We are not experts in the politics of the region, but we want our audience to know where we each stand,” the band said in a joint introduction to the individual statements.
The four members of Irish rock supergroup U2 have weighed in on the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict, with each member — Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. — releasing individual statements. The four statements were shared on U2’s official Instagram account and website Sunday, alongside the following joint message: “Everyone has long been horrified by what is unfolding in Gaza — but the blocking of humanitarian aid and now plans for a military takeover of Gaza City has taken the conflict into uncharted territory. We are not experts in the politics of the region, but we want our audience to know where we each stand.”
Bono, the lead singer of the band and the most politically active member, released the longest of the four statements, nearly 1,250 words, in which he explained that he “generally tried to stay out of the politics of the Middle East,” not out of humility, but “more uncertainty in the face of obvious complexity.” The singer said he felt compelled to speak out about the Nova festival massacre on Oct. 7, an event which he described as “evil,” and which occurred while U2 was performing on stage at the Sphere in Las Vegas. Bono harshly criticized Hamas and its late leader Yahya Sinwar but he devoted much of his opprobrium on the Israeli government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in particular,
and he was at pains to separate the country’s political leaders from its people. “We know Hamas are using starvation as a weapon in the war, but now so too is Israel and I feel revulsion for the moral failure,” Bono writes. He adds, that “the Government of Israel is not the nation of Israel, but the Government of Israel led by Benjamin Netanyahu today deserves our categorical and unequivocal condemnation.”
