On U2 On Gaza

It’s amazing how little it takes to make a statement about Israel and Gaza relatively reasonable and doubly amazing how rare it is to find one.

I don’t agree with a lot that U2 said in their post. For one thing, while it is certainly true that Hamas is not all Palestinians, the Israeli right are not all Israelis and Israelis have been protesting for the release of the hostages, for the end to the war, and now contemplating a general strike. It is strange to ask “[w]here is the outrage from within Israel, outside of a small, if increasingly vocal, minority?” both when no such demand is made on the Palestinians: where are your moderates? and given the ongoing demonstrations? I could pick over other details, point out things that are far from established as facts so far.

But this is an opinion I can engage with respectfully simply because it acknowledges Israel’s right to exist, it treats Israelis as humans, and it acknowledges that Hamas are not the good guys. It locates the policies objected to with the people in power, instead of with every Israeli and certainly not every Jew. It doesn’t call for anyone’s death.

Above all, they begin with humility, disclaiming any expertise on the region. They are not asserting some master theory. And it more or less asserts their approach to the Irish troubles where they refused to take a side and just wanted peace.

This is an enormous relief for me, because I have been a fan of U2 my entire life. The first album I ever purchased was The Unforgettable Fire.  Again, I do not agree with everything in there, but it’s something I can accept. It is not another beloved band or entertainer that I will probably never be able to listen to again without seeing them as part of the global mob that is coming for me and my for family on the basis of hate and lies.

So, it stands in sharp contrast to the eliminationist incitement coming from the vast majority of the entertainment sector, and, indeed from Ireland, that believes any lie spun by Hamas and denies every fact put forth by Israel in order to justify the world-wide assault on Jews.

Unfortunately for U2, this will probably result in severe blowback against them for not doing the things I mentioned above, for not calling for the elimination of Israel either overtly or using coded phrases.

So while I cannot say “bravo” or “amen” to their statement, I can exhale.