during the Israel-Hamas conflict that still rages today.
In a sequel track, “Hind’s Hall 2,” Macklemore doubled down on the anti-Israel stance with a song that was created to benefit UNRWA USA, an organization established to help Palestinian refugees.
During his set in Seattle over the weekend, the artist born Benjamin Hammond Haggerty rocked the Palestine Will Live Forever benefit concert in Kent, Wash. and a journalist by the name of Cam Higby captured the moment in question. The video has since made its rounds on social media with many equating the rapper’s stances as anti-semitic and anti-American, with harsh critique following.
According to Macklemore’s Facebook page regarding the benefit concert, proceeds from the event at Seward Park Amphitheater will be spread among several other organizations in support of Palestinian refugees.
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In the wake of Israel’s recent airstrikes in southern Gaza, the phrase “All Eyes On Rafah” has taken over social media, with mixed support and criticism from users.Over the past week, the phrase “All Eyes On Rafah” has dominated social media trending topics. It was spurred on by the news of Israel’s military committing airstrikes on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip near the Egyptian border, where millions of Palestinians already displaced by Israel’s ongoing conflict with the Hamas militant organization have fled.
An AI-generated image of dozens of tents side by side in a serene desert landscape with structures in the center spelling out the phrase has been circulated more than 40 million times on Instagram alone. Numerous celebrities including comedian Hasan Minhaj have also shared the image through their social media accounts.
The origins of the phrase lie in the comments made by Richard “Rik” Peeperkorn, the head of the World Health Organization’s offices in Gaza and the West Bank region at a news conference as the Israeli Defense Forces began to ramp up its strikes in southern Gaza. Pro-Palestinian groups and activists began to use “All Eyes On Rafah” in their messaging in addition to humanitarian groups such as Oxfam. The AI image might’ve gained such traction because it isn’t “massively dangerous or controversial”, according to social media consultant Matt Navarra in an interview with Sky News.
The current wave comes after a deadly strike on Sunday (May 26) hit an encampment of displaced Palestinians, setting tents on fire and killing 45 people, according to medics on the ground. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a “tragic incident” as world leaders including the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres blasted the action in a post on X, formerly Twitter saying, “This horror must stop.”
The “All Eyes On Rafah” image has drawn criticism from some online, who feel that more accurate and graphic images of the violence and suffering of the 1.4 million displaced Palestinians should be shown to the public. Others have felt that sharing the AI-generated image is engaging in “slacktivism”, conspicuously showing support for a cause but not actually taking real steps to help.
But others see it as useful to draw more attention to the cries of the Palestinian people.
We’ve collected notable responses from users on social media to provide a clearer picture of the issue below.
1. Shayan Saridarzadeh
2. Myxaslytherin
3. Georgia Kumari Bradburn
4. sulkycatz
5. Jason Okundaye
6. Majid Jordan
7. Sam Missingham
8. International Rescue Committee
More and more celebrities are speaking up amid devastating violence, genocide and famine in Palestine, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Lizzo took to Instagram on Monday (May 13) to join the conversation. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “I just want to take a second […]
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Macklemore released a song supporting the collegiate protests decrying the war in Gaza, with proceeds going to relief efforts.
On Monday night (May 6), Macklemore surprised the public with the release of “Hind’s Hall”, a new single inspired by the protests taking place on college campuses nationwide in solidarity with the Palestinian people and decrying the raging war in Gaza. The name of the song comes from the Hamilton Hall building at Columbia University in New York City which was occupied by student protesters and renamed “Hind’s Hall” in tribute to Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed during an attack by Israeli Defense Forces earlier this year.
The artist shared it on X, formerly Twitter, writing: “Once it’s up on streaming, all proceeds going to UNRWA.” UNRWA is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. In the video, Macklemore calls out those aiding the ongoing attacks by the IDF as footage of law enforcement officers clearing out campus encampments plays: “Block the barricade until Palestine is free/ When I was seven, I learnt a lesson from [Ice Cube and Eazy-E/ What was it again? Oh yeah, f—- the police.” He even chimed in on the current Kendrick Lamar/Drake battle in chiding other artists for their silence on the matter: The music industry’s quiet, complicit in their platform of silence/What happened to the artist, what do you got to say?/ If I was on a label you could drop me today/ And be fine with it ’cause the heart fed my page/ I want a ceasefire, fuck a response from Drake.”
The 40-year-old has been active in the protests denouncing the actions of the Israeli government and military since the conflict with Hamas began on October 7, 2023. Macklemore took part in a pro-Palestine rally last December, and explained his position on social media: When I say ‘Free Palestine,’ it’s not against anyone,” he began. “It actually means we should protect everyone. It means equality for all. Respect, peace, and love. It means the right to exist, regardless of what sector you’re from.